Rankin Inlet, which fronts to

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

, is an

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 ...

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

on the Kudlulik Peninsula in

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 is the largest hamlet and second-largest settlement in Nunavut after the territorial capital,

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 ...

. Rankin Inlet is the regional centre for 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 ...

. In the

1995 Nunavut capital plebiscite A plebiscite on a capital city was held on 11 December 1995 in the area of the Northwest Territories that was to be split off into the new territory of Nunavut. Voters were given the options of either Iqaluit or Rankin Inlet. Iqaluit was chosen ...

, voters chose

over Rankin Inlet to become the territorial capital of Nunavut.

Inuktitut

Rankin Inlet is also known in

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 ...

as ;

Inuktitut syllabics Inuktitut syllabics (, or , ) is an abugida-type writing system used in Canada by the Inuktitut-speaking Inuit of the Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Nunavut and the Nunavik region of Quebec. In 1976, the Language Commission of ...

: ᑲᖏᕿᓂᖅResearch Database
/ref> or ''Kangirliniq'', ᑲᖏᖅᖠᓂᖅ, or ''Kangir&iniq'' meaning ''deep bay/inlet''.

History

Archaeological sites suggest the area was inhabited around 1200 CE by

Thule people The Thule ( , ) or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by 1000 AD and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people of the ...

who were

bowhead whale The bowhead whale (''Balaena mysticetus''), sometimes called the Greenland right whale, Arctic whale, and polar whale, is a species of baleen whale belonging to the family Balaenidae and is the only living representative of the genus '' Balaena' ...

hunters. By the late 18th century, they were succeeded by

Kivallirmiut Kivallirmiut, also called the Caribou Inuit (/ᑭᕙᓪᓕᕐᒥᐅᑦ), barren-ground caribou hunters, are Inuit who live west of Hudson Bay in Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, between 61° and 65° N and 90° and 102° W in Northern Canada. The Dan ...

(Caribou

) who hunted the inland

barren-ground caribou The barren-ground caribou (''Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus''; but subject to a recent taxonomic revision) is a subspecies of the reindeer (or the caribou in North America) that is found in the Canadian territories of Nunavut and the Northwest ...

, and fished for

Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes, as well as Arctic and subarctic coastal waters in the Holarctic realm, Holarctic. Distribution and habitat It Spaw ...

along the coast, as well as the Diane River and Meliadine River. The

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

(HBC) established itself throughout the bay in the 17th century, and after 1717, sloops from

Churchill, Manitoba Churchill is a subarctic port town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leadi ...

traded north to Rankin Inlet and beyond. There was an unfortunate expedition shipwrecked on Marble Island, east of Rankin Inlet: James Knight's expedition died on the island around 1722. It was surveyed by

William Moor William Moor (died 1765) was a British sailor and explorer associated with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and the annual supply ships to the bay area. Moor was involved, under the supervision of his cousin, Christopher Middleton, with voyages ...

in 1747. HBC contact was followed in the mid-19th century by American and European whalers, who were followed by

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

rs trapping

Arctic fox The Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus''), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small species of fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Tundra#Arctic tundra, Arctic tundra biome. I ...

es for their skins in the early 20th century, followed by missionaries who brought a written language system. The town itself was founded by the owners of the

Rankin Inlet Mine Rankin Inlet, which fronts to Hudson Bay, is an Inuit hamlet (place)#Canada, hamlet on the Kudlulik Peninsula in Nunavut, Canada. It is the largest hamlet and second-largest settlement in Nunavut after the territorial capital, Iqaluit. Rankin In ...

, just north of Johnston Cove. Starting in 1957, the mine produced

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

and

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

s from an underground operation. The

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun M ...

was the first case of

miners in Canada. When the mine closed in 1962, Rankin Inlet had a population of approximately 500 Inuit, and 70-80% had been mine workers. Several unsuccessful attempts followed to develop alternate sources of income for the town. These included a pig ranch in 1969 and a chicken-raising venture in the 1970s. Both animal groups were fed a diet of local fish, which gave the meat an unpleasant flavour. It was also common for the animals to freeze to death or be eaten by

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can Hybrid (biology), interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear ...

s. The Meliadine Gold Mine operated by Agnico Eagle opened in 2019 and is expected to produce until at least 2032. It is the second mine opened in the low Arctic, after the

Meadowbank Gold Mine The Meadowbank Gold Mine is an open pit gold mine operated by Agnico-Eagle Mines in the Kivalliq district of Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was sep ...

, and is both an underground and

open-pit mine Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful ore or ...

. From 1985 to 1997, Kivalliq Hall operated as a boarding school for Inuit pupils; it had been recognized as a residential school for the pre-1995 period when it was operated by the Federal government. Voters chose Iqaluit over Rankin Inlet to become the new territorial capital of Nunavut in the

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 ...

