The Canadian territory of

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) 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'' ...

was formed in April 1999, by the splitting 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. ...

. At the time of division, the governments of both territories agreed to Nunavut continuing to use the NWT's

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...

-shaped

licence plate A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate (British English), license plate (American English), or licence plate (Canadian English), is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identificatio ...

s, which had been in use since 1970. Although the design of the plates was shared, the government of the NWT held the copyright. Nunavut's version of the plate differed from the NWT's in the name of the jurisdiction at the bottom and the presence of an 'N' suffix in the serial. In 2010, the government of the NWT decided to update its version of the polar bear-shaped plate. In turn, the government of Nunavut opted to go with a new plate design. On 3 August 2011, Nunavut announced that a contest would be held to create the new plates. The contest was entered by 123 people, who between them submitted 200 designs. On 6 March 2012,

Iqaluit Iqaluit ( ; , ; ) is the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, its largest community, and its only city. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the large bay on the coast on which the city is situated. In 1987, its t ...

resident Ron Froese was named the winner. His design consisted of a night scene featuring a polar bear, an

inuksuk An inuksuk (plural inuksuit) or inukshuk (from the iu, ᐃᓄᒃᓱᒃ, plural ; alternatively in Inuinnaqtun, in Iñupiaq, in Greenlandic) is a type of stone landmark or cairn built by, and for the use of, Inuit, Iñupiat, Kalaallit, Yupi ...

, three sets of northern lights to represent the three

regions of Nunavut The Canadian territory of Nunavut, which was established in 1999 from the Northwest Territories by the 1993 Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, is divided into three regions. Though these regions have no governments of their own, Nunavut's territo ...

( Kitikmeot,

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 ...

and

Qikiqtaaluk Qikiqtaaluk (ᕿᑭᖅᑖᓗᒃ formerly Sillem Island is an uninhabited island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is the second largest (after Bylot Island) of the several hundred islands and islets that are located in Baffin Bay, ...

), and 25 stars to represent the communities of the territory. This design was first made available to motorists in July 2012.

Passenger baseplates 1999 to present

Non-passenger plates

References

External links