Cartwright is a community located on the eastern side of the entrance to Sandwich Bay, along the southern coast of

Labrador Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...

in the province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

, Canada. It was incorporated in 1956. Sandwich Bay is an area with a longstanding Inuit presence known to resident Inuit as Natsiktok or place of the ring seals. Archeological evidence, especially that excavated by Dr. Lisa Rankin indicates an early and year round Inuit presence. Cartwright has been a settled community since 1775. In 1775, Captain George Cartwright, for whom the place is named, settled there, establishing a fish and fur trading business. He left Labrador in 1786, maintaining a business interest there until it was sold to Hunt and Henley in 1815. It was again sold in 1873 to the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

and has remained under company ownership ever since. The residents of Sandwich Bay (including Cartwright) were described by Rev. Bishop Field in 1848 as either 'pure Esquimaux' or 'Anglo-Esquimaux, with an admixture of old English settlers'. Since 2002, Cartwright has been connected by road (a section of the

Trans-Labrador Highway The Trans-Labrador Highway (TLH) is the primary public road in Labrador, the mainland portion of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The highway's total length is . The paving of the entire highway was completed in July 2022. The ...

, Route 516) with Blanc Sablon,

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, where there is a car

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

. Since December 2009 the remaining link between Cartwright and

Happy Valley-Goose Bay Happy Valley-Goose Bay (Inuit: ''Vâli'') is a town in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Located in central Labrador on the coast of Lake Melville and the Churchill River, Happy Valley-Goose Bay is the largest population centre ...

has been completed and open to the public.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Cartwright, Labrador had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Climate

Cartwright has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

('' Dfc'') with very snowy winters and short, mild summers. Owing to its maritime location, the winters are however a little milder than on most of the

Labrador Peninsula The Labrador Peninsula, also called Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, is a large peninsula in eastern Canada. It is bounded by Hudson Bay to the west, the Hudson Strait to the north, the Labrador Sea to the east, Strait of Belle Isle and the Gulf of ...

, but snow depth from the stormy

Icelandic Low The Icelandic Low is a semi-permanent centre of low atmospheric pressure found between Iceland and southern Greenland and extending in the Northern Hemisphere winter into the Barents Sea. In the summer, it weakens and splits into two centres, one ...

, which circulates cold and saturated air around the region, is extreme: it averages around at its peak early in March and has reached as high as on April 7, 2003. Snow is usually fully melted early in June and is established again in early November. Unlike most of Labrador, there is no

permafrost Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...

because of the insulation from the deep snow cover, although the annual mean temperature is .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cartwright, Newfoundland And Labrador Populated coastal places in Canada Towns in Newfoundland and Labrador Populated places in Labrador Hudson's Bay Company trading posts

Demographics

Climate

See also

References