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Makkovik Maggovik
Town
View of Makkovik in 2023
MakkovikLocation of Makkovik in LabradorShow map of Newfoundland and LabradorMakkovikMakkovik (Canada)Show map of Canada
Coordinates: 55°02′51″N 59°12′10″W / 55.04750°N 59.20278°W / 55.04750; -59.20278
Country	Canada
Province	Newfoundland and Labrador
Region	Nunatsiavut
Settled	1860
Incorporated	March 26, 1970
Government
• Mayor (AngajukKâk)	Barry Andersen
• Federal MP	Yvonne Jones (L)
• Provincial MHA	Lela Evans (PC)
• Nunatsiavut Assembly member	Thomas Evans
Area
• Land	2.95 km (1.14 sq mi)
Population
• Total	365
• Density	123.5/km (320/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC−04:00 (AST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−03:00 (ADT)
Canadian Postal code	A0P 1J0
Area code	709

Makkovik (Inuit: Maggovik) is a town in Labrador in eastern Canada. It had 365 residents in 2021. The main industry is snow crabbing and there is a fishing cooperative.

Makkovik is only accessible by air or sea.

History

The Makkovik area has been inhabited by the Inuit since 1400 or earlier.

Some early European settlers included Antoine Perrault and Jean-Baptiste Jacques, French Canadian fur traders who set up trading posts at nearby Kaipokok Bay. Another early settler to the area was Charles McNeill, a fisherman from Glaston, Scotland, who married Wealtheness Metcalfe of Clarke's Beach, Newfoundland, and established a fishing post at Island Harbour. A Scottish fur trader named George Lyall settled near Island Harbour in the 1850s while a Welsh settler named Thomas Evans settled at Ben's Cove. Several Inuit families also continued to live in the region. Near the 1880s, some families of mixed European and Inuit origin from Cartwright and other areas of southern Labrador also established fishing posts near Makkovik. The later establishment of the Moravian mission in Makkovik eventually pushed many families to move from outlying posts (such as Island Harbour, Ben's Cove, Adlavik, Ailik and Tishialuk) to Makkovik itself or to Postville.

Torsten Kverna Andersen and his wife Mary Ann Thomas set up a trading post at Makkovik in 1860. Andersen was originally from Norway and had previously worked in Rigolet while his wife was from Labrador.

Colonization was assured in 1896 when the Moravian Church established a mission station and residential school there. Both the mission and school were destroyed by a fire in 1948 but the economy was instilled in the 1950s by two notable events. First was the forceful resettlement to Makkovik of 150 Inuit residents of the northern communities of Nutak and Hebron. Second was the establishment nearby of a radar warning station by the United States government.

In January 2012, Makkovik received notable media attention after 14-year old Burton Winters froze to death after his snowmobile broke down on the ice just outside of the community.

The population is mainly composed of residents of mixed European and Inuit heritage. Ninety five people in Makkovik claimed to have Norwegian ancestry in the 2016 census.

United States Air Force base

For three years in the late 1950s, the United States Air Force operated a remote radar base approximately 15 km (9.3 mi) north of the settlement. Called Cape Makkovik, it was constructed between 1955 and 1957 and operated until 1961, and dismantled later in the decade. It was a "gap-filler" in the Pinetree Line set up to monitor the skies for aircraft approaching from the north.

Geography

The community lies at the end of a peninsula in northern Labrador about 215 km (134 mi) northeast of Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Travel is by air year round (served by Makkovik Airport) and by boat in summer. Winter travel is by snowmobile. The community is situated on a sheltered bay in a saddle between two hills. In the lee of the northernmost hill is a large copse of tall spruce trees, which is remarkable given the paucity of tree cover for miles around. Now known as the Moravian Wood, there is a small cemetery in the centre.

Demographics

In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, Makkovik had a population of 365 living in 142 of its 154 total private dwellings, a change of -3.2% from its 2016 population of 377. With a land area of 2.95 km (1.14 sq mi), it had a population density of 123.7/km in 2021.

Geology

The community is located in the Makkovik Province, a Paleoproterozoic accretionary belt which is the smallest defined tectonic component of the Canadian Shield. The Makkovik Province is separated from the Nain Province to the north by the Kanairiktok Shear Zone and from the Grenville Province to the south by the Grenville Front, which marks the northern limit of the widespread Grenvillian deformation. Prior to the opening of the Labrador Sea the Makkovik Province lay adjacent to the Ketilidian mobile belt which currently forms part of Southwest Greenland.

