Kitikmeot Region (;

Inuktitut Inuktitut ( ; , Inuktitut syllabics, syllabics ), also known as Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the North American tree line, including parts of the provinces of ...

: ''Qitirmiut'' ) is an administrative region of

Nunavut Nunavut 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'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

, Canada. It consists of the southern and eastern parts of Victoria Island with the adjacent part of the mainland as far as the

Boothia Peninsula Boothia Peninsula (; formerly ''Boothia Felix'', Inuktitut ''Kingngailap Nunanga'') is a large peninsula in Nunavut's northern Canadian Arctic, south of Somerset Island. The northern part, Murchison Promontory, is the northernmost point of ...

, together with King William Island and the southern portion of Prince of Wales Island. The regional centre is

Cambridge Bay Cambridge Bay (Inuinnaqtun: Inuktitut syllabics, Inuktitut: ; 2021 Canadian census, 2021 population 1,760; Census geographic units of Canada#Population centres, population centre 1,403) is a Hamlet (place)#Canada, hamlet located on Victoria Is ...

(population 1,760). Before 1999, Kitikmeot Region existed under slightly different boundaries as Kitikmeot Region, Northwest Territories.

Transportation

Access to the territorial capital of

Iqaluit Iqaluit is the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It is the territory's largest community and its only city, and the northernmost city in Canada. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the large bay on the coast on ...

is difficult and expensive as there are no direct flights from Kitikmeot Region communities to Iqaluit. For example, Iqaluit is approximately from Kugaaruk, the closest Kitikmeot community. A one-way flight to the capital costs between $3,000 and $4,000 (as of April 2025) and involves flying to, along with an overnight stay in,

Yellowknife Yellowknife is the capital, largest community, and the only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the outlet of t ...

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

, approximately southwest of Kugaaruk—in total, a trip of about . As is the case for the rest of Nunavut, there is no road access to the region and all places are fly-in. All five

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

have certified airports: Cambridge Bay Airport, Gjoa Haven Airport, Kugaaruk Airport, Kugluktuk Airport and Taloyoak Airport, with scheduled flights by Canadian North.

There are also four registered

aerodrome An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes inc ...

s in the region. Cambridge Bay Water Aerodrome is a

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

base open in the summer only. George Lake Aerodrome, an ice runway is only open from January to April, and serves the Back River Gold Project. Goose Lake Aerodrome also serves the Back River Gold Project and has both ice and gravel runways. Hope Bay Aerodrome serves the Hope Bay mine site and is a gravel runway. The former Doris Lake Aerodrome, was a ice runway, and was the longest in the region, it served the Doris Lake mine.

Climate

The Kitikmeot Region has a harsh

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Dfc'') and a

tundra climate The tundra climate is a polar climate sub-type located in high latitudes and high mountains. It is classified as ET according to the Köppen climate classification. It is a climate which at least one month has an average temperature high enough ...

(''Dfc'') with long, very cold winters and short, cool summers.

Politics

The region is home to the only two communities in Nunavut that voted "no" in the 1982 division plebiscite:

and Kugluktuk.Detailed Break down of Plebiscite results
/ref> Taloyoak 01

The region has four electoral districts; *

, which covers

Bathurst Inlet Bathurst Inlet, officially Kiluhiqtuq, is a deep inlet located along the northern coast of the Canadian mainland, at the east end of Coronation Gulf, into which the Burnside and Western rivers empty. The name, or its native equivalent ''Kingo ...

, Cambridge Bay and Umingmaktok. The seat is held by Pamela Gross. * Gjoa Haven, which covers the community of Gjoa Haven and is held by Tony Akoak. * Kugluktuk, which covers Kugluktuk. The seat is currently held by Bobby Anavilok. * Netsilik, which covers Taloyoak and Kugaaruk. The seat is held by Inagayuk Quqqiaq. Former districts include Akulliq, which covered Kugaaruk and Naujaat in the

Kivalliq Region The Kivalliq Region (; Inuktitut syllabics: ᑭᕙᓪᓕᖅ) is an Region, administrative List of regions of Nunavut, region of Nunavut, Canada. It consists of the portion of the mainland to the west of Hudson Bay together with Southampton Island ...

. It was the only electoral district in Nunavut to cross two regions. Nattilik, which covered Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak was held between 2004 and 2008 by Leona Aglukkaq, who went on to win the

2008 Canadian federal election The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on October 14, 2008, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the 39th Canadian Parliament, previous parliament had been dissolved by Governor General o ...

for the electoral district of Nunavut and became the Minister of Health and then the Minister of Environment in the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

. In 2007 at their AGM, Bobby Lyall, a board member of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and younger brother of Bill Lyall, suggested the formation of a political party called the ''Bloc Kitikmeot'' to run in the next

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

and to advocate for a separate Kitikmeot Territory. Bobby Lyall, along with his brother Kitikmeot Corporation president, Charlie Lyall and delegates Martina and Connie Kapolak, argued that the

Government of Nunavut The Government of Nunavut ( Inuinnaqtun ''Nunavut Kavamanga''; ) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. In modern Canadian use, the term ''Government of Nunavut'' refers specifically to the executi ...

had spent most of the infrastructure money available from the federal government in the Baffin Region (Qikiqtaaluk Region). However, the party was not formed and consequently no members ran for a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut which continues to run as a consensus government.

Communities

Hamlets

There are five hamlets in the region: *

population: 1,760 * Gjoa Haven population: 1,349 * Kugaaruk population: 1,033 * Kugluktuk population: 1,382 * Taloyoak population: 934

Other

There are three other

census subdivisions The census geographic units of Canada are the census subdivisions defined and used by Canada's federal government statistics bureau Statistics Canada to conduct the country's quinquennial census. These areas exist solely for the purposes of sta ...

in the Kitikmeot: *

population: 0 * Umingmaktok population: 0 *

Kitikmeot, Unorganized Kitikmeot, Unorganized is part of the Kitikmeot Region, Kitikmeot census division in Nunavut, Canada that covers the entire Kitikmeot Region outside the communities. There are no communities included in this area; it covers these traditional and ...

population: 0

Protected areas

* Ovayok Territorial Park * Northwest Passage Territorial Park * Kugluk/Bloody Falls Territorial Park * Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary * Wrecks of HMS ''Erebus'' and HMS ''Terror'' National Historic Site

Demographics

In the

2021 Canadian census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, 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%, whic ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, the Kitikmeot Region had a population of 6,458 living in 1,677 of its 1,954 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 6,543. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. The Kitikmeot Region also doubles as one of three census divisions in Nunavut, the others being the Kivalliq (also known as the Keewatin) and the Qikiqtaaluk (formerly known as the Baffin) regions. Of the three the Kitikmeot is the smallest in size being smaller than the Kivalliq. It has the smallest population and is the least densely populated of the three. The population is predominantly

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

(89.3%) with 0.5% other

Indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

, 0.2% North American Indian and 0.3%

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

, and 10.2% non-Indigenous.

Notes

References

External links

Kitikmeot Region information at Explore Nunavut

Kitikmeot Heritage Society

Kitikmeot Inuit Association
*
Kitikmeot Corporation
economic development
Kitikmeot School Operations
{{coord, 68, 55, N, 100, 45, W, region:CA-NU_type:adm2nd_scale:10000000, display=title, name=Kitikmeot Region Kitikmeot Region, Census divisions of Nunavut