A bilingual stop sign in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut. In the foreground, a stop sign in both English and Inuktitut; in the background, buildings and vehicles of the town.
1 April 2021
Nunavut is the newest territory of Canada, separated from the Northwest Territories on 1 April 1999. It is the largest of the Canadian provinces and territories in size and the smallest in population. (The population is almost the same as that of the Yukon Territory, so depending on the date of the source you consult, Nunavut may be the second smallest in population. In any case, given its size, it is by far the most sparsely populated.)
Nunavut is an Inuktitut word meaning our land.
While the territory wasn’t officially formed until 1999, discussions about creating a self-governing territory for the Inuit date back to 1975. The proposed name for the territory appears in the pages of the Vancouver Sun on 13 February 1975:
Canada’s Eskimos are considering forming their own government to take charge of the vast area of the country north of the tree line.
They’ve even got a name for it—Nunavut (Our Land).
The proposal was made here at meetings of the land claims negotiating committee of Inuit Tapirasat (Eskimo Brotherhood) of Canada.
Sources:
“Eskimos Eye Own Gov’t.” Vancouver Sun (British Columbia), 13 February 1975, 1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
Everett-Heath, John. Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Place Names, sixth ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2020. Oxfordreference.com.
Rayburn, Alan. Oxford Dictionary of Canadian Place Names. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford UP Canada, 1999.
Photo credit: Angela Scappatura, 2010. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.