The Belcher Islands ( iu, script=latn, ᓴᓪᓚᔪᒐᐃᑦ, Sanikiluaq) are an
archipelago in the southeast part of
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...
near the centre of the
Nastapoka arc
The Nastapoka arc is a distinctively arcuate segment of the coastline of the southeastern shore of Hudson Bay in Quebec, Canada, that extends from the most northerly of the Hopewell Islands to Long Island near the junction with James Bay. It is ...
. The Belcher Islands are spread out over almost . Administratively, they belong to the
Qikiqtaaluk Region
The Qikiqtaaluk Region, Qikiqtani Region (Inuktitut syllabics: ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ ) or Baffin Region is the easternmost, northernmost, and southernmost administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. Qikiqtaaluk is the traditional Inuktitut name f ...
of
Nunavut
Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...
, Canada. The hamlet of
Sanikiluaq (where the majority of the archipelago's inhabitants live) is on the north coast of
Flaherty Island and is the southernmost in Nunavut. Along with Flaherty Island, the other large islands are
Kugong Island
Kugong Island is an uninhabited island in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. Located in Hudson Bay, it is the westernmost member of the Belcher Islands group. Along with Flaherty Island, Innetalling Island, and Tukarak Island, it is one of th ...
,
Tukarak Island
Tukarak Island is an uninhabited island in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. Located in Hudson Bay, it is a member of the Belcher Islands group. Along with Flaherty Island, Innetalling Island, and Kugong Island, it is one of the four large ...
, and
Innetalling Island
Innetalling Island is an uninhabited island in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. Located in Hudson Bay's Omarolluk Sound, it is a member of the Belcher Islands group. It runs from Fairweather Sound at its northern end to Ridge Passage at its ...
.
Other main islands in the 1,500–island archipelago are
Moore Island,
Wiegand Island,
Split Island,
Snape Island
The Belcher Islands ( iu, script=latn, ᓴᓪᓚᔪᒐᐃᑦ, Sanikiluaq) are an archipelago in the southeast part of Hudson Bay near the centre of the Nastapoka arc. The Belcher Islands are spread out over almost . Administratively, they belon ...
and
Mavor Island, while island groups include the Sleeper Islands, King George Islands, and Bakers Dozen Islands.
History
The archaeological evidence present on the islands indicates that they were inhabited by the
Dorset culture between 500 BCE and 1000 CE. Centuries later, from 1200 to 1500, the
Thule people made their presence on the islands.
The first European to discover the islands was English sea explorer
Henry Hudson, the namesake of
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...
, who sighted the island in 1610. The islands are named after
Royal Navy Admiral Sir
Edward Belcher (1799-1877).
In the early 19th century,
caribou
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
herds which lived on the islands disappeared. In an alternative effort to find warm clothing, the inhabitants of the islands sought the
down
Down most often refers to:
* Down, the relative direction opposed to up
* Down (gridiron football), in American/Canadian football, a period when one play takes place
* Down feather, a soft bird feather used in bedding and clothing
* Downland, a ty ...
of the
Eider duck, a species of bird which nests on the island.
Before 1914, English-speaking cartographers knew very little about the Belcher Islands, which they showed on maps as specks, much smaller than their true extent. In that year a map showing them, drawn by George Weetaltuk, came into the hands of
Robert Flaherty
Robert Joseph Flaherty, (; February 16, 1884 – July 23, 1951) was an American filmmaker who directed and produced the first commercially successful feature-length documentary film, ''Nanook of the North'' (1922). The film made his reputatio ...
, and cartographers began to represent them more accurately.
In 1941, a religious movement led by Charley Ouyerack, Peter Sala, and his sister Mina caused the death by blows or
exposure
Exposure or Exposures may refer to:
People
* The Exposures, a pseudonym for German electronic musician Jan Jeline
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Exposure'' (film), a 1932 American film
* ''Exposure'', another name for the 1991 movie ...
of nine persons, an occurrence that came to be known as the Belcher Island Murders.
Geology
General geology
The geologic units of the Belcher Group, which forms the Belcher Islands, were deposited during the
Paleoproterozoic. Combined with other Paleoproterozoic units that occur along the edge of the
Superior Craton
The Superior Craton is a stable crustal block covering Quebec, Ontario, and southeast Manitoba in Canada, and northern Minnesota in the United States. It is the biggest craton among those formed during the Archean period. A craton is a large part ...
, the Belcher Group forms part of the
Circum-Superior Belt.
From youngest to oldest, the Belcher Group is composed of:
* Loaf Formation (
molasse)
* Omarolluk Formation (
flysch)
* Flaherty Formation (
flood basalt)
* Kipalu Formation (
iron formation)
* Mukpollo Formation (
sandstone)
* Rowatt Formation (
shallow water carbonate)
* Laddie Formation (deep marine
red bed
Red beds (or redbeds) are sedimentary rocks, typically consisting of sandstone, siltstone, and shale, that are predominantly red in color due to the presence of ferric oxides. Frequently, these red-colored sedimentary strata locally contain th ...
)
* Costello Formation (carbonate slope deposit)
* Mavor Formation (
stromatolite reef complex)
* Tukarak Formation (
shallow water carbonate)
* Fairweather Formation (
shallow water carbonate)
* Eskimo Formation (
flood basalt)
* Kasegalik Formation (
sabkha)
The oldest part of the Belcher Group, the Kasegalik Formation, was deposited between 2.0185 and 2.0154 billion years ago.
