1.
Northern Canada
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Northern Canada, colloquially the North, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to three territories of Canada, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, similarly, the Far North may refer to the Canadian Arctic, the portion of Canada north of the Arctic Circle and lies east of Alaska and west of Greenland. This area covers about 39 percent of Canadas total land area, for some purposes, Northern Canada may also include Northern Quebec and Northern Labrador. These reckonings somewhat depend on the concept of nordicity, a measure of so-called northernness that other Arctic territories share. Canada is the northernmost country in the Americas and roughly 80% of its 35 million inhabitants are concentrated along its border with the United States. Combined with the fact that all of the country experiences severely cold winters along with short and relatively cool summers. Due to the concentration of its population along the border. Southern Canada is therefore considered to be a region only when it is contrasted against or viewed from the North, as a social rather than political region, the Canadian north is often subdivided into two distinct regions based on climate, the near north and the far north. The different climates of these two regions result in different vegetation, and therefore very different economies, settlement patterns. The near north or subarctic is mostly synonymous with the Canadian boreal forest and this area has traditionally been home to the Indigenous peoples of the Subarctic, that is the First Nations, who were hunters of moose, freshwater fishers and trappers. This region was involved in the North American fur trade during its peak importance. The area was part of Ruperts Land or the North-Western Territory under the nominal control of the Hudsons Bay Company from 1670–1869. The HBCs claim was purchased by the Canadian government in 1869 and this opened the region to non-Native settlement, as well as to forestry, mining, and oil and gas drilling. Today several million people live in the north, around 15% of the Canadian total. The far north is synonymous with the north of the tree line. This area is home to the various sub-groups of the Inuit and these are people who have traditionally relied mostly on hunting marine mammals and caribou, mainly barren-ground caribou, as well as fish and migratory birds. This area was somewhat involved in the fur trade, but was influenced by the whaling industry. Very few non-Aboriginal people have settled in areas, and the residents of the far north represent less than 1% of Canadas total population
2.
Queen Elizabeth Islands
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The Queen Elizabeth Islands are the northernmost cluster of islands in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, split between Nunavut and Northwest Territories in Northern Canada. The Queen Elizabeth Islands contain approximately 14% of the global glacier, the islands, together 419,061 km2 in area, were renamed as a group after Elizabeth II on her coronation as Queen of Canada in 1953. The islands cover an area approximating to the shape of a triangle, bounded by the Nares Strait on the east, Parry Channel on the south. Most are uninhabited although the Natural Resources Canadas Climate Change Geoscience Program Earth Sciences Sector, has monitors on the islands. In 1969 Panarctic Oils, now part of Suncor began operating exploration oil wells in the Sverdrup and Franklinian basins and it ceased production in the 1970s. At the 2013 GeoConvention the Arctic Islands region were called Canadas perpetual last petroleum exploration frontier and these islands were known as the Parry Archipelago for over 130 years. They were first named after British Arctic explorer Sir William Parry, since the renaming of the archipelago in 1953, the term Parry Islands continued to be used for its southwestern part. The regional break down of the archipelago is therefore as follows, Ellesmere Island Sverdrup Islands Parry Islands Ellesmere Island is the northernmost, the Sverdrup Islands are located west of Ellesmere Island and north of Norwegian Bay. South of Lancaster Sound, Viscount Melville Sound and McClure Strait are the islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Many of the islands are among the largest in the world and they consist of Silurian and Carboniferous rocks covered with tundra. With a population of less than 400, the islands are nearly uninhabited, there are only three permanently inhabited places in the islands. The two municipalities are the hamlets of Resolute, on Cornwallis Island, and Grise Fiord, on Ellesmere Island, eureka, a small research base on Ellesmere Island, has a population of zero but at least 8 staff on a continuous rotational basis. Abandoned Permanent Settlement Seasonally Occupied Formerly manned stations were Mould Bay on Prince Patrick Island, Isachsen on Ellef Ringnes Island, abandoned settlements are Dundas Harbour on Devon Island and Craig Harbour on Ellesmere Island. Until 1999, the Queen Elizabeth Islands were part of the Baffin Region of the Northwest Territories, the rest remained with the now-reduced Northwest Territories. Borden Island, Mackenzie King Island and Melville Island were divided between the two territories, Prince Patrick Island, Eglinton Island and Emerald Island are the only notable islands that are now completely part of the Northwest Territories. Below the level of the territory, there is the level of administration. On that level, there are two municipalities, Resolute and Grise Fiord, with an aggregate area of 450 km2. The remaining 99.89 percent are unincorporated area, with a census 2006 population of five, according to the Atlas of Canada there are 34 larger and 2,092 smaller islands in the archipelago
3.
