Akulivik

Countless surrounding lakes and mountains are the natural habitat of ptarmigan, arctic hare and foxes. Islands to the north are summer refuge to many species of birds. But the steady currents of Hudson Bay favour the proliferation of both marine wildlife and terrestrial flora, too. In winter, for instance, residents practice a unique method of harvesting mussels, piercing holes in the ice and inserting a hooped net at the end of a pole to harvest the delicacy.

Incorporated as a community in 1976, the history of Akulivik goes back thousands of years, although it wasn’t until 1750 that the nearby island was named in honour of Sir Thomas Smith, a merchant, the first Governor of "The Company of Adventurers," and the discoverer of the North-West Passage.

In 1922, the Hudson’s Bay Company established a trading post on the site of today’s settlement, which four years later was moved to a more accessible point on Qikirtajuaq. Over time, groups of Inuit gravitated toward the post, which became their summertime home until it closed in 1952, driving the once-nomadic groups to settle permanently in Puvirnituq, the next closest commercial outlet.

But the displaced people never forgot their little village on the peninsula. Beginning in 1973, many families returned there to rebuild the historic settlement of their ancestors.