Overview
Nunavut is one of Canada's northern territories, it is also the largest territory, covering an area of 2.1 million km². If it was an independent state, Nunavut would be the 12th largest nation in the world (Légaré 2008, p337). Nunavut encompasses the vast majority of Canada's arctic archipelago and as such the Northwest Passage runs through Nunavut's waters. Nunavut lies entirely north of the 60th parallel and nearly entirely inside the Arctic Circle (Légaré 2008, p337). As such, Nunavut has a frigid Arctic climate, it has the coldest climate in all of Canada; with an average of 9°C through July, only 20-30 frost free days per year on average and a nine month winter. The average January temperature drops down to -30°C, as such the many straits and channels of the Arctic archipelago are usually frozen meters deep with pack ice (Légaré 2008, p337-8). |
Nunavut is run by their Commissioner and the Nunavut government. The government is made up of the Premier, deputy Premier and cabinet ministers. The government of Nunavut has the same powers which the Yukon and the Northwest Territories governments have.
To discover more about the Nunavut government, click the link below. |
Above you can see four examples of animals which call Nunavut their home; Caribou, Musk ox, Bearded seal and Beluga whale. Along the mammals above, Nunavut also has over 300 types of plants and ferns (Légaré 2008, p339).
Nunavut, in Inuktitut the Inuit language, means "our land" and the population of Nunavut is mostly Inuit. To learn more about the population of Nunavut and it's communities, please visit the population page using the button below. Nunavut was officially created in 1999 after the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement was signed in 1993 by Inuit officials and the Canadian government.
The Nunavut Land Claims Agreement has been hailed as the largest and most comprehensive of all Aboriginal land claims and self-determination agreements made between an aboriginal group and the Canadian government (Légaré 2008, p336). To find out more about how Nunavut became a devolved territory, please click the button below. |