Rankin Inlet, known as Kangliqliniq in the traditional language of Inuktitut is a fjord (pronounced like Fiord). We are located on the northwestern side of Hudson Bay and was discovered by Lieutenant John Rankin. Try as I did, I could not seem to find a date of when this happened. However, the Thule people (pronounced like Tuli) inhabited the area around 1200 A.D.
They hunted for bowhead whales until the 1700's when caribou Inuit hunters arose and hunted in land and for arctic char fish. To speed us up a few years, in 1928, ore was discovered in Rankin Inlet by R.G Johnston which then started the drilling for diamonds by Knight Prospecting Syndicate and Nippising Mines in the 1930's. Still home to the caribou Inuit, or the Padlimiut as they were known, starvation had begun to set upon them. The federal government decided that a subsistence economy was no longer making any sense for the Inuit. During this time there was an increased use for nickel during the Korean war and nickel became high priced. Thus the Nickel Mines of Rankin Inlet were born. Inuit became employed at the mine during the early 1950's and came from Eskimo Point and Chesterfield Inlet. By 1959, 107 Inuit were working in the mines. By 1962, 500 Inuit now lived in Rankin Inlet. Today, I would personally surmise according to the 2006 census, which there was then a 2,358 population could mean today it may be near 2700 approximately.
In 1991 Joe Nattar built the now famous Inukshuk, meaning "Likeness of a man", that stands on a hill over looking Williamson Lake. Rankin Inlet is filled with hotels, stores, and small locally owned businesses alike. We even have a KFC and Pizza Hut along with two banks, RBC and CIBC. Three schools, a junior, middle school and a high school. My fiancee works at the middle school. There is even a pharmacy here.
The temperatures here can be as high as +30 or as low as -60 in the dead of winter where it will get very dark for weeks on end. We have a few paved roads and most are still gravel. The paved roads are the torn up, recycled pavement from the airport here when they repave the airport new, they take the old pavement, grind it up and use it to pave some roads as I have been told. Whale hunting is still on going on here such as Beluga, bowhead. Seals and fish are hunted as is in land foods, caribou and at times, bear.
Last but certainly not least, is this is the home of NHL star, Jordin Tootoo. He plays for the Nashville Predators and still comes home for a visit each year.
2 comments:
This is the first time i heard about this Inlet.Good thing you shared this information.
I am a kablunak myself, but calling myself "Prince of the North" would be an insult to the locals.
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