Lifestyle and Culture

The Inuinnaqtun name for Cambrdge Bay is Ikaluktutiak, meaning"good fishing place".

Cambridge Bay is the administrative and transportation hub of the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut. This is headquarters for the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, the Nunavut Impact Review Board, the Nunavut Planning Commission, and Nunavut Tunngavik's Lands and Resources Department. This is also the new home of the Canadian High Arctic Research Station.

There are two schools, Kullik Ilihakvik (K-6) and Kiilinik High School (7-12). The Nunavut Arctic College campus provides access to a variety of courses.

There is a Royal Bank branch (complete with an ATM machine accessible until 10pm), a full service Canada Post outlet, two department stores, and a fast food outlet that serves KFC and Pizza Hut. Cable TV and satellite service are available, and internet service is provided by Qiniq. Water is delivered by truck, and sewage is hauled away by the same method.

You'll find teenagers playing video games at the local arcade. You'll hear Inuit elders speaking Inuinnaqtun as they pick up their mail at the post office. You'll see the headlights of hunters several miles out on the sea ice returning by snowmobile with their catch, to the eerie, hazy, welcoming glow of a town shrouded in ice fog during a -35c winter night (-50c or more with the wind-chill).

If we ever want to "get away from it all", a visit to the local travel agent will have us booked on a flight to Las Vegas - or ecotour in the Costa Rican jungle - in no time. Or we can simply drive our ATV five minutes outside of town along the Ovayok road where muskox graze lazily. Bring your fishing rod and catch a char dinner by the banks of Freshwater Creek. Drive a few minutes outside of the community in either direction and you'll come across a slew of cabins - our version of southern "cottages" - where more than a few residents pass their time after work and on weekends during our 24 hour summer daylight, May through July.

We've got Cadets, Elks, and drum dancers. Hockey and curling in the winter, swimming in the summer. Saturday morning pancake breakfasts, sit down bingos, kids selling chocolates or flowers to raise money for the new school gym, food bank, grad trip, or whatever might be needed at the moment. No trees shedding leaves to rake, no lawns to mow. What could be more perfect?

Our Population, 2016: 1,766

Private Dwellings: 573

Weather

https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/nu-15_metric_e.html can give you all the information you are looking for when it comes to annual weather.