About Bathurst Inlet (Qingaun)

Bathurst Inlet — Qingaun in Inuinnaqtun — sits along the Arctic coast of central Nunavut and has long been an important place for Inuit families. For centuries, the area served as a seasonal gathering hub where Inuit hunted caribou from the Bathurst herd, fished the inlet and rivers, and traveled along ancient overland and marine routes linking Coronation Gulf to the interior barrens. Archaeological sites throughout the inlet show continuous use stretching back thousands of years.

European contact began in the early 1800s when explorers such as Sir John Franklin charted the coast. By the early 1900s, the Hudson’s Bay Company established posts in the region, followed by Catholic missions that operated into the mid-20th century. A small community gradually formed around the trading post, though most Inuit families remained semi-nomadic until the later relocations of the 1950s–60s.

In the modern era, Bathurst Inlet became known for its wildlife, dramatic tundra landscapes, and the Bathurst Inlet Lodge—one of the first remote Arctic ecotourism lodges in Canada, founded in the 1960s by the parents of Adventure Northwests founders, Glen and Trish Warner in partnership with the Kapolak family. The lodge brought international attention to the region’s natural and cultural heritage for decades.

Today, Bathurst Inlet is uninhabited year-round, but Inuit from nearby communities continue to use the area for traditional harvesting, cultural camps, and travel.