Resolute, Nunavut

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Coordinates: 74°41′0″N, 94°42′0″W Image:ResoluteMontage.jpg Image:CoopHotel.jpg

Resolute (Inuktitut:Qausuittuq, sometimes Resolute Bay) is a small Inuit hamlet on Cornwallis Island in Nunavut, Canada. It is situated along the shore of Resolute Bay and the Northwest Passage and is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region.

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 - just military outposts and weather stations). It is also one of the coldest inhabited places in the world, with an average yearly temperature of -16.4°C. Resolute has 215 residents (2001 census) and about 110 houses. The roads and most of the terrrain are all gravel.

Image:Resolute Bay 1 1997-08-02.jpg

Founded in 1947 as the site of an airfield and weather station, it was named after HMS Resolute. Efforts to assert sovereignty in the arctic and its abundant wildlife led the federal government to forcibly relocate Inuit from northern Quebec to Resolute in 1955. Having lost most traditional skills and purpose, its Inuit residents are now to a large degree dependent on government support.

Although not as busy as it once was, Resolute Bay Airport is still the core of the town, serving as an aviation hub for exploration in the region and connected by direct service to Iqaluit and Cambridge Bay. The Tadjaat Co-op runs a grocery and retail store, a hotel, a restaurant, cable TV service, Internet, snowmobile rental, and an airport gift shop.

The town has three hotels - Narwhal Inn, Qausuittuq Inns North and South Camp Inn - which have fewer than 100 rooms each, and several lodges. Other facilities include a Royal Canadian Mounted Police station, a school (which provides education from kindergarten to Grade 12) and a gym. Image:C.D.Howe.jpg