Kivitoo

Kivitoo is an abandoned Inuit community and a former whaling station[1] on the northeast shore of Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. Kivitoo's Inuit families moved to Qikiqtarjuaq, approximately 50 km (31 mi) to the south, in 1963.[2]

Kivitoo
Abandoned settlement
Kivitoo
Coordinates: 67°56′N 64°52′W
CountryCanada
TerritoryNunavut
RegionQikiqtaaluk Region
Highest elevation
313 m (1,027 ft)
Population
 (2006)
 • Total0
Time zoneUTC-5
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)

History

In the early 20th century, the Sabellum Trading Company established a post at Kivitoo to service the whalers who would anchor there to flense carcasses. The post was abandoned in 1926.[3]

Kivitoo (qivittu) (FOX-D) is also a former Distant Early Warning Line and is currently a North Warning System site. Because of a nearby small coastal plain, a short airstrip was built during early operation of FOX-D.[1]

The residents of Kivitoo were evacuated to Qikiqtarjuaq in the 1963, purportedly for their safety, after three residents of the community were killed in a collapse of the ice under their igloos.[4] However, the town was never resettled afterward, as the remaining structures in the community had been demolished by authorities by the time residents tried to return.[4]

The evacuation and destruction of Kivitoo is the subject of Zacharias Kunuk's 2018 documentary film Kivitoo: What They Thought of Us.[4]

References
  1. Allinson, Martin. "Kivitoo, Nunavut FOX-D". Retrieved 2009-02-05.
  2. "Hunting With My Ancestors Episode 4: Kivitoo - What they thought of us?". Isuma. Retrieved 2021-03-19.
  3. Grant, Shelagh D. "Niaqutiaq". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
  4. "Over 50 years ago, tragedy struck this Nunavut community. Zacharias Kunuk's new film wants answers". CBC Arts, October 19, 2018.


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