Kimmirut ( Syllabics: ᑭᒻᒥᕈᑦ ; known as Lake Harbour until 1 January 1996) is a community in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located on the shore of

Hudson Strait Hudson Strait (french: Détroit d'Hudson) links the Atlantic Ocean and Labrador Sea to Hudson Bay in Canada. This strait lies between Baffin Island and Nunavik, with its eastern entrance marked by Cape Chidley in Newfoundland and Labrador ...

on Baffin Island's

Meta Incognita Peninsula The Meta Incognita Peninsula is located on southern Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It is bounded by Hudson Strait to the south, and Frobisher Bay to the north. The hamlet of Kimmirut is on the Hudson Strait on the southern ...

. Kimmirut means "heel", and refers to a rocky outcrop in the inlet. It was at one time a

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

trading post, and a

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

post. The Canadian explorer

J. Dewey Soper Joseph Dewey Soper (May 5, 1893 – November 2, 1982) was a widely traveled Canadian Arctic ornithologist, explorer, zoologist, and prolific author. Early years Soper was raised near Rockwood, Ontario where he developed an interest in wil ...

used these posts as headquarters during his explorations in the 1920s and 1930s. The community is served by Kimmirut Airport and by annual supply

sealift Sealift is a term used predominantly in military logistics and refers to the use of cargo ships for the deployment of military assets, such as weaponry, vehicles, military personnel, and supplies. It complements other means of transport, such a ...

. A proposal in 2005 for a road to

Iqaluit Iqaluit ( ; , ; ) is the capital of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian territory of Nunavut, its largest community, and its only city. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the Frobisher Bay, large bay on the c ...

was determined to be impractical owing to roundabout routing over the mountains.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, Kimmirut had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Image gallery

Image:kimmirut-boat-launch.jpg, Boat launch in Kimmirut. The "heel" can be seen to the left. 2006 File:Hudson's Bay Company in Lake Harbour (now called Kimmirut), Baffin Island (1922).jpg, Hudson's Bay Company in Lake Harbour, 1922 Image:kimmirut-HBC.jpg, Hudson's Bay Company, 2006 Image:kimmirut-soper-house.jpg, The Soper House dates back to the 1930s. 2006. Image:kimmirut-2006.jpg, View of Kimmirut, 2006 Image:Over looking Hudson's Straight Inlet.jpg , View of Southeast Kimmirut, 2017

Broadband communications

The community has been served by the Qiniq network since 2005. Qiniq is a fixed wireless service to homes and businesses, connecting to the outside world via a satellite backbone. The Qiniq network is designed and operated by SSI Micro. In 2017, the network was upgraded to 4G LTE technology, and 2G-GSM for mobile voice.

Climate

Kimmirut has an Arctic climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ET), although it is well outside the Arctic Circle. The city has cold winters and short summers that are too cool to permit the growth of trees. It is north of the

tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snow ...

, and average monthly temperatures are below freezing for eight months of the year. Kimmirut averages just over of precipitation annually, wetter than many other localities in the Arctic Archipelago, with the summer being the wettest season.

Notable residents

* Joe Arlooktoo * Nakasuk *

Anna Kingwatsiak Anna Kingwatsiak (1911–1971) was an Inuit visual artist. Personal life Kingwatsiak was born in a camp near Kimmirut in 1911, on the south shore of Baffin Island in what is now Nunavut. She was the oldest child in an artistic family, as several o ...

Oopik Pitsuilak Oopik Pitsuilak is an Inuit, Inuk carver and sculptor who works in the Cape Dorset community of Inuit artists in Canada. Early life She was born in Lake Harbour, Northwest Territories, now Kimmirut, Nunavut, in 1946. Pitsuilak was raised in Lak ...

Pudlo Pudlat Pudlo Pudlat (Pudlo), (February 4, 1916 - December 28, 1992) was a Canadian Inuit artist whose preferred medium was a combination of acrylic wash and coloured pencils. His works are in the collections of most Canadian museums. At his death in 1992, ...

Jamasie Teevee Jamasie Teevee (July 2, 1910 – October 31, 1985) was an Inuit artist. Early life He was born in the Kimmirut (Lake Harbour) area of Nunavut. Career He began to draw in the early 1960s, first focusing on engraving copper plates. However, th ...

References

External links

Official site - about

Photos of RCMP and HBC employees
{{Authority control Populated places in Baffin Island Hudson's Bay Company trading posts in Nunavut Hamlets in the Qikiqtaaluk Region Road-inaccessible communities of Nunavut