, Rankin Inlet had a population of 2,975 living in 826 of its 1,026 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 2,842. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Arts and culture

Rankin Inlet is not only notable for its artists and artisans; it is recognized as housing the only Inuit fine-arts ceramics production facility in the world. Community artists work in a variety of media including ceramics, prints, bronze castings, carvings, watercolour and drawing. The Matchbox Gallery, founded in 1987, showcases art work and provides educational resources. The community is served by ''

Kivalliq News ''Kivalliq News'' is a Canadian weekly newspaper, published in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut by Northern News Services. The newspaper publishes content in both English and Inuktitut Inuktitut ( ; , Inuktitut syllabics, syllabics ), also known as Ea ...

'', a weekly newspaper which publishes in both English and Inuktitut. The annual spring festival Pakallak Tyme includes a fishing competition and snowmobile races.

Transportation

Due to the remoteness of the community and the fact that there is no all-season road to access the community, the primary mode of year-round transportation into and out of the community is by airplane. Two passenger airlines fly into the hamlet:

Calm Air Calm Air International LP. is a full service airline, offering passenger, charter and freight services in northern Manitoba and the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut. It is owned by Exchange Income Corporation with its main base in Winnipeg, Manitoba. ...

and

Canadian North Bradley Air Services, operating as Canadian North, is a wholly Inuit-owned airline headquartered in Kanata, Ontario, Canada. It operates scheduled passenger services to communities in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the Nunavik region ...

. Calm Air flies direct to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, with round-trip service twice daily on weekdays. Rankin Inlet serves as a hub for transit further into the

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

region. Destinations from Rankin Inlet include

Arviat Arviat (, Inuktitut syllabics, syllabics: ᐊᕐᕕᐊᑦ; formerly called Eskimo Point until 1 June 1989) is a predominantly Inuit Hamlet (place)#Canada, hamlet located on the western shore of Hudson Bay in the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut, Canada ...

, Baker Lake,

Chesterfield Inlet Chesterfield Inlet (Inuit: ''Igluligaarjuk'')Issenman, Betty. ''Sinews of Survival: The living legacy of Inuit clothing''. UBC Press, 1997. pp252-254 is an inlet in Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is an arm of northwestern Hudson Bay, an ...

Coral Harbour Coral Harbour (Inuktitut: Salliq / Salliit, Syllabics: ᓴᓪᓕᖅ / ᓴᓪᓖᑦ, formerly Southampton Island) is a small Inuit community that is located on Southampton Island, Kivalliq Region, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Its name ...

Naujaat Naujaat (), Anglicised and officially known until 2 July 2015 as Repulse Bay, is an Inuit hamlet situated on the Arctic Circle. It is located on the shores of Hudson Bay, at the south end of the Melville Peninsula, in the Kivalliq Region of Nun ...

, and Whale Cove. Canadian North also serves the community, with service to

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

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 ...

, and

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, on a milk-run that flies very infrequently. The community is also serviced by sealifts originating from Montreal.

Broadband communications

The community has been served by the

Qiniq Qiniq may refer to: * Qiniq (tribe), a historical Oghuz Turkic tribe * Qiniq (company), a Canadian communications company {{DAB ...

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 Canada SSi Canada (formerly known as SSi Micro Ltd.) is a Canadian wireless broadband internet service provider primarily serving remote areas that lack terrestrial service options. SSi was established in 1990 by Jeffrey Philipp and is headquartered in Y ...

. In 2017, the network was upgraded to 4G LTE technology, and 2G-GSM for mobile voice.

Geography

Rankin Inlet is notable for the chilling wind, severe winter storms, and water resources. The Diana River empties from the north into the hamlet's namesake inlet. The Kivalliq Region has several lakes, the largest being Nipissa Lake, and is flanked by two bays, Melvin Bay on the west and Prairie Bay on the east. Paniqtoq Peninsula, on the inlet's far western shore, provides a barrier shelter for the smaller Kivalliq Region. Dozens of islands dot the inlet, including Thomson Island, the largest, and the Barrier Islands, the longest chain. These natural resources attract tourists who hunt, fish, and canoe. The Iqalugaarjuup Nunanga Territorial Park, northwest of Rankin Inlet, is notable for hiking, fishing, bird watching and

Thule Thule ( ; also spelled as ''Thylē'') is the most northerly location mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography. First written of by the Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia (modern-day Marseille, France) in about 320 BC, i ...

archaeological sites.

Climate

Rankin Inlet has a

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 Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Dfc''; Trewartha: ''Ecld''), just short of a

tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...

climate. It is above the

tree line The tree line is the edge of a habitat at which trees are capable of growing and beyond which they are not. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually low ...

. Temperatures stay below freezing from late September to early June. Although the climate is

subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of hemiboreal regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Fennoscandia, Northwestern Russia, Siberia, and the Cair ...

