Kangiqsualujjuaq
| Kangiqsualujjuaq | |||
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| Location in Quebec | |||
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| State : |
 Canada
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| Province : | Quebec | ||
| Coordinates : | 58 ° 43 ′ N , 65 ° 55 ′ W | ||
| Residents : | 648 (as of:) | ||
| Time zone : | Eastern Time ( UTC − 5 ) | ||
| Website : | www.krg.ca | ||
Kangiqsualujjuaq (former names: Fort Severight, Fort George River and Port du Nouveau-Québec) is the northeasternmost Inuit settlement in the Nunavik region of northern Québec and has a population of about 648. The name of the settlement means "very large bay". The place is about 160 kilometers northeast of Kuujjuaq in a bay of the Rivière George called Akilasakalluq , about 25 kilometers above its confluence with Ungava Bay. The tides in Ungava Bay have an impact up to this point and have a lasting effect on the lives of the people living in the settlement.
history
From 1838 to 1842, 1876 to 1915 and a third time from 1923 to 1932, the Hudson's Bay Company operated a trading post south of the present settlement, but this did not induce the Inuit to settle here. They preferred to spend the summers on the coast and the winters inland in the traditional manner. That didn't begin to change until the late 1950s. In 1959, the Inuit living in the area formed the first cooperative in North Québec with the aim of marketing Arctic wandering char ( Fishermen's Co-operative ). In 1962 the construction of the present settlement began, and after a few years all the Inuit resident on the George River had moved into prefabricated houses. In 1963 the first school, a department store of the cooperative and an administration building stood. In 1980 Kangiqsualujjuaq was officially raised to the rank of parish.
A tragic event made Kangiqsualujjuaq widely known: While the settlement residents were celebrating New Year's Day in the Satuumavik School on the night of January 1, 1999, an avalanche fell on the building, destroyed the gym and filled the classrooms with snow. Nine people were killed and many injured. As a result, a safety distance to the nearby mountain was set and all houses at risk of avalanches were moved; the new school opened in 2001.
Surroundings
About 100 kilometers east of Kangiqsualujjuaq rises the chain of the Torngat Mountains, which marks the south-north border between northern Québec and Labrador (province of Newfoundland and Labrador ) for about 300 kilometers . The highest peak of the snow-covered mountain range is the majestic Mont D'Iberville at 1,646 meters above sea level.
