Whapmagoostui ( cr, ᐙᐱᒫᑯᔥᑐᐃ/Wâpimâkuštui, "place of the

beluga The beluga whale (/bɪˈluːɡə/) (Delphinapterus leucas) is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus Delphinapterus. It is also known as the wh ...

") is the northernmost Cree village in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada, located at the mouth of the

Great Whale River The Great Whale River () is a river in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada. It flows from Lac Saint-Luson through Lac Bienville west to Hudson Bay. While lower section of the river (after Lac Bienville) has very powerful current, with many waterfalls (up to ...

(french: Grande Rivière de la Baleine) on the coast of Hudson Bay in Nunavik. About 906 Cree with about 650

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 Territories ...

, living in the neighbouring village of

Kuujjuarapik Kuujjuarapik (also spelled Kuujjuaraapik; iu, ᑰᔾᔪᐊᕌᐱᒃ ''little great river'') is the southernmost northern village (Inuit community) at the mouth of the Great Whale River (french: Grande Rivière de la Baleine) on the coast of H ...

. The community is accessible only by air (

Kuujjuarapik Airport Kuujjuarapik Airport is located adjacent to the Inuit community of Kuujjuarapik, Quebec, Canada. It also serves the nearby Cree community of Whapmagoostui Whapmagoostui ( cr, ᐙᐱᒫᑯᔥᑐᐃ/Wâpimâkuštui, "place of the beluga") is ...

) and, in late summer, by boat. Whapmagoostui is about north of the nearest Cree village, Chisasibi. Although the permanent cohabitation of Inuit and Cree at the mouth of the Great Whale River goes back only 1950, the two nations were rubbing shoulders in the area for a very long time, with the Inuit close to the coast and the Cree more in the interior.

Names

The village was settle on territory originally named Fort Richmond. The settlement's first official name was Poste-de-la-Baleine. The name "Whapmagoostui" ( cr, ᐙᐱᒫᑯᔥᑐᐃ/Wâpimâkuštui) is Cree for "place of the beluga".

Geography

The territory of the Cree reserved land of Whapmagoostui must be distinguished from the territory of the homonymous

Cree village municipality The following is a list of the types of local and supralocal territorial units in Quebec, including those used solely for statistical purposes, as defined by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy and compiled by the Ins ...

. The reserved land is located entirely on the north bank of the

for a distance of approximately 43 kilometers. On the other hand, it does not have any coastline on

James Bay James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost pa ...

, separated from it by the northern village and the Inuit reserve land of Kuujjuarapik. To the north and south of the Cree reserved land is the unorganized territory of Baie-d'Hudson, while the Cree village municipality of

Whapmagoostui Whapmagoostui ( cr, ᐙᐱᒫᑯᔥᑐᐃ/Wâpimâkuštui, "place of the beluga") is the northernmost Cree village in Quebec, Canada, located at the mouth of the Great Whale River (french: Grande Rivière de la Baleine) on the coast of Hudson B ...

is to the southwest, east and southeast of the Cree reserved land. The Cree reserved land includes the urbanized core of Whapmagoostui, which is also bordering that of

, like two neighboring neighborhoods of the same city.

History

The Cree have hunted and fished along the Hudson Bay coast long before the arrival of Europeans, it was not until 1820 when a

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 ...

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

was built here, known variously as Great Whale River House, Great Whale River or just Great Whale. On maps of 1851 and 1854, the post is called Whale River House and Whale House. Protestant and Catholic missions settled there in the 1880s. In 1895, a weather station was set up by the Federal Government. Medical and police services began to be offered in the first half of the 20th century. Yet the Cree would not settle here permanently and only used it as a summer encampment. In 1940 the Cree were forced to give up their nomadic way of life when the American army opened a military air base here. In 1941, the HBC post closed. After the World War II in 1948, the military base was transferred to the Canadian government. And in 1955, it began operating a

Mid-Canada Line The Mid-Canada Line (MCL), also known as the McGill Fence, was a line of radar stations running east–west across the middle of Canada, used to provide early warning of a Soviet bomber attack on North America. It was built to supplement the ...

radar station. Though the radar station was not operational for long and closed in 1965, it established the village permanently. In 1961, when the Quebec Government decided to give French names to northern settlements, the name Great Whale River was replaced with Grande-Baleine which itself was replaced a year later with Poste-de-la-Baleine. On June 28, 1978, the Cree Village Municipality of Poste-de-la-Baleine was officially established. The Cree village was then officially renamed Whapmagoostui on May 8, 1996, from then on replacing all other toponyms. In 2013, seven young men from the community journeyed for " Nishiyuu", in support of

Idle No More Idle No More is an ongoing protest movement, founded in December 2012 by four women: three First Nations women and one non-Native ally. It is a grassroots movement among the Indigenous peoples in Canada comprising the First Nations, Métis ...

Economy

Whapmagoostui was founded around a

post. The community later became the site of a military airport, now abandoned.

Hunting Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...

is still an important part of the community.

Government

The police services are provided by the Eeyou Eenou Police Force.

Demographics

Population:Statistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

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census * Population in 2021: 1,022 (2016 to 2021 population change: +0.6%) * Population in 2016: 1,016 (2011 to 2016 population change: +12.6%) * Population in 2011: 874 (2006 to 2011 population change: +7.6%) * Population in 2006: 812 (2001 to 2006 population change: +4.4%) * Population in 2001: 778 (1996 to 2001 population change: +24.3%) * Population in 1996: 626 (1991 to 1996 population change: +23.2%) * Population in 1991: 508

Transportation

The community is only accessible by air via the

and, in late summer, by boat.

Education

The Cree School Board operates the Badabin Eeyou School ( cr, ᐹᑖᐱᓐ ᐄᔨᔨᐤ ᒋᔅᑯᑎᒫᑑᑭᒥᒄ), which includes the Meeyow Bee Nooquow School. In 1982, the school was built, and in 1989, the first high school class graduated.Badabin Eeyou School
" Cree School Board. Retrieved on September 22, 2017.

References

External links

Kuujjauraapik official site
{{Grand Council of the Crees Cree villages in Quebec Hudson's Bay Company trading posts Populated places on Hudson Bay Eeyou Istchee (territory) Road-inaccessible communities of Quebec 1821 establishments in the British Empire