Pangnirtung

Pangnirtung Pangniqtuuq ᐸᖕᓂᖅᑑᖅ
"Uptown" neighbourhood of Pangnirtung. April 2006
Nickname(s): Pang
Pangnirtung
Coordinates: 66°08′52″N 065°41′58″W
Country	Canada
Territory	Nunavut
Region	Qikiqtaaluk Region
Electoral district	Pangnirtung
Government
• Type	Hamlet Council
• Mayor	Mosesee Qappik
• MLAs	Hezekiah Oshutapik
Area
• Total	7.54 km2 (2.91 sq mi)
Elevation	23 m (75 ft)
Population (2006)
• Total	1,325
• Density	180/km2 (460/sq mi)
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Canadian Postal code	X0A 0R0
Area code(s)	867

Pangnirtung (or Pang, also Pangniqtuuq, in syllabics: ᐸᖕᓂᖅᑑᖅ) is an Inuit hamlet, Qikiqtaaluk Region, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, located on Baffin Island. As of the 2006 census the population was 1,325, an increase of 3.8% from the 2001 census. Pangnirtung is situated on a coastal plain at the coast of Pangnirtung Fjord, a fjord which eventually merges with Cumberland Sound. The area of the town is 7.54 square kilometres. The mayor is Mosesee Qappik.

There is some confusion about the village name. Residents say the real name is Panniqtuuq, which means "the place of many bull caribou". Early in 2005 residents voted against officially changing the name of the village to the original native one, as Pangnirtung has achieved an international reputation for producing high-quality traditional arts, as well as printmaking and weaving.

In 2009 Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper proposed building a new modern harbour in Pangnirtung to support the region's turbot-fishing industry. Harper got a warm welcome with many residents gathered at the airport to greet him. The town's 1,500 residents listened as Harper announced that $17 million worth of harbour construction promised in the last two budgets would get under way this fall.

Harper said the greatest potential for the hamlet's future lies in the inshore turbot fishery. The shortfalls of the current harbour are a big problem for fishermen. When the tide recedes, the harbour turns to mud.

Pangnirtung is nicknamed the Switzerland of the Arctic, or simply Pang.

History

The Inuit people and their ancestors have inhabited the area for thousands of years, perhaps as long as 4,000. Their cultures became well-adapted to the climate and environment.

Contact with European Canadians has been limited to less than the last century. In 1921, the Hudson's Bay Company established a trading post in Pangnirtung. Two years later, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police erected a permanent office. The first government-appointed teacher arrived in 1956. The first administrative office was established in 1962.

Since then, numerous Inuit people have achieved success with marketing their traditional arts. They transformed traditional drawing skills to produce lithographs and other forms of prints, allowing reproduction and wider distribution of their work. Other artists have made sculptures and carvings in local stone. Since the government established a weaving studio in 1970, many Inuit have learned to weave and are producing tapestries and other works that find an international market.

Services

The community operates a turbot fishery. In 2008, the federal government budgeted for the construction of a harbour.

Parks Canada operates a visitor centre, which is located near the park office. Auyuittuq Lodge is the hamlet’s only hotel, which comprises 25 rooms, shared facilities, a dining room, and a lounge.

Pangnirtung is the nearest town (1 hour by boat) to Auyuittuq National Park. Iglunga, now uninhabited, is an Inuit hamlet to the west.

Panorama of Pangnirtung Fiord in winter

Notable residents

• Paul Okalik, Nunavut's first premier
• Peter Kilabuk
• Simeonie Keenainak
• Ipeelee Kilabuk
• Stephen Osborne
• Nakasuk
• Andrew Qappik
• Rassi Nashalik, presenter of CBC North's Igalaaq News

Image gallery

• 

  Attagoyuk Ilisavik High School, Pangnirtung

• 

  Pangnirtung Fiord

• 

  Former Hudson's Bay Blubber Station at Pangnirtung

See also

• Pangnirtung Airport

Further reading

• Arnaktauyok, Germaine. Stories from Pangnirtung. Edmonton: Hurtig, 1976. ISBN 088830109X
• Dale, Janis Elaine. The Relationship between the Physical Environment and Benthic Faunal Communities in Pangnirtung Fiord, Baffin Island, N.W.T. Ottawa: National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1993. ISBN 0315764457
• Ebisuda, Ken-ichi, Takashi Kunito, Reiji Kubota, and Shinsuke Tanabe. 2002. "Arsenic Concentrations and Speciation in the Tissues of Ringed Seals (Phoca Hispida) from Pangnirtung, Canada". Applied Organometallic Chemistry. 16, no. 8: 451.
• Hankins, Gerald W. Sunrise Over Pangnirtung The Story of Otto Schaefer, M.D. Komatik series, no. 6. Calgary: Arctic Institute of North America of the University of Calgary, 2000. ISBN 0919034977
• Langmark, Otto C. A., and C. O. Langmark. The Top of Baffin Island 140 Mountain Peaks (and Other Topographic Features) Around the South End of Pangnirtung Fjord, Baffin Island, N.W.T. [Thornhill, Ont.?]: Otto Langmark & Associates, 1990. ISBN 0921779925
• Neuman, Cheryl Lynn McKenna. Aeolian Processes and Landforms in South Pangnirtung Pass, Southeast Baffin Island, N.W.T., Canada. Ottawa: National Library of Canada, 1988. ISBN 0315404477
• O'Hara, Charles. Tourism and the Social Construction of Place A Case-Study of Tourists' Spatial Practices in Pangnirtung, Nunavut. Ottawa: National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. ISBN 0612576787
• Tarnocai, C., and Hugo Veldhuis. Soils and Trafficability of Pangnirtung Pass, Auyuittuq National Park Reserve. Ottawa: Research Branch (ECORC, BRC), Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 1998.

External links

• Uqqurmiut Inuit Artist Association
• Hamlet of Pangnirtung official website.