ᖃᐅᓱᐃᑦᑐᖅ Resolute

History

The area shows evidence of being occupied sporadically by the Dorset culture (Tuniit) and later the Thule people from as early as 1500 BCE until 1000 CE. However, modern Inuit did not occupy or use the area until the 1953 High Arctic relocation. In 1947, Canada and the United States built a weather station, Resolute Weather Station, and an airstrip as part of the Joint Arctic Weather Stations: known today as the High Arctic Weather Stations. This was followed in 1949 by a Royal Canadian Air Force base, RCAF Station Resolute Bay. They also had to endure weeks of 24-hour darkness during the winter, and 24-hour sunlight during the summer: something that does not occur in northern Quebec. They were told that they would be returned home after "two or three years" if they wished. However, this offer was later withdrawn as it would have damaged Canada's claims to sovereignty in the area and the Inuit were forced to stay. Eventually, the Inuit learned the local beluga whale migration routes and were able to survive in the area, hunting over a range of each year. In 1993, the Canadian government held hearings to investigate the relocation program, and the following year the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples issued a report entitled The High Arctic Relocation: A Report on the 1953–55 Relocation. The government paid $10 million CAD to the survivors and their families and gave a formal apology in 2008. The community was originally built from the base but, by the 1970s, the number of research people arriving in Resolute was causing problems. Between 1974 and 1975 the community was moved to a location allowing better municipal services, but poorly-sited for hunting purposes.

Geography

Resolute is one of Canada's northernmost communities and is second only to Grise Fiord on Ellesmere Island (Alert and Eureka are more northerly but are not considered towns; rather, military outposts and weather stations). It is also one of the coldest inhabited places in the world, with an average yearly temperature of . Between around April 30 and August 13, Resolute experiences midnight sun; whilst between around November 7 and February 4 there is polar night. Between late November and mid-January, the sun is so low that there is not even civil twilight, with the only exception from complete darkness being a deeper-blue sky called nautical twilight at noon, but there is no true experience of 24 hours of pitch black darkness around noon. For about two weeks before and after the midnight sun in Resolute, the nights are still quite bright since it does not get any darker than civil twilight (this is the twilight where surrounding objects are still visible and outdoor activities can go on without the need for artificial lighting). Resolute, however, does not experience night (the phase of day) from about March 14 to September 29.

Most-observed species

• Purple Saxifrage

  Saxifraga oppositifolia L. · Magnoliopsida
  72
• Snow Bunting

  Plectrophenax nivalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  67
• Red-throated Loon

  Gavia stellata (Pontoppidan, 1763) · Aves
  52
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  46
• Glaucous Gull

  Larus hyperboreus Gunnerus, 1767 · Aves
  40
• Regel's chickweed

  Cerastium regelii Ostenf. · Magnoliopsida
  37
• tufted alpine saxifrage

  Saxifraga cespitosa L. · Magnoliopsida
  33
• Arctic Tern

  Sterna paradisaea Pontoppidan, 1763 · Aves
  23

Most recent

• M 4.5 — 2025-01-13
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• M 5.2 — 2017-02-10
  Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada
• M 4.2 — 2017-01-09
  Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada
• M 5.2 — 2017-01-09
  Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada
• M 6 — 2017-01-08
  Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada
• M 4.2 — 2010-05-06
  Cornwallis Island region, Nunavut, Canada