Nunavut



Nunavut
(In Detail) (In Detail)
Motto: Nunavut Sanginivut (Nunavut our strength / Our land our strength)
CapitalIqaluit
Official LanguageEnglish, French, Inuktitut, and Inuinnaqtun
Area

 - Total
 - % fresh water
1st largest
(1st lgst terr.)

2 093 190 km²
7.5%
Population
 - Total (2001)
 - Density
Ranked 13th
28 200
0.01/km²
Admittance into Confederation
 - Date
 - Order
Split off
from NWT

1999
13
Time zones UTC -4,-5,-6,-7
*Southampton Island does not observe DST
Postal information
Postal abbreviation
Postal code prefix
 
NU (was temporarily NT)
X
ISO 3166-2CA-NU
Parliamentary
representation

 House seats
 Senate seats
 

1
1
PremierPaul Okalik
CommissionerPeter T. Irniq
Government of Nunavut
for the electoral district of the same name see Nunavut (electoral district)
Nunavut is the largest and newest of the territories of Canada: it was separated officially from the vast Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999 via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries were established in 1993.
The capital of Nunavut is Iqaluit (formerly Frobisher Bay) on Baffin Island in the east. Other major communities include Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay. Nunavut also includes Ellesmere Island in the north and the east of Victoria Island in the west. Nunavut is both the least populated and the largest of the provinces and territorities of Canada. It has a population of only about 28,000 (Nunavumiut, sg. Nunavumiuq) spread over an area the size of Western Europe. If Nunavut were a sovereign nation, it would be the least densely populated in the world: nearby Greenland, for example, has almost the same area and twice the population.
Nunavut means our land in Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit.