History

Tuktoyaktuk is the anglicized form of the native Inuvialuit place-name, meaning "resembling a caribou." According to legend, a woman looked on as some caribou, common at the site, waded into the water and turned into stone, or became petrified. Today, reefs resembling these petrified caribou are said to be visible at low tide along the shore of the town.

No formal archaeological sites exist today, but the settlement has been used by the native Inuvialuit for centuries as a place to harvest caribou and beluga whales. In addition, Tuktoyaktuk's natural harbour was historically used as a means to transport supplies to other Inuvialuit settlements.

Between 1890 and 1910, a sizeable number of Tuktoyaktuk's native families were wiped out in flu epidemics brought in by American whalers. In subsequent years, the Alaskan Dene people, as well as residents of Herschel Island, settled here. By 1937, a Hudson's Bay Company trading post was established.

Radar domes were installed beginning in the 1950s as part of the Distant Early Warning Line, to monitor air traffic and detect possible Soviet intrusions during the Cold War. The settlement's location (and harbour) made "Tuk" important in resupplying the civilian contractors and Air Force personnel along the "DEW Line." In 1947, Tuktoyaktuk became the site of one of the first government "day schools" designed to integrate Inuit youth into mainstream Canadian culture.

The community of Tuktoyaktuk eventually became a base for the oil and natural gas exploration of the Beaufort Sea. Large industrial buildings remain from the busy period following the 1973 OPEC oil embargo and 1979 summertime fuel shortage. This brought many more outsiders into the region.

On 3 September 1995, the Molson Brewing Company arranged for several popular rock bands to give a concert in Tuktoyaktuk as a publicity stunt promoting their new ice-brewed beer. During the months leading up to concert, radio stations across North America ran contests in which they gave away free tickets. Dubbed ''The Molson Ice Polar Beach Party'', it featured Hole, Metallica, Moist, Cake and Veruca Salt. Canadian film-maker Albert Nerenberg made a documentary about this concert entitled ''Invasion of the Beer People''.

In 2008, Tuktoyaktuk was featured in the second season of the reality television series ''Ice Road Truckers'' where they travelled down the Tuktoyaktuk Winter Road. It also referenced in Due South as a place Fraser was stationed.

In 2009, an episode of Jesse James is a Dead Man titled "Arctic Bike Journey" featured James riding a custom motorcycle across 125 miles of ice road to deliver medicine to the locals of Tuktoyaktuk.

In late 2010, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency announced that an environmental study would be undertaken on a proposed all-weather road between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk.

Geography

Many locals still hunt, fish, and trap. Locals rely on caribou in the autumn, ducks and geese in both spring and autumn, and fishing year-round. Other activities include collecting driftwood, caribou herding, and berrypicking. Most wages today, however, come from tourism and transportation. Northern Transportation Company Limited (NTCL) is a major employer in this region. In addition, the oil and gas industry continues to employ explorers and other workers.

Tuktoyaktuk is the gateway for exploring Pingo National Landmark, an area protecting eight nearby pingos in a region which contains approximately 1,350 of these Arctic ice-dome hills. The landmark comprises an area roughly , just a few miles west of the community, and includes Canada's highest (the world's second-highest) pingo, at . It is managed by Parks Canada within the national park system, and, although a nationwide Landmarks program was envisioned, Pingo remains the country's only National Landmark.

Demographics

Climate

Trivia

See also

References

External links

Category:Communities in the Inuvik Region Category:Populated places in Arctic Canada Category:Hamlets in the Northwest Territories

Veda Hille (born August 11, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter.

Biography

First she played classical music. Then came pop music, and a few years of jazz. There was the ill-fated year as an inept lounge musician. She attended art school studying sculpture, film, and performance art. Veda began writing music in 1990.

She put out an indie cassette, 'Songs About People and Buildings', in 1992. People liked it and she started playing around town. She slowly started the business of touring Canada, and also began a long relationship with the Canadian modern dance scene. In 1994 she released her first CD, 'Path of a Body', and has released an album roughly every 18 months since then. By the time she started working with her current band (assembled in 1997) she was regularly touring Canada, the US, and Germany.

Veda plays piano and tenor guitar, dabbles in banjo, accordion, and protocols, and has a new love affair going on with a nord electro keyboard and a handful of casios. She writes about the natural world, the trickiness of love, the constant threat of tragedy, as well as very Vancouver subjects such as the late painter Emily Carr ('Here Is A Picture') and the missing women of the Downtown Eastside ('Return of the Kildeer's 'Liza Jane').

Veda is also a member of two new bands: Duplex! (rock music for kids) and The Fits (vaudeville duets). She continues to make her own records, and does so in cahoots with Ape Records, run by XTC’s Andy Partridge. Veda is now the in-house composer for Theatre Replacement and collaborates with them on at least one show per year. She recently scored Bonnie Sherr Klein’s new NFB film ''Shameless: The ART of Disability'', and has been producing records for other musicians as well. The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival in Vancouver commissioned part of the writing of Veda's next album, 'This Riot Life', which was released in 2008.

She is married to Justin Kellam of the bands P:ano and No Kids.

Live shows

In 1999 she joined forces with Oh Susanna and Kinnie Starr for the "Scrappy Bitches Tour".

Field Study has a specially designed formal show for small theatres and art spaces. In 2000 Veda commissioned Vancouver video artist Shawn Chappelle to make a 50 minute video that accompanies the music from Field Study. The video, constructed from footage shot in the northern landscapes of Canada, is projected on a large screen behind Veda as she plays the music on a grand piano.

Veda performs solo on tenor guitar, piano, and assorted keyboards. She plays a survey of her own work as well as a few covers.

Discography

Side projects

Collaborations

External links

Category:1968 births Category:Living people Category:Canadian singer-songwriters Category:Canadian pop singers Category:Canadian female singers Category:Canadian pop pianists Category:Musicians from British Columbia Category:People from Vancouver Category:Canadian indie pop musicians