The Ottawa Islands (

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territorie ...

: ''Arviliit'' or ''Arqvilliit'' in Inuktitut meaning "place where you see bowhead whales") are a group of currently uninhabited islands situated in the eastern edge of Canada's

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 ...

. The group comprises 24 small islands, located at approximately 60N 80W.Columbia Gazetteer of North America
, accessed May 30, 2007 The main islands include

Booth Island Booth Island (or Wandel Island) is a rugged, Y-shaped island, long and rising to off the northwest coast of Kyiv Peninsula in Graham Land, Antarctica in the northeastern part of the Wilhelm Archipelago. The narrow passage between the island an ...

, Bronson Island,

Eddy Island Eddy Island is an uninhabited island in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. Situated in the eastern portion of Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲ� ...

, Gilmour Island, J. Gordon Island, Pattee Island, and Perley Island. The highest point is on Gilmour Island, which rises to over . Located a short distance off the northwest coast of Quebec's

Ungava Peninsula The Ungava Peninsula of Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, is bounded by Hudson Bay to the west, Hudson Strait to the north, and Ungava Bay to the east. This peninsula is part of the Labrador Peninsula, and covers about . Its northernmost point is C ...

, they, like the other coastal islands in Hudson Bay, were historically part of the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

, and became

Crown Land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it ...

upon the creation of

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the '' Nunavut Act'' and the '' Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act'' ...

in 1999. Nunavik Inuit have occupied these islands since time immemorial and gained constitutionally-protected harvest and access rights under the Nunavik Inuit Land Claim Agreement signed in 2007.

Geography

The Ottawa Islands are situated on the barren and rocky east coast of Hudson Bay."Hudson Bay." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press., 2003
Answers.com 26 Jan. 2007
Accessed 01-26-2007. By 1610 Hudson Bay had been explored and named by

Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States. In 1607 and 16 ...

in his quest for a

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the ...

. It wasn't until 1631 when

Luke Fox Luke Foxe (or Fox) (20 October 1586 – c. 15 July 1635) was an English explorer, born in Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire, who searched for the Northwest Passage across North America. In 1631, he sailed much of the western Hudson Bay before ...

e (or Fox) on a voyage from " Vltimum Vale" (

Cape Henrietta Maria A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. T ...

), near 57° 40', indicated that "Mr. Hudson calls those islands by the name of 'Lancaster's Iles.' " According to historian T.H. Manning, there is no other record of Henry Hudson naming islands in that region.Manning, T.H., "Explorations on the East Coast of Hudson Bay". ''The Geographical Journal'', Vol. 109, No. 1/3 (Jan. - Mar., 1947), pp. 58-75,
Republished
by JSTOR, Accessed 01-26-2007. A little further north, near 58° 5',

Capt. Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Foxe says "Wee came by a small Iland at clocke one, the highest I haue seene since I came from Brook Cobham; the deep 70 fathome. I named the ''Ile Sleepe''." Foxe named the islands just north of Lancaster Isle, "Ile Sleepe". According to Manning, the name, having eventually changed to "Sleeper Island" or "The Sleepers", could be used "for the islands between and including Lancaster and Ottawa Islands." Hudson bay explorer

Further coordinate readings

Fauna

The Ottawa Islands and the southwardly

Belcher Islands 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 belo ...

are a breeding ground for "the Hudson Bay subspecies of the

Common Eider The common eider (pronounced ) (''Somateria mollissima''), also called St. Cuthbert's duck or Cuddy's duck, is a large ( in body length) sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breed ...

". In 1765 commercial whaling of bowheads was started by Churchill-based

sloops A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular ...

of the

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 ...

with some whales being harvested in the Ottawa Islands.Government of Canada - Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Harvesting
Chapter 14.5.3, page 14-19. Information originally sourced from (Flaherty 1918; Newspaper Clipping in PAC, MG 29, A58, Vol 8.,File 5 in Reeves and Mitchell 1987). Accessed 06-11-2007 The islands are important habitat for polar bears and many waterfowl. The waters surrounding the islands are important habitat for seals, walrus and bowhead and beluga whales.

References

Bibliography

*Manning, T. H. ''Birds and Mammals of the Belcher, Sleeper, Ottawa and King George Islands, and Northwest Territories''. Ottawa: Canadian Wildlife Service, 1976. *Manning, T.H., "Ruins of Eskimo Stone Houses on the East Side of Hudson Bay". ''American Antiquity'', Vol. 11, No. 3 (Jan., 1946), pp. 201–202. , Republished by JSTOR
Web Link
Accessed 01-26-2007.

External links

Toparama - Topographic Maps from Natural Resources Canada2006 Beluga Statistics From Weekly Reports
(Contains a map of the region)
The Atlas of Canada
map of Ottawa Islands from 1976
Plant and Phytoplankton study of Hudson Bay
{{Islands of the Qikiqtaaluk Region Archipelagoes of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago Islands of Hudson Bay Uninhabited islands of Qikiqtaaluk Region