Kitikmeot Region


Kitikmeot Region is an administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. It consists of the southern and eastern parts of Victoria Island with the adjacent part of the mainland as far as the Boothia Peninsula, together with King William Island and the southern portion of Prince of Wales Island. The regional seat is Cambridge Bay.
Before 1999, Kitikmeot Region existed under slightly different boundaries as Kitikmeot Region, Northwest Territories.

Transportation

Access to the territorial capital of Iqaluit is difficult and expensive as the only direct flight is from Cambridge Bay, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. For example, Iqaluit is approximately from Kugaaruk, the closest Kitikmeot community. A one-way flight to the capital costs between $2,691 and $2,911 and involves flying to, along with an overnight stay in, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, approximately southwest of Kugaaruk—in total, a trip of about.
As is the case for the rest of Nunavut, there is no road access to the region and all places are fly-in. All five hamlets have certified airports: Cambridge Bay Airport, Gjoa Haven Airport, Kugaaruk Airport, Kugluktuk Airport and Taloyoak Airport, with scheduled flights by Canadian North and First Air.
There are also five registered aerodromes in the region. Cambridge Bay Water Aerodrome is a floatplane base open in the summer only. Doris Lake Aerodrome, a ice runway, the longest in the region, which serves the Doris Lake mine. George Lake Aerodrome, an ice runway, like Doris Lake is only open from January to April, and serves the Back River Gold Project. Goose Lake Aerodrome also serves the Back River Gold Project and has both ice and gravel runways. Hope Bay Aerodrome serves the Hope Bay mine site and is a gravel runway.

Politics

The region is home to the only two communities in Nunavut that voted "no" in the 1982 division plebiscite: Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk.
The region has four electoral districts;
Former districts include Akulliq, which covered Kugaaruk and Naujaat in the Kivalliq Region. It was the ony electoral district in Nunavut to cross two regions. Nattilik, which covered Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak. The previous incumbent was the former federal Minister of Health, Leona Aglukkaq.
In 2007 at their AGM, Bob Lyall, a board member of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, suggested the formation of a political party called the Bloc Kitikmeot to run in the next general election and to advocate for a separate Kitikmeot Territory. Bobby Lyall, along with his brother Kitikmeot Corporation president, Charlie Lyall and delegates Martina and Connie Kapolak, argued that the Government of Nunavut had spent most of the infrastructure money available from the federal government in the Baffin Region. However, the party was not formed and consequently no members ran for a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut which continues to run as a consensus government.

Communities

Hamlets
Other
The Kitikmeot Region also doubles as one of three census divisions in Nunavut, the others being the Kivalliq and the Qikiqtaaluk regions. Of the three the Kitikmeot is the smallest in size being smaller than the Kivalliq. It has the smallest population and is the least densely populated of the three. The population is predominantly Inuit with 0.7% other aboriginal peoples, 0.3% North American Indian and 0.4% Métis, and 9.3% non-Aboriginals.
Canada 2016 Census