OUR INTRODUCTION TO IQALUIT
Early Planning for Nunavut
Planning destinations to include in our Nunavut travels took considerable time and effort. We were unfamiliar with Canada, let alone the remote High Arctic of Nunavut. To add to our dilemma, we read that the cost of travel to and within Nunavut was prohibitive. At least that bit of information was correct...
We had no option other than to limit the number of destinations we would visit. The cost was not just getting out of control. It WAS out of control! Our ultimate destination, Resolute was definite, so the most practical course of action was to choose locations that formed part of our route from Yellowknife to Resolute. We settled on visiting only Rankin Inlet, Iqaluit, Arctic Bay and Resolute. Sadly, at an additional cost of CAD 3,000 for the 385 km (1.5 hours) airfare and accommodation of around CAD 900 per night without food, we had to forego Grise Fiord, the northernmost permanently settled civilian settlement in Canada. It was a decision we came to regret...
*Alert is the most northerly permanently inhabited settlement in Canada, but travel there is limited to military personnel.
Early in our planning, I came across a travel blog written by a young Canadian woman about the city of Iqaluit. Acknowledging the considerable expense involved in Nunavut travel and accommodation, she was adamant that there was no real reason to travel elsewhere. "Iqaluit has it all", she enthused. Her blog appeared to be authentic. And it was passionate and compelling. We were convinced...
She painted such a brilliant picture that we decided to stay in Iqaluit for five days on our return journey from Resolute. Five days! Were we off the planet? No one stays anywhere for five days unless you get stranded, of course...
To Iqaluit
Having lived and worked in country New South Wales for many years, we were well acquainted with Australian regional airlines being pretty casual. The High North Canadian airlines appeared to be much the same. Just after we were seated, a young flight attendant announced that all passengers in rows 14 and 15 must move to the plane's rear. There was apparently an issue with the aircraft's weight balance.
Dutifully, we moved to other seats only to hear her saying that she had made a mistake and that only one passenger had to move. "I had better look at the paperwork," she laughed. It made us wonder about this aircraft's delicate balance and whether, by moving just one person, the problem could be overcome. And about the seriousness of the crew...
It was not a good start to our Iqaluit trip. The Frobisher Inn we had booked had not been helpful. Knowing that we would not be in Iqaluit until after their restaurant closed for the evening, we emailed them from Rankin Inlet asking if they could make us up a plate of something light to eat in our room. The reply was, "This hotel does not provide room service. You will have to bring your food with you. Oh, and the shuttle bus doesn't run on Sundays. You will have to catch a cab... But we have booked you into our dining room for breakfast the following morning. Can you pay for it now?" Well, that was generous of them... The tone of their reply reeked with that familiar attitude of "Take it or leave it". But this time, there was nothing to take... And at CAD 500+ per night, it sure wasn't cheap either.
Some trips are just miserable from the beginning. Sadly, that was our experience in Iqaluit. Bad karma stayed with us from our arrival to our departure the following day.
Stormy weather plagued us for the last part of our flight into Iqaluit. We knew how dangerous these remote Arctic airports can be in winter, and we were thankful to have landed safely in the rough conditions.
Gale force winds and icy cold, sleety rain pelted down as we trod gingerly across melted snow and ice from the aircraft to the airport arrivals lounge.
It was a long, freezing cold walk from an aircraft parked in the middle of the runway. Thankfully, we had donned our good waterproof down jackets, but most people didn't appear to have wet weather gear with them.
The airport doors were locked, and passengers were forced to queue outside in the storm conditions for over twenty minutes. Even when the doors were finally open, the processing of passengers inside the doors took forever, and the unfortunate passengers outside had to cope with being soaked and bitterly cold. The entire process took nearly an hour.
To the Frobisher Hotel
As the shuttle bus was not operating on a Sunday, a taxi from the airport to our hotel was set at CAD 12.00 per trip. That was reasonable. But as we were seated in our taxi, another four people arrived and, somehow, squashed in with us, with all their luggage. There was no "Is it OK for you to share?". The taxi was filthy and smelt horrible, but there was no choice. Once again, it was a "take it or leave it" situation. It was cheap, though...
One of the business passengers in Iqaluit asked us what hotel we had booked. He frowned noticeably when we told him it was The Frobisher Inn. As he alighted at the Aqsarniit Hotel, he commented, "Well, this hotel is much better. But the Frobisher is OK. Just.." Oh dear, more warning bells.
Arriving at the Frobisher Inn, we tried to pay our driver by credit card. No, taxis in Iqaluit don't take credit cards. We had to pay by cash. That was fine, but we only had a CAD 50 note to give him. "I don't have any change", challenged our driver. So, we had to use the ATM at the hotel while our driver stood menacingly by our sides. A tip of CAD 38 for a CAD 12 trip was not on.
To our relief, the Frobisher Inn was fine. Our room was very comfortable, well-furnished and warm. It was just the foyer area that was odd. The floor was jammed-packed with what appeared to be poor, sick homeless people camping in sleeping bags amid their jumble of possessions. For an upmarket hotel charging more than CAD 500 per night, it sure was a bit strange...