Climate

Like most of Labrador, Makkovik has a subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc) with short, mild summers and very cold winters. Typically for its region but unusually for subarctic regions generally, precipitation is high with a minimum from March to May. This high precipitation and cool summers is due to the powerful influence of the Icelandic Low and the Labrador Current on its western side, and gives very heavy snowfall of 411.6 cm (162.0 in) per year with an average maximum cover of 69 cm (27 in) during March and April. The greatest snow depth was 152 cm (60 in) on April 17, 1997. Unlike most places with a pronounced subarctic climate, Makkovik has a pronounced seasonal lag with August being much warmer than July and September averaging slightly warmer than June.

Politics

Makkovik is governed by an AngajukKâk (currently Barry Andersen) and a five-member Inuit Community Government. The ICG consists of four members elected by the Inuit population (currently Bernie Andersen, Tony Andersen, Elizabeth Evans-Mitchell and Caroline Rideout) and one member elected by the non-Inuit population (currently Dion Rideout).

In the provincial House of Assembly, Makkovik is represented as part of the riding of Torngat Mountains which is currently represented by Lela Evans. Three of the four most recent MHAs for Torngat Mountains have been from Makkovik.

In the House of Commons, Makkovik is represented as part of Labrador which is currently represented by Yvonne Jones.

In the Nunatsiavut Assembly, Makkovik is represented as its own single-member electoral district. The current representative is Thomas Evans while past representatives have been:

Panorama

References

1. "Word List". Inuktut Lexicon Atlas. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
2. "Makkovik". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
3. "Labrador MHA Lela Evans leaving the NDP to return to PC caucus". Yahoo News. July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
4. ^ "Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population Data table Makkovik, Town (T)More information: Newfoundland and Labrador [Census subdivision]". Statistics Canada. February 9, 2022. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
5. Moore, Angel (April 5, 2020). "Indigenous leaders asking that access to Labrador be sealed off". APTN News. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
6. Churchill Duke, Laura (September 20, 2019). "Hopedale woman circulating petition calling for the province to subsidize flights to northern Labrador". Saltwire. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
7. "Inuit : Labrador Virtual Museum".
8. Fitzhugh, Lynne D. (1999). The Labradorians: Voices from the Land of Cain. Breakwater Books. ISBN 9781550811483.
9. "Inuit mark 50th anniversary of Labrador resettlement". CBC News. August 12, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
10. "Ceremony to mark forced relocation of Inuit village". CBC News. August 15, 2012. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
11. "Relocated Labrador Inuit to get apology monument". CBC News. July 24, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
12. "Town of Makkovik Municipal Plan 2007-2017" (PDF). Government of Newfoundland and Labrador - Environment, Climate Change and Municipalities. D.W. Knight Associates. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
13. "1 year after inquiry announced, Burton Winters's family hopeful for action soon". CBC News. December 4, 2019. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
14. "Burton Winters's death prompts long-awaited inquiry into search and rescue services". CBC news. December 4, 2018. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
15. "Census Profile, 2016 Census". Statistics Canada. February 8, 2017. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
16. Buss, Lydus (April 1, 1957). "US Air Defense in the Northeast 1940-1957". c-and-e-museum.org. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
17. "About Pinetree Line". Canadian Civil Defence Museum and Archives. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
18. ^ "Canadian Climate Normals 1981-2010 Station Data". Environment and Climate Change Canada. March 2, 2022. Climate ID: 8502NHR. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
19. "Makkovik Inuit Community Government : Makkovik". www.makkovik.ca. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
20. "Summary of Polling Divisions TORNGAT MOUNTAINS" (PDF). Elections Newfoundland and Labrador. August 3, 2011. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
21. "Unofficial results of the Nunatsiavut General Election. | Nunatsiavut Government". Archived from the original on August 10, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
22. "Nunatsiavut first minister resigns amid allegations she acted inappropriately | CBC News".
23. "Andersen acclaimed Ordinary Member for Makkovik". January 22, 2020.
24. "Media release. Official results of May 3 general election for Ordinary Members to the Nunatsiavut Assembly" (PDF). nunatsiavut.com. May 10, 2022. Retrieved November 27, 2023.

External links

• Town of Makkovik

• Inuit community governments in Newfoundland and Labrador
• Populated places in Labrador
• History of the Labrador Province of the Moravian Church
• Hudson's Bay Company trading posts
• Road-inaccessible communities of Newfoundland and Labrador