The Kasegalik Formation also contains the oldest unambiguous
Cyanobacteria
Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, blu ...
microfossils. Much of the Belcher Group strata were deposited under intertidal to shallow-water conditions, although the Mavor Formation formed a platform margin stromatolite reef complex,
and the overlying Costello and Laddie formations represent slope and deep basin deposits, respectively.
The Kipalu Formation, deposited approximately 1.88 billion years ago, is notable for being a granular
iron formation.
The Flaherty Formation basalt that composes much of the Belcher Islands was deposited between 1.87 and 1.854 billion years ago,
with the overlying Omarolluk and Loaf formations being deposited from 1.854 billion years ago until sometime after 1.83 billion years ago.
Soapstone
The occurrence of very high-quality
soapstone in the Belcher Islands supports a locally significant carving industry.
These soapstone occurrences formed when sedimentary rocks of the Belcher Group were
intruded by Haig sills and dykes approximately 1.87 billion years ago.
Most soapstone is quarried from a site on western Tukarak Island where dolomite of the Costello Formation was
intruded by hot
magma,
with
dolomite reacting with
quartz and
water under intense heat to form
talc,
calcite
Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on ...
, and
carbon dioxide:
Other minerals within the soapstone are largely
calcite
Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on ...
,
dolomite,
talc, and
chlinochlore, with minor amounts of
ilmenite.
Although most soapstone has been sourced from two quarries, the relatively widespread occurrence of Haig intrusions within the Belcher Islands suggests that there may be many more possible sources of high-quality soapstone not yet discovered.
Flora
Several species of willow (''
Salix'') form a large component of the native small shrubbery on the archipelago. These include rock willow (''
Salix vestita
''Salix vestita'', the rock willow, is a small shrub in the willow
Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge ...
''), bog willow (''
S. pedicellaris''), and Labrador willow (''
S. argyrocarpa''), as well as naturally occurring
hybrids between ''
S. arctica'' and ''
S. glauca''.
Trees cannot grow on the islands because of a lack of adequate soil.
Fauna
The main wildlife consists of
belugas The beluga whale (/bɪˈluːɡə/) (Delphinapterus leucas) is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus Delphinapterus. It is also known as the wh ...
,
walrus,
caribou
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
,
common eiders and
snowy owls all of which can be seen on the island year round. There is also a wide variety of
fish that can be caught such as
Arctic char,
cod,
capelin,
lump fish, and
sculpin
A sculpin is a type of fish that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order Scorpaeniformes.Kane, E. A. and T. E. Higham. (2012)Life in the flow lane: differences in pectoral fin morphology suggest transitions in station-holding demand a ...
. The historical relationship between the
Sanikiluaq community and the eider is the subject of a feature-length Canadian documentary film called ''
People of a Feather
''People of a Feather'' is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Joel Heath and released in 2011."Documentary about ducks in Hudson Bay investigates our role in the cycle of life". ''Prince George Citizen'', March 2, 2012. The film explores the ...
''. The director, cinematographer and biologist Joel Heath, spent seven years on the project, writing biological articles on the eider.
In 1998, the Belcher Island caribou (''Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus'') herd numbered 800.
References
Further reading
* Bell, Richard T. ''Report on Soapstone in the Belcher Islands, N.W.T''. St. Catharines, Ont: Dept. of Geological Sciences, Brock University, 1973.
* Born, David O. "Eskimo Education and the Trauma of Social Change". Social Science Notes - 1, Northern Science Research Group, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa, January 15, 1970
* Caseburg, Deborah Nancy. ''Religious Practice and Ceremonial Clothing on the Belcher Islands, Northwest Territories''. Ottawa: National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1994.
* Flaherty, Robert J. ''The Belcher Islands of Hudson Bay Their Discovery and Exploration''. Zug, Switzerland: Inter Documentation Co, 1960s.
* Fleming, Brian, and Miriam McDonald. ''A Nest Census and the Economic Potential of the Hudson Bay Eider in the South Belcher Islands, N.W.T''. Sanikiluaq, N.W.T.: Brian Fleming and Miriam McDonald, Community Economic Planners, 1987.
* Guemple, D. Lee. ''Kinship Reckoning Among the Belcher Island Eskimo''. Chicago: Dept. of Photoduplication, University of Chicago Library, 1966.
* Hydro-Québec, and Environmental Committee of Sanikiluaq. ''Community Consultation in Sanikiluaq Among the Belcher Island Inuit on the Proposed Great Whale Project''. Sanikiluaq, N.W.T.: Environmental Committee, Municipality of Sanikiluaq, 1994.
* Jonkel, Charles J. ''The Present Status of the Polar Bear in the James Bay and Belcher Islands Area''. Ottawa: Canadian Wildlife Service, 1976.
* Manning, T. H. ''Birds and Mammals of the Belcher, Sleeper, Ottawa and King George Islands, and Northwest Territories''. Ottawa: Canadian Wildlife Service, 1976.
* Oakes, Jill E. ''Utilization of Eider Down by Ungava Inuit on the Belcher Islands''.
ttawa, Ont. Canadian Home Economics Journal, 1991.
* Richards, Horace Gardiner. ''Pleistocene Fossils from the Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay''. Annals of the Carnegie Museum, v. 23, article 3. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Museum, 1940.
* Twomey, Arthur C., and Nigel Herrick. ''Needle to the North, The Story of an Expedition to Ungava and the Belcher Islands''. Houghton Mifflin, 1942.
External links
*
{{Authority control
Islands of Hudson Bay
Volcanism of Nunavut
Archipelagoes of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Uninhabited islands of Qikiqtaaluk Region
Hudson's Bay Company trading posts in Nunavut
Former populated places in the Qikiqtaaluk Region