Even stranger, the hotel staff, dressed impeccably in immaculate, well-cut black suits, took absolutely no notice of their unusual clientele.
It was too late to even think about it. After all, tomorrow was another day...
IQALUIT AT A GLIMPSE
Iqaluit is the capital city of Nunavut. It is the territory's largest settlement and its only city. As mentioned in the previous chapter, Iqaluit was designated the capital of Nunavut after the division of the Northwest Territories in 1981. Before this event, Iqaluit was a small city, not well known outside the Canadian Arctic. Or Canada, for that matter.
Location
Iqaluit is also the northernmost city in Canada. It is located on the Koojesse Inlet of Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island. Nearby is the mouth of the Sylvia Grinnell River.
To the rear of Iqaluit are the Everett Mountains. The total city area is 51.58 square km.
Climate
Iqaluit has a unique tundra climate. Despite being far outside the Arctic Circle, it has a climate more typical of the Arctic region. This is mainly due to the influence of the waters of the icy Baffin Island current. Interestingly, the temperatures are much colder, and the tree line is much further south here than in other places of the same latitude.
The city features long, cold winters and brief cool summers. Averaging over 400 mm of rainfall annually, it is much wetter than any other localities in the Arctic Archipelago.
Demographics and Ethnicity
The population of Iqaluit (2021 census) is around 7,430. The city boasts the highest number (3,900) and percentage (59.1%) of Inuit people of any Canadian city with a population of over 5,000. Immigrants comprise around 10.5% of the population, with the top countries of origin being the Philippines, Cameroon, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and the USA.
The population is young, and the median age is more than 10 years younger than the national rate - 30.1 years, compared with 40.6 years.
Language
Inuktitut, English, and to a lesser degree, French are spoken languages in Iqaluit. English is spoken by 97% of the population.
Christianity is followed by 54.4% of the population. Interestingly, 41.9 % are irreligious, and only 0.7% adhere to Indigenous Spirituality.
A Historical Briefing: Early History
Iqaluit has a fascinating history (refer also to the previous chapter).
For centuries, Inuit in the area lived in small nomadic groups around what became known by European settlers as Frobisher Bay. This area provided them with caribou, fish, seals, walruses, and whales as staple sources of food and clothing. Their lifestyle depended on the movements of the area’s wildlife, which in turn were determined by shifts in the local climate. As a result, the Inuit often travelled extensively in search of supplies.
The first confirmed contact with outsiders was English explorer Martin Frobisher, who, on his first voyage, wrongly believed the inlet and bay may be a strait leading to Asia. Frobisher made three trips between 1576 and 1578. Thinking he had found gold on his second voyage, he organised the collection of 200 tons of ore. The ore was transported back to England on his third and last voyage, only to find that it contained a negligible amount of gold.
Sadly, Frobisher left behind him not only a legacy of daring achievements but also one of the killings, kidnapping, and vanished mutineer crewmen. He is attributed with starting the first-ever polar gold mine, entanglement in a notorious stock scam and a failed attempt to establish the first English settlement in "The New World". But then again, it was the mid to late 1500s. Perhaps this savage behaviour was all part of survival in those times?
An interesting article, "The Sordid Swashbuckling Journeys of Martin Frobisher, Pirate of the Arctic", by Aaron Spitzer, Adventure Canada, 2020, can be found at https://www.adventurecanada.com/the-sordid-and-swashbuckling-journeys-of-martin-frobisher-pirate-of-the-arctic
In 1861, an American, Charles Francis Hall, explored the Frobisher Bay region further and discovered the inlet was indeed a bay. Hall died under suspicious circumstances - one of the world's great unsolved mysteries. Returning from leading the American-sponsored Polaris Expedition in an attempt to be the first to reach the North Pole, Hall promptly fell ill. Before he died, he accused members of the crew of having poisoned him. An exhumation of his body in 1968 revealed that he had ingested a large quantity of arsenic in the last two weeks of his life. The circumstances of his death have never been resolved.
In 1914, the Hudson's Bay Company established the first of several trading posts in the area. Despite visits by explorers, traders, missionaries and police, the Inuit retained a reasonably independent lifestyle in their camps.
In 1860, commercial whaling brought men, ships and trade to the Frobisher Bay area. In 1880, the British government transferred the sovereignty of the Arctic Archipelago to the Canadian government.
In the 1920s, the Hudson's Bay Company established trading posts throughout Baffin Island. During the 1930s, the Inuit faced serious hardship due to the region's overhunting.
In 1942, World War II resulted in an influx of non-Inuit people to the area when the US government built the Frobisher Bay Air Base at the Iqaluit site. The military base was established through a long-term lease from the Canadian government to provide a stop-over and re-fuelling site for short-range aircraft being ferried to Europe to support the war effort. A wartime airstrip was built at Frobisher Bay. Known as Crystal Two, it was part of the The Crimson Route. Today, it operates as Iqaluit Airport.
