Communities in the Study Area
Kugluktuk
Kugluktuk, formerly Coppermine until the change back to its Inuinnaqtun name in 1996, is located where the Coppermine River flows into the Coronation Gulf, about 595 kilometres by air north of Yellowknife. It had been a semi-permanent fishing and sealing camp for Inuit since very ancient times when the independent trader Charles Klengenberg set up a trading post here in 1916. The community has continually grown since then with the arrival of the Hudson's Bay, the Anglican mission, the RCMP, a school, nursing station and the setting up of a co-operative.
A population of approximately 1200, mainly Inuit, now live in the Hamlet of Kugluktuk. They produce handicrafts and carvings sold in the co-op, trap, fish, hunt and work at nearby fly in mine sites.
Gameti
This small Dogrib community of just over 250 people is situated halfway between Great Slave Lake and Great Bear Lake on the shore of Rae Lake, 177 kilometres by air northwest of Yellowknife. Gameti, also known as Rae Lakes, was originally an outpost hunting camp used by Dogribs from around Rae. There has been some development of the community since 1972, and Rae Lakes now has a Roman Catholic mission, airstrip, school, store and community hall.
The people of Rae Lakes find employment connected to the services available in their community as well as in fishing, hunting and trapping.
Wha Ti
Wha Ti, which changed its name from Lac la Martre in January, 1996, is a small Dogrib community of just over 400 people. It is located 164 air kilometres northwest of Yellowknife on the southeast shore of Lac la Martre, a large lake with excellent fishing. It is also linked to Rae Lakes and Rae by winter road. Wha Ti is in the traditional lands of the Dogrib Dene. A Northwest Company trading post was established here in 1793, but trading moved to other posts after 1817.
There has been a school in Wha Ti since 1955, but little other development. Most people make their living by trapping, hunting and fishing, with some involvement in tourism.
Rae Edzo
The twin communities of Rae (also known as "Behchoko") and Edzo are approximately 100 kilometers northwest of Yellowknife along Highway 3. Rae is the larger and older community of the two, established at the present site by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1904. Edzo was established after 1965 across the West Channel of Great Slave Lake from Rae, because the terrain around Rae has poor drainage.
Rae and Edzo are Dogrib communities with a combined population of nearly 1700 people. Although unemployment is high, there is significant involvement in local mining and tourism ventures, traditional pursuits, working for government agencies and self-employment.
Wekweti
Wekweti (also known as Snare Lake) is located in an area which has traditionally been part of the Dogrib hunting territory. The community is on the Snare River, a route the Dogribs have used for countless generations to travel from the Yellowknife River system to the Coppermine River system and the present-day location of a series of dams which provide hydro power to Yellowknife and Rae/Edzo. It first began as a community in the 1960s when the respected elder and former chief Alexis Arrowmaker brought several families to live here to preserve their traditional lifestyles and values.
Wekweti is 195 air kilometres north of Yellowknife. Approximately 140 Dogrib Dene live in the community, engaged mainly in hunting, fishing and trapping and some tourism.
Yellowknife
For more information on the City of Yellowknife, please visit the City's official web-site.
Dettah
Dettah is situated on east side of Yellowknife Bay, on Great Slave Lake, about six kilometers by water or ice from the City of Yellowknife. It is also accessible from Yellowknife by approximately 27 kilometres of all-weather road. Dettah was one of several seasonal fishing camps located on Great Slave Lake before Yellowknife was established in the 1930s. Survivors from the influenza epidemic which ravaged these camps in 1928 moved to Dettah in the early 1930s. They were later joined by Dogrib and Chipewyan people wishing to mix a traditional lifestyle and work in the mines.
The major activities in this mixed Dogrib and Chipewyan community of nearly 200 people are hunting, trapping and domestic fishing. Some people work in nearby Yellowknife, in the local band office and school, or are self-employed.
Lutselk'e
Lutselk'e, known as Snowdrift until 1992, is located on the East Arm of Great Slave Lake 200 kilometres east of Yellowknife. This community of approximately 300 has been located at its present site since 1925 when the Hudson's Bay Company established a post here to compete with free traders in the area. Although they have only been settled in the community for a relatively short period of time, the Lutselk'e Dene have lived off the land in this area for thousands of years.
Lutselk'e, means "place of small fish" after the abundance there of a fish known as cisco. The residents of Lutselk'e are employed with the local band council, co-op store, small tourism ventures as well as hunting, trapping and fishing.
Bathurst Inlet
The community of Bathurst Inlet, also known by its Inuinnaqtun name of Kinggauk, is 121 kilometres by air southwest of Umingmaktok, on the southwest side of the body of water also called Bathurst Inlet. Inuit have lived in this area for a very long time, but the settlement was not established until a mining exploration base camp was set up in 1929. Several traders, including the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), operated in the area in the 1920s, but they all left until only the HBC remained by 1934. There was also a mission, a health station and radio navigation facilities at this location. In 1964, the HBC moved to Umingmaktok and the community was more or less abandoned.
In 1969 the HBC buildings at Bathurst Inlet began their second use as a naturalist lodge. Today an extended family of 18 people live in this small community. They make a living off the land and are involved with the naturalist lodge.
Umingmaktok
Umingmaktok, which means "place of many muskoxen" in Inuinnaqtun, the Inuktitut language dialect of the area, is also often called Bay Chimo. It is about 195 kilometres by air southwest of Cambridge Bay, on the east side of the body of water called Bathurst Inlet, which extends south out of the Coronation Gulf.
There are few services available here. The Hudson's Bay Company trading post, which moved to Umingmaktok from the community of Bathurst Inlet in 1964, is now owned by the Co-op in Cambridge Bay and managed by local people. There is, however, a satellite phone, a medical lay dispenser, electrical power from a diesel generator in the community and a school offering classes to Grade 6. About 50 people live in this community which functions more or less as a traditional Inuit camp, although people here do seasonal work at the naturalist lodge at Bathurst Inlet and with exploration camps operating in the area.
Cambridge Bay
Cambridge Bay, which is called Ikaluktutiak ("fair fishing place") in Inuinnaqtun, is 960 kilometres by air from Yellowknife, on the southeast coast of Victoria Island. Traditionally a summer gathering place for the Inuit of the area, the Hudson's Bay Company opened a post in here in 1921. Cambridge Bay was the site of the navigational beacon in 1947 and a main DEW line site in 1955. Cambridge Bay is now the regional headquarters for the Kitikmeot Region.
Approximately 1350 people, mostly Inuit, live in Cambridge Bay. The government is a major employer and others are employed in commercial fishery and food processing, trapping and tourism.