Ivujivik, Quebec

Ivujivik (Inuktitut for "Place where ice accumulates because of strong currents", or "Sea-ice crash Area") is the northernmost settlement in the Canadian Province of Quebec. It is also the northernmost settlement in any Canadian province. All settlements farther north are in territories.

Geography

Ivujivik is located in the Nunavik region of the province, some 2000 kilometers (1250 miles) north of Montreal. It is near the northern tip of the Ungava Peninsula, which is in turn the northernmost part of the Labrador Peninsula. It is near Digges Sound, where Hudson Strait meets Hudson Bay. The village has an area of 35.21 square kilometers.

The area is ice-free for 20 working days a year in the Summer. There are no road links to the North American road system, nor is this (or any other) Nunavik community linked by road to any of the other villages in the region. The village is served by Ivujivik Airport.

Demographics

As of the 2006 census, the population was 349. This represents a growth of over 17% in five years, the population having been 298 in 2001. They are divided into 63 households, all families, living in a total of 68 dwellings. The population density is 9.9 persons per square kilometer. In 2001, 285 of the 298 (about 96%) persons were considered "aboriginal." (The data was not available for 2006.) As with many Inuit villages, there is a large youth contingent. 42.9% of the population is below the age of fifteen. The median age is 19.1.

As of 2001, unemployment was at 18.2 percent. The median income for the same census was $14,624 (in Canadian dollars.) 72 percent of the workforce walked or biked to work. (This information for 2006 is not yet available.)

History

As with other parts of Arctic Canada, the region has been continuously inhabited for some 4,000 years. However the Thule People, ancestors of today's Inuit, are relative newcomers, and are thought to have arrived between one and two thousand years ago. The Digges Sound area was the spot of the first encounter between Europeans and the Inuit of Nunavik. This occurred in 1610 on Henry Hudson's last mission.

The Hudson's Bay Company established a trading post on the location in 1909. A Catholic mission followed in 1938. Beginning in 1947, the modern village was established as nomadic Inuit began to settle. The Hudson's Bay Company trading post was replaced in 1967 by a local cooperative.

This was one of several Inuit villages that refused to sign the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. In protest, they formed the Inuit Tungavingat Nunamini movement. Nonetheless, it is represented today (together with most other communities in the region) by the Kativik Regional Government.

Miscellanea

In February of 2006, Ivujivik resident Lydia Angyiou saved her seven year old son and two of his friends from a polar bear attack outside the local youth center by sacrificing her body in place of the children. A local hunter named Sirqualuk Ainalik heard and ran towards the sounds and took a rifle and saved her by shooting the bear down as it attacked Lydia. The reason she managed to fight off the bear is thought to have been because of a phenomonon called hysterical strength. The presence of a polar bear in a populated area is an unusual occurrence.

External links

* [http://www.nvivujivik.ca/ Ivujivik village]
* [http://www.krg.ca/en/index.htm Kativik Regional Government]
* [http://www.nunavik-tourism.com/ Nunavik tourism]
* [http://www12.statcan.ca/english/profil01/CP01/Details/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CSD&Code1=2499140&Geo2=PR&Code2=24&Data=Count&SearchText=Ivujivik&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&Custom= Census Information]
* [http://www.nunatsiaq.com/archives/60217/news/nunavut/60217_03.html News story on Lydia Angyiou, local heroine]