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Inuvik
Inuvik is the only town in the Inuvik Region, and the third largest community in Canada's Northwest Territories. Located in the Beaufort Delta Region, it serves as the region's administrative and service centre. Inuvik is home to federal, territorial, and Indigenous government offices, along with a regional hospital and airport.
Inuvik is located on the northern edge of a boreal forest just before it begins to transition to tundra. It is on the east side of the enormous Mackenzie River delta. The town lies within the Gwich'in Settlement Region and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region.
Inuvik was conceived in 1953 as a replacement administrative centre for the hamlet of Aklavik on the west of the Mackenzie Delta, as the latter was prone to flooding and had no room for expansion. Initially called "New Aklavik", it was renamed Inuvik (from Inuuvik, Inuvialuktun for "living place" ) in 1958. The school was built in 1959 and the hospital, government offices and staff residences in 1960, when people, including Inuvialuit, Gwichʼin (Dene) and Métis, began to live in the community.
A Naval Radio Station, later Canadian Forces Station Inuvik was commissioned on 10 September 1963 after operations had been successfully transferred from NRS Aklavik. As a Canadian Forces Station, it was a communications research/signals intercept facility and part of the SUPRAD (Supplementary Radio) network.
Inuvik achieved village status in 1967 and became a full town in 1979 with an elected mayor and council. In 1979, with the completion of the Dempster Highway, Inuvik became connected to Canada's highway system, and simultaneously the most northerly town to which one could drive in Canada.
For decades, the town's economy was supported by CFS Inuvik and by petrochemical companies exploring the Mackenzie Valley and the Beaufort Sea for petroleum. CFS Inuvik closed on 1 April 1986 and the site was transferred to the Department of Transport for use as a telecommunications station. Nothing remains of CFS Inuvik today. The Navy Operations base at the end of Navy Road was completely dismantled and removed. In the early 1990s, local resistance to petroleum exploration and low international oil prices meant the petrochemical industry also moved away. Thereafter, the economy has been based on some minor tourism, along with subsidies provided by the Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), Health Canada (for the regional hospital) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
While a winter only ice road through the Mackenzie River delta still connects Inuvik to Aklavik (southwest of Inuvik), the Tuktoyaktuk Winter Road, which ran northeast to Tuktoyaktuk, has not been maintained since the opening of the year-round Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway (ITH) in November 2017. The Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway, which connects to Canada's highway system at Inuvik via the Dempster Highway, is the first road in history to reach the Arctic Ocean in North America.
On 6 March 2025, Bill Blair, the Minister of National Defence, announced that Inuvik will be one of three designated Northern Operational Support Hubs, alongside Yellowknife and Iqaluit, to support the Canadian Armed Forces operations in the Arctic.
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Inuvik
Inuvik is the only town in the Inuvik Region, and the third largest community in Canada's Northwest Territories. Located in the Beaufort Delta Region, it serves as the region's administrative and service centre. Inuvik is home to federal, territorial, and Indigenous government offices, along with a regional hospital and airport.
Inuvik is located on the northern edge of a boreal forest just before it begins to transition to tundra. It is on the east side of the enormous Mackenzie River delta. The town lies within the Gwich'in Settlement Region and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region.
Inuvik was conceived in 1953 as a replacement administrative centre for the hamlet of Aklavik on the west of the Mackenzie Delta, as the latter was prone to flooding and had no room for expansion. Initially called "New Aklavik", it was renamed Inuvik (from Inuuvik, Inuvialuktun for "living place" ) in 1958. The school was built in 1959 and the hospital, government offices and staff residences in 1960, when people, including Inuvialuit, Gwichʼin (Dene) and Métis, began to live in the community.
A Naval Radio Station, later Canadian Forces Station Inuvik was commissioned on 10 September 1963 after operations had been successfully transferred from NRS Aklavik. As a Canadian Forces Station, it was a communications research/signals intercept facility and part of the SUPRAD (Supplementary Radio) network.
Inuvik achieved village status in 1967 and became a full town in 1979 with an elected mayor and council. In 1979, with the completion of the Dempster Highway, Inuvik became connected to Canada's highway system, and simultaneously the most northerly town to which one could drive in Canada.
For decades, the town's economy was supported by CFS Inuvik and by petrochemical companies exploring the Mackenzie Valley and the Beaufort Sea for petroleum. CFS Inuvik closed on 1 April 1986 and the site was transferred to the Department of Transport for use as a telecommunications station. Nothing remains of CFS Inuvik today. The Navy Operations base at the end of Navy Road was completely dismantled and removed. In the early 1990s, local resistance to petroleum exploration and low international oil prices meant the petrochemical industry also moved away. Thereafter, the economy has been based on some minor tourism, along with subsidies provided by the Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), Health Canada (for the regional hospital) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
While a winter only ice road through the Mackenzie River delta still connects Inuvik to Aklavik (southwest of Inuvik), the Tuktoyaktuk Winter Road, which ran northeast to Tuktoyaktuk, has not been maintained since the opening of the year-round Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway (ITH) in November 2017. The Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway, which connects to Canada's highway system at Inuvik via the Dempster Highway, is the first road in history to reach the Arctic Ocean in North America.
On 6 March 2025, Bill Blair, the Minister of National Defence, announced that Inuvik will be one of three designated Northern Operational Support Hubs, alongside Yellowknife and Iqaluit, to support the Canadian Armed Forces operations in the Arctic.