Provinces and territories of Canada
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Canadas geography is divided into administrative divisions known as provinces and territories that are responsible for delivery of sub-national governance. Over its history, Canadas international borders have changed several times, the ten provinces are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. Several of the provinces were former British colonies, Quebec was originally a French colony, the three territories are Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, which govern the rest of the area of the former British North America. Together, the provinces and territories make up the worlds second-largest country by area, the powers flowing from the Constitution Act are divided between the federal government and the provincial governments to exercise exclusively. In modern Canadian constitutional theory, the provinces are considered to be co-sovereign divisions, the territories are not sovereign, but simply part of the federal realm, and have a commissioner who represents the federal government. Notes, There are three territories in Canada, unlike the provinces, the territories of Canada have no inherent sovereignty and have only those powers delegated to them by the federal government. They include all of mainland Canada north of latitude 60° north and west of Hudson Bay, the following table lists the territories in order of precedence. Prior to Confederation, Ontario and Quebec were united as the Province of Canada, over the following years, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island were added as provinces. The Hudsons Bay Company controlled large swathes of western Canada referred to as Ruperts Land and the North-Western Territory until 1870, subsequently, the area was re-organized into the province of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. The remaining Arctic islands were transferred by Britain to Canada in 1880,1898 saw the Yukon Territory, later renamed simply as Yukon, carved from the parts of the Northwest Territories surrounding the Klondike gold fields. On September 1,1905, a portion of the Northwest Territories south of the 60th parallel north became the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1912, the boundaries of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba were expanded northward, Manitobas to the 60° parallel, Ontarios to Hudson Bay, in 1907, Newfoundland acquired dominion status. In the middle of the Great Depression in Canada with Newfoundland facing a period of economic crisis. In 2001, it was officially renamed Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1903, the Alaska Panhandle Dispute fixed British Columbias northwestern boundary. This was one of two provinces in Canadian history to have its size reduced. In 1999, Nunavut was created from the portion of the Northwest Territories. Yukon lies in the portion of The North, while Nunavut is in the east. All three territories combined are the most sparsely populated region in Canada, covering 3,921,739 km2 in land area and they are often referred to as a single region, The North, for organisational and economic purposes
4.
Nunavut
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Nunavut is the newest, largest, and northernmost territory of Canada. The creation of Nunavut resulted in the first major change to Canadas political map since the incorporation of the province of Newfoundland, Nunavut comprises a major portion of Northern Canada, and most of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Its vast territory makes it the fifth-largest country subdivision in the world, the capital Iqaluit, on Baffin Island in the east, was chosen by the 1995 capital plebiscite. Other major communities include the regional centres of Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay and it is Canadas only geo-political region that is not connected to the rest of North America by highway. Nunavut is the largest in area and the second least populous of Canadas provinces and territories. One of the worlds most remote, sparsely settled regions, it has a population of 35,944, mostly Inuit, spread over an area of just over 1,750,000 km2, Nunavut is also home to the worlds northernmost permanently inhabited place, Alert. A weather station farther down Ellesmere Island, Eureka, has the lowest average temperature of any Canadian weather station. Nunavut means our land in Inuktitut, Nunavut covers 1,877,787 km2 of land and 160,935 km2 of water in Northern Canada. This makes it the fifth largest subnational entity in the world, if Nunavut were a country, it would rank 15th in area. It also shares borders with Greenland and the provinces of Quebec, Ontario. Nunavuts highest point is Barbeau Peak on Ellesmere Island, the population density is 0.019 persons/km2, one of the lowest in the world. By comparison, Greenland has approximately the area and nearly twice the population. Nunavut experiences a climate in most regions, owing to its high latitude. In more southerly continental areas very cold climates can be found. The region now known as Nunavut has supported an indigenous population for approximately 4,000 years. Most historians identify the coast of Baffin Island with the Helluland described in Norse sagas, the materials were collected in five seasons of excavation at Cape Tanfield. Scholars determined that these provide evidence of European traders and possibly settlers on Baffin Island and they seem to indicate prolonged contact, possibly up to 1450. So you have to consider the possibility that as remote as it may seem, the ore turned out to be worthless, but Frobisher made the first recorded European contact with the Inuit
5.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
6.
Grise Fiord
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Grise Fiord, is an Inuit hamlet in the Qikiqtaaluk Region in the territory of Nunavut, Canada. Despite its low population, it is the largest community on Ellesmere Island and it is also one of the coldest inhabited places in the world, with an average yearly temperature of −16.5 °C. Located at the tip of Ellesmere Island, Grise Fiord is one of three permanent settlements on the island. Grise Fiord lies 1,160 km north of the Arctic Circle, Grise Fiord cradles the Arctic Cordillera mountain range. Grise Fiord means pig inlet in Norwegian and was named by Otto Sverdrup from Norway during an expedition around 1900 and he thought the walrus in the area sounded like pigs. Grise Fiords Inuktitut name is Aujuittuq which means place that never thaws, the population of Grise Fiord is declining, and consists of around 129 permanent residents, a decrease of -0. 8% from the 2011 census. The houses are wooden and built on platforms to cope with the freezing and thawing of the permafrost, hunting is still an important part of the lifestyle of the mostly Inuit population. Quota systems allow the villagers to supply many of their needs from populations of seals, walruses, narwhal and beluga whales, polar bears, ecotourism is developing as people come to see the northern wildlife found on Ellesmere and surrounding islands. There are no connecting roads on Ellesmere Island, so Grise Fiord is connected to the rest of the world by a small airstrip 1,670 feet in length. It is one of the most difficult approaches for aircraft, and it is cautioned that only experienced pilots. For local travel needs, the villagers use all-terrain vehicles in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter. But during the winter months travel is limited to the town site, small boats are used in summer to reach hunting grounds, or hunting sea mammals on the ocean. Once a year large ships arrive with supplies and fuel, there is a local co-operative which is the main place to purchase supplies. There are local guide and outfitting operations which are an important source of income for many families, carving and traditional crafts and clothing are also important sources of income. The economy is a subsistence-based one due to the extreme location, Grise Fiord is the most isolated true community anywhere on the planet. Between rising/stormier ocean, and falling rock/avalanche potential from mountains, there is no room for growth, the settlement was created by the Canadian government in 1953, partly to assert sovereignty in the High Arctic during the Cold War. Eight Inuit families from Inukjuak, Quebec were relocated after being promised homes and game to hunt, eventually, the Inuit learned the local beluga whale migration routes and were able to survive in the area, hunting over a range of 18,000 km2 each year. In 1993, the Canadian government held hearings to investigate the relocation program, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples issued a report entitled The High Arctic Relocation, A Report on the 1953-55 Relocation, recommending a settlement
