Umiujaq () is a northern village (

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

community) near the eastern shore of

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

Nunavik Nunavik (; ; ) is an area in Canada which comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, part of the Nord-du-Québec region and nearly coterminous with Kativik. Covering a land area of north of the 55th parallel, it is the homelan ...

in northern

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, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The village was established in 1986 by

from Kuujjuarapik, 160 km to the south, who decided to relocate away from the area affected by the James Bay Hydro-electric Project. The population in the

Canada 2021 Census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, 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%, whic ...

was 541. Umiujaq is the closest community to Tursujuq National Park, which was officially opened on July 18, 2013, and covers . The park headquarters is located in the village, from which the park is accessible by an unpaved road. Umiujaq, meaning "which resembles a boat" in the

Inuttitut Inuttitut, Inuttut, or Nunatsiavummiutitut is a dialect of Inuktitut. It is spoken across northern Labrador by the Inuit, whose traditional lands are known as Nunatsiavut. The language has a distinct writing system, created in Greenland in the 1 ...

language, is located at the foot of a hill resembling an overturned umiaq, a traditional Inuit

walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped marine mammal with discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only extant species in the family Odobeni ...

-skin boat. The village is located west of Richmond Gulf (French: ''Lac Guillaume-Delisle''; Inuttitut: Tasiujaq (which resembles a lake)), an immense inland bay which is joined with Hudson Bay by a rocky gulch. Inaccessible by road, Umiujaq is served by the small

Umiujaq Airport Umiujaq Airport is a public airport located near the town of Umiujaq, Quebec, Canada. It is operated by the Kativik Regional Government since late 1996. The airport has one gravel runway designated runway 02/20. The runway is 3,521 feet (1,073 me ...

. As other villages in the Kativik region, the police services in Umiujaq are provided by the Kativik Regional Police Force.

History

The Inuit negotiated a clause into the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement that provided for the relocation of the Inuit from Kuujjuarapik to a new settlement unaffected by hydro-electric development. Following a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

, in 1982 the Inuit opted to create a new

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

where they could preserve their traditional lifestyle in an area where fish and

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

were not threatened by hydro-electric development. After extensive studies a location was selected, and construction of the new village was completed in 1986.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population 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 ...

, Umiujaq 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.

Education

The Kativik School Board operates the Kiluutaq School.Our Schools
" Kativik School Board. Retrieved on September 23, 2017.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{Cite web, url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&SearchText=umiu&GENDERlist=1&STATISTIClist=1&DGUIDlist=2021A00052499080, title = Data table, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population - Umiujaq, Village nordique (VN) [Census subdivision], Quebec, date = 9 February 2022 {{mamrot , type=municipalite , 99080 {{toponymie , 178760

External links

Website of the village of Umiujaq
* ttp://weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/city/pages/qc-122_metric_e.html Weather Forecast for Umiujaq from Environment Canada Inuit communities in Quebec Populated places on Hudson Bay Road-inaccessible communities of Quebec