Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape) | |
Location of Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park in Canada | |
Location | Nunavut, Canada |
Nearest city | Iqaluit |
Coordinates | 63°46′18″N69°39′20″W / 63.771686°N 69.655617°W |
Area | 44.3 km2 |
Governing body | Nunavut Parks & Special Places, Government of Nunavut |
Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park (known as Iqaluit Kuunga in the Inuktitut language) is a Canadian territorial park on Baffin Island in the territory of Nunavut.
The park is located 1 km away from Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut territory, to the west. From the centre of Iqaluit it is an easy 30-minute walk. There are cabs available in Iqaluit as well.
The park covers 148 hectares. [1]
In 1861, American explorer Charles Francis Hall became the first non-indigenous person to journey to the area, when he reached the place with Inuit help. He became the first non-indigenous person to realise that Frobisher Bay was a bay and not a North-West passage route to China as was believed. He went on to name many places in the area after his financial backers. The Sylvia Grinnell river was named after the daughter of his friend and benefactor Henry Grinnell. The river lends its name to the park. Iqaluit in Inuktitut means 'place of many fish' a reference to the Arctic char which thrives in the river. The Inuktitut for the park is Iqaluit Kuunga which means Iqaluit river. The park's landscape was formed by ice age glaciation 7100 years ago. [2]
The Sylvia Grinnell river flows through the park. A viewing platform 55 metres above the falls offers an impressive view. [3]
The park also has archaeological sites of the Dorset culture and the Thule people. [2] [4] Stone cairns and Thule ruins can be seen in the park.
The caribou is the most important animal seen in the park. Arctic fox, Arctic hare and Polar bear are also seen in the park. The park is also home to around 40 avian species in the summer and spring seasons. They include Gyrfalcon, Common ringed plover, American golden plover, Horned lark, Rock ptarmigan, Snow bunting, Semipalmated sandpiper, Red-throated loon, Lapland longspur, Northern wheatear and Peregrine falcon. Commercial fishery for Arctic Char in the river was banned in 1965. Presently, a permit is required to fish in the river for non-Inuit. [2] [5] [6] One of the most common plants in the park is purple mountain saxifrage, the official flower of Nunavut.
There are various hiking routes varying in difficulty and length with trail markers through the park. Sylvia Grinnell River is a popular spot for fishing but for tourists a license is nessary. Camping in the park is possible, and near the riverbank there are plateaus providing shelter for campers. [7]
Iqaluit is the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It is the territory's 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. The northernmost city in Canada, its traditional Inuktitut name was restored in 1987.
The Inuit languages are a closely related group of indigenous American languages traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and the adjacent subarctic regions as far south as Labrador. The Inuit languages are one of the two branches of the Eskimoan language family, the other being the Yupik languages, which are spoken in Alaska and the Russian Far East. Most Inuit people live in one of three countries: Greenland, a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark; Canada, specifically in Nunavut, the Inuvialuit Settlement Region of the Northwest Territories, the Nunavik region of Quebec, and the Nunatsiavut and NunatuKavut regions of Labrador; and the United States, specifically in northern and western Alaska.
Baffin Island, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is 507,451 km2 (195,928 sq mi) with a population density of 0.03/km²; the population was 13,039 according to the 2021 Canadian census; and it is located at 68°N70°W. It also contains the city of Iqaluit, which is the capital of Nunavut.
Pond Inlet is a small, predominantly Inuit community in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada, located on northern Baffin Island. To the Inuit the name of the place "is and always has been Mittimatalik." The Scottish explorer Sir John Ross had named an arm of the sea that separates Bylot Island from Baffin Island as Pond's Bay, and the hamlet now shares that name. On 29 August 1921, the Hudson's Bay Company opened its trading post near the Inuit camp and named it Pond Inlet, marking the expansion of its trading empire into the High Arctic.
Ukkusiksalik National Park is a national park in Nunavut, Canada. It covers 20,885 km2 (8,064 sq mi) of tundra and coastal mudflats south of the Arctic Circle and the hamlet of Naujaat, from Hudson Bay's Roes Welcome Sound towards the western Barrenlands and the source of Brown River. The park surrounds Wager Bay, a 100 km (62 mi)-long inlet on the Hudson Bay. Although the smallest of Nunavut's four national parks, it is the sixth largest in Canada. Its name relates to steatite found there: Ukkusiksalik means "where there is material for the stone pot".