, temperatures rise and fall too rapidly and do not stay above for long enough (30 days) for trees to grow. Under the alternate formula for determining the boundary between Arctic and subarctic climates posited by

Otto Nordenskjöld Nils Otto Gustaf Nordenskjöld (6 December 1869 – 2 June 1928) was a Swedish geologist, geographer, and polar explorer. Early life Nordenskjöld was born in Hässleby in Småland in eastern Sweden, in a family that included his maternal unc ...

, however, Rankin Inlet, along with

and Baker Lake, qualify as Arctic based on the relationship between the temperatures of the coldest and warmest months; in the case of Rankin Inlet, with a coldest-month (January) mean of , said boundary for the warmest month would be using the Nordenskjöld formula and Rankin Inlet's warmest month (July) averages only . Beginning on 16 January 2008, Rankin Inlet endured the longest recorded

blizzard A blizzard is a severe Winter storm, snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow th ...

in Canada. Wind speed was or above, with gusts to , and

wind chill Wind chill (popularly wind chill factor) is the sensation of cold produced by the wind for a given ambient air temperature on exposed skin as the air motion accelerates the rate of heat transfer from the body to the surrounding atmosphere. Its va ...

values were as low as . This blizzard lasted 7 days 5 hours.

Notable people

Jack Anawak Jack Iyerak Anawak (born September 26, 1950) is a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Nunatsiaq in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1997. He sat in the house as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. Foll ...

, federal and territorial level Inuk politician * Levinia Brown, territorial level Inuk politician *

Tagak Curley Tagak Curley (born 1944) is an Inuk leader, politician and businessman from Nunavut. As a prominent figure in the negotiations that led to the creation of Nunavut, Tagak is considered a living Father of Confederation in Canada. He was born in ...

, Inuk politician and a prominent figure in the negotiations that led to the creation of Nunavut * Piita Irniq, Inuk politician and

commissioner of Nunavut The commissioner of Nunavut (; Inuinnaqtun: ''Kamisinauyuq Nunavunmut''; ) is the Government of Canada's representative in the territory of Nunavut. The current commissioner since January 14, 2021 is Eva Aariak who served as Premier of Nunavut, Pre ...

* Peter Ittinuar, first federal level Inuk politician * Victoria Kakuktinniq, Inuk fashion designer *

Jose Kusugak Jose Kusugak (2 May 1950 – 18 or 19 January 2011) was an Inuk politician from Repulse Bay, Northwest Territories (now Naujaat, Nunavut), Canada. He was an activist for Inuit rights, language and culture. Early life Kusugak was born in Repul ...

, Inuk politician, president of

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (Inuktitut syllabics: , meaning "Inuit are united in Canada"), previously known as the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (Eskimo Brotherhood of Canada), is a nonprofit organization in Canada that represents over 65,000 Inuit acro ...

and

Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI; , ) is the legal representative of the Inuit of Nunavut for the purposes of native treaty rights and treaty negotiation. The presidents of NTI, Makivik Corporation, Nunatsiavut, and the Inuvialuit Regional Co ...

, married to Nellie Kusugak *

Lorne Kusugak Lorne Kusugak is a Canadian politician who is the member of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut for the electoral district of Rankin Inlet South. Prior to becoming an MLA, Kusugak was the mayor of Rankin Inlet. Kusugak served as the Nunavut Mi ...

, territorial level Inuk politician *

Michael Kusugak Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak (Inuktitut: ᐊᕐᕚᕐᓗᒃ ᑯᓱᒐᖅ) is a Canadian Inuk storyteller and children's writer, who tells stories about Arctic and Inuit culture. He was born April 27, 1948, just north of Chesterfield Inlet, at a p ...

, Inuk storyteller and children's writer *

Nellie Kusugak Nellie Taptaqut Kusugak (born 1955) is a Canadian educator who served as the fifth commissioner of Nunavut from June 2015 to June 2020. Early life Kusugak is from Rankin Inlet. Kusugak received a BEd in 1996 through the Nunavut Teachers Edu ...

, Inuk educator and commissioner of Nunavut, married to Jose Kusugak * Manitok Thompson, territorial level Inuk politician * John Tiktak, Inuk sculptor *

Hunter Tootoo Hunter A. Tootoo (Inuktitut: Hᐊᓐᑕ ᑐᑐ; born August 18, 1963) is a Canadian politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Nunavut from 2015 to 2019. Elected as a Liberal to the House of Commons, he was appointed Minister of ...

, former Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard *

Jordin Tootoo Jordin John Kudluk Tootoo (; born February 2, 1983) is a Canadian former professional hockey player, who played for the Nashville Predators, Detroit Red Wings, New Jersey Devils and Chicago Blackhawks. Of Inuit, Ukrainian and English descent, h ...

, former

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

player

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Mining communities in Nunavut Populated places on Hudson Bay Hamlets in the Kivalliq Region Road-inaccessible communities of Nunavut