IQALUIT PROFILE

Iqaluit Population: 6,699 (2011 census)

Iqaluit (formerly known as Frobisher Bay) is the largest community and the Capital of Nunavut. Iqaluit received it's Order of Official Status as a City in 2001 and is located approximately 2,000 kilometres from Ottawa. The mean temperature in January is -30°C and in July is 15°C. Iqaluit experiences 24 hours of daylight per day in June, and six hours per day in December.

Iqaluit, Inuktitut for "place of many fish," is located near the mouth of the Sylvia Grinnell River that empties into the bay named after Martin Frobisher, the Englishman in search of the Northwest Passage. Besides thinking he had discovered the Passage, Frobisher believed that he had discovered gold on an island in the bay, but it was only fool's gold that he took home to England. Between 1955 and 1987 the settlement of Iqaluit was known as Frobisher's Bay.

The Territory of Nunavut provides a solid and stable environment for future economic development in this picturesque and resource rich region.

Growth of native development corporations, such as Nunasi and Qikiqtaaluk Corporation,representing concerns as varied as shrimp fishing, trucking and the hotel industry; development of five-year economic development programs for each region; creation of government agencies and the training and development of a professional bureaucracy; further development of mineral deposits which show a potential for copper, gold, silver, lead, zinc and diamonds; and creation of 3 federally funded national parks.