Kugluktuk (, ;

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 ...

: ; ), known as Coppermine until 1 January 1996, is a

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 ...

at the mouth of the

Coppermine River The Coppermine River is a river in the North Slave Region, North Slave and Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Kitikmeot regions of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada. It is long. It rises in Lac de Gras, a small lake near Great Slave Lake, a ...

in the

Kitikmeot Region Kitikmeot Region (; Inuktitut: ''Qitirmiut'' ) is an List of regions of Nunavut, administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. It consists of the southern and eastern parts of Victoria Island with the adjacent part of the mainland as far as the Boo ...

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 Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, on

Coronation Gulf Coronation Gulf lies between Victoria Island (Canada), Victoria Island and mainland Nunavut in Canada. To the northwest it connects with Dolphin and Union Strait and thence the Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean; to the northeast it connects with De ...

, southwest of

Victoria Island Victoria Island () is a large island in the Arctic Archipelago that straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the eighth-largest island in the world, and at in area, it is Canada's second-largest i ...

. It is Nunavut's westernmost community, near the border with the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

. The area's traditional language is

Inuinnaqtun Inuinnaqtun (, ; natively meaning 'like the real human beings/peoples') is an Inuit language. It is spoken in the central Canadian Arctic. It is related very closely to Inuktitut, and some scholars, such as Richard Condon, believe that Inuinna ...

, which is written in the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...

, rather than the syllabics of the Inuktitut writing system. Like

Cambridge Bay Cambridge Bay (Inuinnaqtun: Inuktitut syllabics, Inuktitut: ; 2021 Canadian census, 2021 population 1,760; Census geographic units of Canada#Population centres, population centre 1,403) is a Hamlet (place)#Canada, hamlet located on Victoria Is ...

Bathurst Inlet Bathurst Inlet, officially Kiluhiqtuq, is a deep inlet located along the northern coast of the Canadian mainland, at the east end of Coronation Gulf, into which the Burnside and Western rivers empty. The name, or its native equivalent ''Kingo ...

, and Umingmaktok, syllabics are rarely seen and are used mainly by the Government of Nunavut.

History

Prior to European contact,

Dene The Dene people () are an Indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal, subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term ...

travelled to the area and interacted acrimoniously with nearby

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 ...

and

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 ...

, sometimes ending in deadly raids against each other (see Bloody Falls massacre). In July 1821, the British

Coppermine expedition The Coppermine expedition of 1819–1822 was a British overland undertaking to survey and chart the area from Hudson Bay to the north coast of North America, eastwards from the mouth of the Coppermine River. The expedition was organised by the R ...

team reached the mouth of the Coppermine River, just next to the present day community of Kugluktuk. Arctic explorers Peter Warren Dease and Thomas Simpson reached this area in 1838 to survey from

at the mouth of Coppermine River to southern

Boothia Peninsula Boothia Peninsula (; formerly ''Boothia Felix'', Inuktitut ''Kingngailap Nunanga'') is a large peninsula in Nunavut's northern Canadian Arctic, south of Somerset Island. The northern part, Murchison Promontory, is the northernmost point of ...

. Dease noted that while his group camped near Bloody Falls, the Copper Inuit would flee when his party approached their camps. Between 1913 and 1916, anthropologist

Diamond Jenness Diamond Jenness, (February 10, 1886, Wellington, New Zealand – November 29, 1969, Chelsea, Quebec, Canada) was one of Canada's greatest early scientists and a pioneer of Canadian anthropology. Early life (1886–1910) Family and childho ...

studied and recorded the traditional lifestyle of Inuit around Kugluktuk. Danish fur trader Christian Klengenberg constructed a trading post in 1916 which formed a permanent year-round community known as Fort Hearne. The Hudson Bay Company established a trading post at this community in 1927. Fort Hearne was renamed to Coppermine in 1930. The

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

built a police station in 1932. The former name of the community, Coppermine, was named after its namesake Coppermine River. An Indian federal day school (Federal Tent Hostel at Coppermine) opened in 1951 and closed in 1959. Construction of the

Distant Early Warning Line The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the north coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska (see List o ...

(DEW Line) sites, Lady Franklin Point and Bernard Harbour, on the opposite shore of

in 1955 created some employment opportunities for the locals. In 1982, a division plebiscite was held. About 80% of the population in what is now Nunavut voted in favour of division; Coppermine was one of only two communities to vote against it,

was the other. In 1996, a healing ceremony between Dene and Inuit took place to reconcile for historical grievances. The community also changed its name from Coppermine to Kugluktuk on January 1, 1996. In June 2004, a fuel line broke in the centre of Kugluktuk, spilling of

diesel fuel Diesel fuel, also called diesel oil, heavy oil (historically) or simply diesel, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a re ...

Demographics

As a

census subdivision The census geographic units of Canada are the census subdivisions defined and used by Canada's federal government statistics bureau Statistics Canada to conduct the country's quinquennial census. These areas exist solely for the purposes of st ...

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 ...

, Kugluktuk had a population of 1,382 living in 397 of its 438 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,491. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. As a

designated place A designated place (DPL) is a type of community or settlement identified by Statistics Canada that does not meet the criteria used to define municipalities or population centres. DPLs are delineated every 5 years for the Canadian census as the s ...

in the 2021 census, Kugluktuk had a population of 956 living in 265 of its 296 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,057. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Infrastructure

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.

Education

Kugluktuk's two schools are Kugluktuk High School and Jimmy Hikok Ilihakvik.

Geography

Kugluktuk is on the shore of the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

. The surrounding landscape is dominated by the rocky and often barren

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield ( ), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), th ...

. The region 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 ...

, but barely so, with July having an average of . It has cold, dry winters, and moderate snowfall that is relatively high for its latitude. Trees do exist in the region due to

microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often slightly but sometimes substantially. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square m ...

, but they are dwarfed and extremely sparse.

Flora

Plant growth in the region during the summer includes small shrubs, grass, moss, lichens, blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, various flowers, and dwarf willow and birch trees.

Climate

Kugluktuk features a

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

: ''Dfc''); like most of mainland

; with wet summers and dry winters. It is in the transitional zone to a cold tundra climate (''ET''), but falls outside of it, since its warmest month of July surpasses the isotherm, averaging . The highest temperature ever recorded in Kugluktuk was on 15 July 1989. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 2 February 1968.

Notable people

* Stacey Aglok MacDonald * Joe Allen Evyagotailak *

Donald Havioyak Donald Havioyak (born 1950) is a territorial-level politician in Canada. He served as a member of the Nunavut Legislature. Havioyak was elected to the Nunavut legislature in the 1999 Nunavut general election. He won the Kugluktuk electoral distr ...

* Lena Pedersen * John Sperry

Gallery

File:Kugluktuk NT.jpg, Kugluktuk NU File:Lifeguard Station at Kugluktuk.jpg, A lifeguard is stationed at the beach on hot days File:Coppermine 1980s.jpg,

women preparing to make

bannock Bannock may mean: * Bannock (British and Irish food), a kind of bread, cooked on a stone or griddle served mainly in Scotland but consumed throughout the British Isles * Bannock (Indigenous American food), various types of bread, usually prepare ...

at Kugluktuk File:Wildflowers, Kugluktuk, Nunavut (2008).jpg, Wildflowers in Kugluktuk File:Kugluktuk High School.jpg, Grades 6 to 12 with a student population of about 150 File:Kugluktuk RC Church.jpg, The Roman Catholic Church at Kugluktuk

Notes

References

Office of the Languages Commissioner of Nunavut – PDF Dialect Map