Category:City-Baker Lake

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The traditional Inuktitut name for the hamlet of Baker Lake is Qamani’tuaq. It means "where the river widens."

The hamlet of Baker Lake is located on the lake’s northwest shore, near the mouth of the Thelon River. It is 320 kilometres inland from the west coast of the Hudson Bay in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut. Baker Lake is near the geographical center of Canada at 64° 18'41" degrees latitude North and 96° 04’08” degrees longitude West (64° 19’ N, 96°02’W).

Prior to settlement, nine Inuit cultural groups could be identified in the Baker Lake area. Four groups lived to the north of the present hamlet of Baker Lake: the Illuiliqmiut, Kihlirnirmiut, Hanningayuqmiut and Ukkuhiksalingmiut. The Qairnirmiut and Hauniqturmiut territories extended from the east to northwest of Baker Lake. The Akilinirmiut also lived northwest of Baker Lake. South of Baker Lake were the Harvaqtuurmiut and Paalirmiut.

In 1916 the Hudson Bay Company established a trading post at the mouth of the Kazan River which flows into Baker Lake from the south. Twenty years later, the Hudson Bay Company set up shop in what is now Baker Lake. In addition to the arrival of the traders, the Anglican and Roman Catholic missionaries arrived in 1927. The original Anglican mission, St. Aiden's, was built in 1929 and still stands today. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police established a temporary base at the east end of the lake in 1915, but moved to what is now the present settlement of Baker Lake in 1930. A nursing station (or health centre) was built in 1956 and in 1957 the Federal School was built and children between the ages of 6 and 16 were brought to Baker Lake to attend school. During the 1950’s and 1960’s, more and more Inuit settled in the community of Baker Lake because they wanted to be with their children. Today the hamlet of Baker Lake has a population of approximately 1,500 people. It is part of the Nunavut Territory that was formed in April 1999.

For more info, please visit the hamlet's web site http://www.bakerlake.org