Puvirnituq

Puvirnituq
ᐳᕕᕐᓂᑐᖅ
Northern village municipality
Puvirnituq
Coordinates: 60°02′N 77°17′W / 60.033°N 77.283°W / 60.033; -77.283Coordinates: 60°02′N 77°17′W / 60.033°N 77.283°W / 60.033; -77.283[1]
Country  Canada
Province  Quebec
Region Nord-du-Québec
TE Kativik
Constituted September 2, 1989
Government[2]
  Mayor Levi Amarualik
  Federal riding Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou
  Prov. riding Ungava
Area[2][3]
  Total 111.50 km2 (43.05 sq mi)
  Land 85.74 km2 (33.10 sq mi)
Population (2011)[3]
  Total 1,692
  Density 19.7/km2 (51/sq mi)
  Change (2006–11) Increase16.1%
  Dwellings 489
Time zone EST (UTC−5)
  Summer (DST) EDT (UTC−4)
Postal code(s) J0M 1P0
Area code(s) 819
Website www.nvpuvirnituq.ca

Puvirnituq (Inuktitut: ᐳᕕᕐᓂᑐᖅ) is a northern village (Inuit community) in Nunavik on the Povungnituk River near its mouth on the Hudson Bay in northern Quebec, Canada. Its population was 1,692 as of the Canada 2011 Census.

Unlike most other northern villages in Nunavik, it has no Inuit reserved land of the same name associated with it.

The name means "Place where there is a smell of rotten meat". This unusual name may have originated from either one of these events (occurring a long time ago):

Puvirnituq is the aviation hub of the Hudson Bay coast. Puvirnituq Airport handles scheduled flights to and from all other Hudson Bay coastal communities in Quebec, Montreal, and Ottawa. It is not accessible by road.

History

School in Puvirnituq
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Puvirnituq.

In 1921, the Hudson's Bay Company established a trading post here, known as Povungnituk and often shortened to Pov. This attracted the settlement of Inuit living in the region. In 1951, the HBC opened a general store. The closure of HBC stores in other nearby villages led to an influx of Inuit to Puvirnituq.

A Catholic mission was founded in 1956, which encouraged the residents to form the Carvers Association of Povungnituk two years later. It later became the Co-operative Association of Povungnituk and was instrumental in assisting, developing, and marketing Inuit art. Its success inspired other Inuit communities to form similar cooperatives, most of which now make up the Federation of Co-operatives of Northern Quebec.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 4/16/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.