In the mid-1950s, Frobisher Bay became a centre for the DEW line construction operations. The vast project brought tons of supplies and hundreds of men to the area. By 1957, the population was 1,200, of which 489 were Inuit. In 1959, the Canadian government boosted services by bringing in doctors, teachers, administrators and support staff.
By 1963, when the US left the base, Frobisher Bay became the Canadian government's administrative, communications and transport centre for the Eastern Arctic.
In 1980, Frobisher Bay was officially designated as a town. In 1987, Frobisher Bay was formally re-named "Iqaluit" - its original Inuktitut name meaning "Place of Fish"
Iqaluit's economy is primarily government-based today, but the private sector is growing in construction, retail, tourism, and arts and crafts. Agnico-Eagle Mines Gold has been operating since 2010 and mining for gold, silver, diamonds, lead, zinc, uranium, tungsten, rare earths, cobalt, bismuth, nickel, and copper.
DAY TWO IN IQALUIT
An Interesting Start...
We may have booked and paid for our breakfast in advance, but again, we were in for a disappointing start. The same reception person staffed the desk. Looking a bit worse for wear after a long night's shift, he remarked, "Oh, didn't I tell you the restaurant is still closed...? You will have to eat at the cafe just around the corner. Sorry about this. When you return from Resolute, I'll ensure you get a good room." Oh, goodie, I thought... Did we really need to come back? Well, yes...
The cafe would have been fine with us, but seats and flooring were packed with what appeared to be the "bodies of the homeless" from the night before. I didn't take a photo for courtesy, but it was all pretty rugged. And especially for the poor "homeless", some of whom looked ill and/or had obvious intellectual disabilities. One by one, they approached us, desperately trying to sell souvenir postcards, prints or coasters. We had no idea what the situation was, but we noticed that the hotel staff closely watched them. It was a disturbing sight.
We bought and shared a stale ham and cheese croissant in our room. Quite frankly, we couldn't wait to get out of the place.
To Iqaluit Airport
And yet another bizarre experience... Our taxi took on board several unkempt-looking people. Some of them looked like they were on drugs; others appeared to have some debilitating physiological problems.
Once again, our cab was putrid; our route to the airport was long and arduous. We stopped at what looked like public housing apartments and waited for a considerable time for other people to arrive and board our taxi. CAD 12 fare was starting to look expensive.
It was not a particularly threatening experience, but I would not have liked being alone. The thought of "Oh god, we are coming back here for another five days..." resounded in my mind. But neither of us said a word. Until we got to Arctic Bay, that is...
The environs heading to the airport were depressing. Warmer conditions meant that much of the snow had disappeared, and the city was mostly a muddy, wet mess. Some of the cars were so covered in mud that it must have been impossible to see.
At Iqaluit Airport
I can't say how pleased we were to leave the stifling cab and finally arrive at Iqaluit Airport. Our unhelpful taxi driver, however, dropped us quite some distance from the departure doors. Much of the snow and ice had melted and re-frozen, and wheeling our two large bags through mud and slush, and then over glassy ice was lethal. People were sliding and slipping everywhere. In a way, I felt better with my pathetic efforts to keep on my feet when I realised that most people were probably locals.
I could at last see some humour in our one-night stay in Iqaluit. It was kind of like the "last straw" of not-all-that-bad but just consistently miserable experiences. And after all, it was not poor Iqaluit's fault that it looked quite so forlorn. We then realised we had probably left our travels a few weeks late. We had not expected an ice melt quite so soon. And perhaps under better circumstances, Iqaluit would have been much more appealing. After all, we had been there only one night...
We had plenty of time. Our flight to Arctic Bay departed at midday so we could sit and relax, watching the world of Iqaluit Airport go by.
The modern airport was very busy. I guess it was unsurprising as Iqaluit is the central hub of Nunavut air travel. The airport also boasts a runway long enough to accommodate most jet aircraft. Canadian North serves Iqaluit with flights from Ottawa, Yellowknife and several communities in Nunavut. Locally based airlines Air Nunavut, Canadian Helicopters, Nunasai Helicopters and Unaalik Aviation provide air charters, and Air Nunavut and Keewatin Air provide medical evacuation and air ambulance services.
While waiting, we were interested in seeing a special "Elders Lounge" near where we sat. While commendable, we were bemused to see mostly children and those appearing to be anything other than Inuit Elders come and go...
A very chatty passenger on his way to Pond Inlet via Arctic Bay came to sit with us. "Joe the Talker" (name withheld) was interesting. For ten minutes, he had been everywhere, done everything, and knew everything about Nunavut. After half an hour of listening to nonstop verbiage, we were "done." And we thought the slippery conditions coming into the airport were "the last straw."
Our Canadian North flight was on time. We sat well away from Joe. And farewelled Iqaluit.
Groaning inwardly, I thought, "But we will be back soon... And for five long days..."
2025-02-10