Ivujivik, Quebec
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Ivujivik (Inuktitut for "Place where ice accumulates because of strong currents") is the northernmost settlement in the Canadian Province of Quebec.
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[edit] 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 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.
[edit] Demographics
As of the 2001 census, the population is 298. They are divided into 60 households, all families, living in a total of 64 dwellings. The population is 8.5 persons per square kilometer. 285 of the 298 (aboout 96%) persons are considered "aboriginal." As with many Inuit villages, there is a large youth contingent. 40.7% of the population is below the age of fifteen. The median age is 20.
Unemployment is at 18.2 percent. The median income is $14,624 (in Canadian dollars.) 72 percent of the workforce walks or bikes to work.
[edit] 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 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 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.
