Tasiujaq, Quebec
Encyclopedia
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It was built on the shores of Leaf Lake at the head of Deep Harbour and lies a few kilometres north of the tree line, where the shrub tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
finally gives way to the arctic tundra. Tasiujaq actually refers to the whole of Leaf Basin: Leaf Lake, Leaf Passage and Leaf Bay. Leaf Basin is renowned for its high tide
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
s, which regularly exceed 15 metres.
The region is very rich in marine mammals (seal
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
and beluga), fish (Arctic char
Arctic char
Arctic char or Arctic charr is both a freshwater and saltwater fish in the Salmonidae family, native to Arctic, sub-Arctic and alpine lakes and coastal waters. No other freshwater fish is found as far north. It is the only species of fish in Lake Hazen, on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic...
, Atlantic salmon
Atlantic salmon
The Atlantic salmon is a species of fish in the family Salmonidae, which is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and in rivers that flow into the north Atlantic and the north Pacific....
, trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
), ducks (particularly eider ducks) and many seabirds; also, close to 1000 musk-ox roam the surrounding area. Gyrfalcons and peregrine falcons are commonly found nesting on the islands of Leaf Basin and surrounding cliffs.
The French fur company Revillon Freres
Revillon Freres
Révillon Frères was a French fur and luxury goods company, founded in 1723.At the end of the 19th century, Revillon had stores in Paris, London, New York, and Montreal. -Fur trading operation:...
and the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
each opened trading posts in 1905 and 1907, respectively, on a site located east of today's settlement. This settlement was along a traditional dogsled route used by Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
to travel between Kuujjuaq and Kangirsuk
Kangirsuk, Quebec
Kangirsuk is an Inuit village in northern Nunavik, Quebec, Canada. It is north of Kuujjuaq, between Aupaluk and Quaqtaq. The community is only accessible by air and, in late summer, by boat...
. However, both posts had been closed by 1935 without any village ever having developed around them.
In the 1950s, when the federal government
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
opened a school in Kuujjuaq and started delivering social services, many Inuit congregated around the emerging village. The wildlife
Wildlife
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
resources of Kuujjuaq, however, were scarce and many Inuit were forced to rely on governmental financial aid. In 1963, the Northern Quebec
Nord-du-Québec
Nord-du-Québec is the largest of the seventeen administrative regions of Quebec, Canada. With , of which are lakes and rivers, it covers much of the Labrador Peninsula and about 55% of the total land surface area of Quebec....
directorate of the provincial government, hoping to remedy in part this problem, decided to create a new village on the south shore of Leaf Lake where wildlife resources were more plentiful.
In 1966, with the project about to start, the Inuit families which would relocate were divided as to where their future village should be built. A choice had to be made between a site known as Qaamanialuk Paanga and the site of the old trading posts. Qaamanialuk Paanga was finally selected because it was easily accessible by boats used for summer hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
and fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
, nearby Finger River provided the necessary drinking water
Drinking water
Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...
, and there was room to construct a landing strip
Runway
According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...
. The new village was subsequently given the name Tasiujaq. The main reason the old trading post site was not selected as the site for the new village was its foreshore (tide
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
land) was dotted with large boulders, and access by boat in summer would have been difficult. In 1971, once the community was organized, a cooperative store was established independently by residents, and is now associated with the Federation of Co-operatives of Northern Quebec.
Tasiujaq has low tide
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
harbour five kilometres north of the village, on Rowe Island. The Tasiujaq Airport
Tasiujaq Airport
Tasiujaq Airport, , is located southwest of Tasiujaq, Quebec, Canada....
is located few kilometres south of the village. Tasiujaq is the final destination for the canoeists paddling down Leaf River
Leaf River (Quebec)
Leaf River is a river in northern Quebec, Canada, at the northern limit of the tree line. It flows from Lake Minto northeast through the Ungava Peninsula into Leaf Bay off Ungava Bay over a distance of...
.