Rankin Inlet is an Inuit hamlet on the Kudlulik Peninsula in Nunavut, Canada. It is the largest hamlet and second-largest settlement in Nunavut, after the territorial capital, Iqaluit. On the northwestern Hudson Bay, between Chesterfield Inlet and Arviat, it is the regional centre for the Kivalliq Region.
The Qikiqtaaluk Region, Qikiqtani Region or the Baffin Region is the easternmost, northernmost, and southernmost administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. Qikiqtaaluk is the traditional Inuktitut name for Baffin Island. Although the Qikiqtaaluk Region is the most commonly used name in official contexts, several notable public organizations, including Statistics Canada prior to the 2021 Canadian census, use the older term Baffin Region.
Inuktitut, also known as Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the North American tree line, including parts of the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, to some extent in northeastern Manitoba as well as the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. It is one of the aboriginal languages written with Canadian Aboriginal syllabics.
Cambridge Bay is a hamlet located on Victoria Island in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada. It is the largest settlement on Victoria Island. Cambridge Bay is named for Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, while the traditional Inuinnaqtun name for the area is Ikaluktutiak or Iqaluktuuttiaq meaning "good fishing place".
Kinngait, known as Cape Dorset until 27 February 2020, is an Inuit hamlet located on Dorset Island near Foxe Peninsula at the southern tip of Baffin Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada.
Tagak Curley is an Inuit leader, politician and businessman from Nunavut. As a prominent figure in the negotiations that led to the creation of Nunavut, Tagak is considered a living father of confederation in Canada. He was born in a hunting camp at Coral Harbour, Northwest Territories.
Nunavut is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, which provided this territory to the Inuit for independent government. The boundaries had been drawn in 1993. The creation of Nunavut resulted in the first major change to Canada's political map in half a century since the province of Newfoundland was admitted in 1949.
Inuit are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Yukon (traditionally), Alaska, and Chukotsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Inuit languages are part of the Eskimo–Aleut languages, also known as Inuit-Yupik-Unangan, and also as Eskaleut. Inuit Sign Language is a critically endangered language isolate used in Nunavut.
The Inuit are an indigenous people of the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America. The ancestors of the present-day Inuit are culturally related to Iñupiat, and Yupik, and the Aleut who live in the Aleutian Islands of Siberia and Alaska. The term culture of the Inuit, therefore, refers primarily to these areas; however, parallels to other Eskimo groups can also be drawn.
Apex is a small community in Iqaluit located on Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. It is about 5 km (3.1 mi) southeast of Iqaluit on a small peninsula separating Koojesse (Kuujussi) Inlet from Tarr Inlet. Historically Apex was the place where most Inuit lived when Iqaluit was a military site and off-limits to anyone not working at the base. The community is accessed by bridge or causeway, and bordered by a local creek (kuujuusi) and waterfall (kugluktuk). Located here are the women's shelter, a church, Nanook Elementary School, and a bed-and-breakfast, along with housing for about 60 families.
Inuit Nunangat refers to the land, water, and ice of the homeland of Inuit in Canada. This Arctic homeland consists of four northern Canadian regions called the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, the territory Nunavut (ᓄᓇᕗᑦ), Nunavik (ᓄᓇᕕᒃ) in northern Quebec, and Nunatsiavut of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Utkuhiksalik, Utkuhikhalik, Utkuhikhaliq, Utkuhiksalingmiutitut, Utkuhiksalingmiutut, Utkuhiksalingmiut Inuktitut, Utku, Gjoa Haven dialect, is a sub-dialect of Natsilingmiutut (Nattiliŋmiut) dialect of Inuvialuktun language once spoken in the Utkuhiksalik area of Nunavut, and now spoken mainly by elders in Uqsuqtuuq and Qamani'tuaq on mainland Canada. It is generally written in Inuktitut syllabics.
Qaummaarviit Territorial Park is located 12 km (7.5 mi) west of Iqaluit in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. Situated on a small island near Peterhead Inlet, it is thought that the island was inhabited by the Thule people in the early part of the 13th century.
Qausuittuq National Park is a national park located on northwest Bathurst Island in Nunavut. It was established on September 1, 2015, becoming Canada's 45th national park.
Simonie Michael was a Canadian politician from the eastern Northwest Territories who was the first Inuk elected to a legislature in Canada. Before becoming involved in politics, Michael worked as a carpenter and business owner, and was one of very few translators between Inuktitut and English. He became a prominent member of the Inuit co-operative housing movement and a community activist in Iqaluit, and was appointed to a series of governing bodies, including the precursor to the Iqaluit City Council.