Sanirajak (
Inuktitut
Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...
meaning ''the shoreline''),
Syllabics: ᓴᓂᕋᔭᒃ), formerly known as Hall Beach until 27 February 2020, is an
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 ...
settlement within 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 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'' ...
, Canada, approximately south of
Igloolik
Igloolik ( Inuktitut syllabics: , ''Iglulik'', ) is an Inuit hamlet in Foxe Basin, Qikiqtaaluk Region in Nunavut, northern Canada. Because its location on Igloolik Island is close to Melville Peninsula, it is often mistakenly thought to be on ...
.
History
It was established in 1957 during the construction of a
Distant Early Warning (DEW) site. Currently the settlement is home to a
North Warning System
The North Warning System (NWS) is a joint United States and Canadian early-warning radar system for the atmospheric air defense of North America. It provides surveillance of airspace from potential incursions or attacks from across North Americ ...
() radar facility and the
Hall Beach Airport
Hall Beach Airport is located at Sanirajak, formerly Hall Beach, Nunavut, Canada, and is operated by the government of Nunavut.
Airlines and destinations
Canadian Helicopters
Canadian Helicopters Limited, formerly a part of the Canadian o ...
.
In 1971, seven
sounding rocket
A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...
s of the
Tomahawk
A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Eur ...
Sandia type were launched from Sanirajak, some reaching altitudes of .
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
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), 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 cultu ...
, Sanirajak (Hall Beach) 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.
Geography
Climate
The climate is
tundra
In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...
(
Köppen: ''ET''), without the presence of
trees
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are u ...
and
ice
Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...
for most of the year.
Summers are very short and cool, with chilly nights. Winters are long and extremely cold, lasting most of the year with little chance of a thaw.
See also
*
List of municipalities in Nunavut
Nunavut is the least populous of Canada's three territories with 36,858 residents as of 2021, but the largest territory in land area, at . Nunavut is also larger than any of Canada's ten provinces. Nunavut's 25 municipalities cover only o ...
*
Charles Francis Hall
Charles Francis Hall ( – November 8, 1871) was an American Arctic explorer, best known for his collection of Inuit testimony regarding the 1845 Franklin Expedition and the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death while leading th ...
References
Further reading
* McAlpine PJ, and NE Simpson. 1976. "Fertility and Other Demographic Aspects of the Canadian Eskimo Communities of Igloolik and Hall Beach". ''Human Biology; an International Record of Research''. 48, no. 1: 114-38.
* Wenzel, George W. 1997. "Using Harvest Research in Nunavut: An Example from Hall Beach". ''Arctic Anthropology''. 34, no. 1: 18.
{{Spaceport
Populated places in Arctic Canada
Hamlets in the Qikiqtaaluk Region
Road-inaccessible communities of Nunavut
Spaceports