# Grise Fiord

Grise Fiord (Inuktitut: ᐊᐅᔪᐃᑦᑐᖅ) (population 144 in 2021) is a small Inuit village at the southern tip of Ellesmere Island in the Queen Elizabeth Islands of Canada. It is the largest community on the island, and Canada's northernmost public community. There is a school, a church and a store.

## Understand

Grise Fiord is one of the coldest inhabited places in the world, with an average yearly temperature of −16.5 °C (2.3 °F).
Grise Fiord's name means "pig inlet" in Norwegian. Otto Sverdrup from Norway so named it during an expedition around 1900 because he thought walruses in the area sounded like pigs.
The town's name in the Inuktitut language of the village's Inuit residents, ᐊᐅᔪᐃᑦᑐᖅ, is romanized Aujuittuq, which literally means the 'place that never thaws'. This isn't used as a tourism promotion slogan, though.

### History

Grise Fiord was created by the Canadian government in 1953, partly to assert sovereignty in the High Arctic during the Cold War. Eight Inuit families from Inukjuak, Quebec (on the Ungava Peninsula), were relocated after being promised homes and game to hunt, but the relocated people discovered no buildings and very little familiar wildlife. They were told that they would be returned home after a year if they wished, but this offer was later withdrawn, for it would have damaged Canada's claims to sovereignty in the area; the Inuit were forced to stay. Eventually, the Inuit learned the local beluga whale migration routes and were able to survive in the area, hunting over a range of 18,000 km² each year.
In 1996, the Canadian government paid $10 million to the survivors and their families, and gave a formal apology in 2010.
Grise Fiord was the location for a 1995 BBC television documentary entitled Billy Connolly: A Scot in the Arctic, in which the comedian Billy Connolly camped alone for a week on the pack ice near to the community, armed with a rifle to protect him from polar bears.

## Get in

There are no connecting roads on Ellesmere Island.
76.426111-82.9094441 Grise Fiord Airport (YGZ) is the community's only transportation link to the rest of the world.
* Canadian North. Twice flights a week (M and Th) from Resolute to Grise Fiord, 90 minutes, from $1800 round trip. (updated Oct 2024)
* Borek Air flies cargo and a handful of passengers to the village.
* Air Nunavut operates charter flights.

## Get around

For local travel needs, the villagers use all-terrain vehicles in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter. During the winter months travel is limited to the town site and a small patch of land to the east, called Nuvuk, due to mountains and ice fields that cut off the town from the rest of the island. Small boats are used in summer to reach hunting grounds, and to hunt sea mammals on the ocean. Once a year, large ships (sealift) arrive with supplies and fuel.

## See

* 76.420921-82.8940341 Grise Fiord Monument. Artist and Grise Fiord resident Looty Pijamini was commissioned to build two monuments in 2010 to commemorate the Inuit who sacrificed so much as a result of the Government's forced relocation programme of 1953 and 1955. Pijamini's monument in Grise Fiord depicts a woman with a young boy and a husky, with the woman somberly looking out towards Resolute Bay. Amagoalik's monument in Resolute depicts a lone man looking towards Grise Fiord. This was meant to show separated families, and depicting them longing to see each other again. (updated Mar 2025)

## Do

* Snowmobile trips to see icebergs
* Boating trips
* Marine wildlife
* Beluga whale and polar bear watching

## Buy

* 76.418123-82.8935241 Grise Fiord Inuit Co-Op, ☏ +1-867-980-9913. There is a small selection of groceries available here. (updated Mar 2025)
* 76.4158-82.88772 Ooglit Saanavik, 1 Nanuq Street. M-F 9AM-5PM, Sa 3-5. Convenience stores. (updated Mar 2025)

## Drink

* There are no bars, pubs or taverns in the town.

## Sleep

* 76.41708-82.89491 Grise Fiord Lodge, Grise Fiord Inuit Co-operative, ☏ +1 867 980-9913, fax: +1 867 980-9954. Beside the local co-op store (with Inuit crafts and a limited grocery selection), this nine-room lodge is one of few accommodations available. From $300. (updated Mar 2025)