What is the northernmost territory in Canada?

Nunavut is Canada's northernmost territory, covering about 2,093,190 square kilometres in the Arctic Archipelago and the eastern mainland north. The territory was created on April 1, 1999, separated from the eastern Northwest Territories by the federal Nunavut Act of 1993. Nunavut's creation was the largest change to the Canadian map since Newfoundland and Labrador joined Confederation in 1949 and was the result of more than 20 years of negotiation between the Inuit of the eastern Arctic and the federal government.

Nunavut's population is about 41,000, the smallest of any Canadian province or territory. About 84 per cent of Nunavummiut are Inuit, making Nunavut the only Canadian jurisdiction with an Indigenous-majority population. The territorial capital is Iqaluit, located on Frobisher Bay on the southeast coast of Baffin Island, with a population of about 7,500. The territorial population is spread across 25 communities, most of them coastal and accessible only by air or by summer sealift. There are no roads connecting Nunavut communities to each other or to the rest of Canada.

Inuktitut is one of three official languages of Nunavut alongside English and French. The Inuit Language Protection Act of 2008 requires public services to be available in Inuktitut. The Nunavut Land Claims Agreement of 1993, the largest Indigenous land claim agreement in Canadian history, transferred title to about 350,000 square kilometres of land to Inuit (about 18 per cent of the territory), provided $1.14 billion in capital, and established Inuit co-management of wildlife, environmental assessment, and water resources across all of Nunavut.

Nunavut's economy centres on the public sector (federal, territorial, and Inuit-organisation employment), mining (Agnico Eagle's Meadowbank, Meliadine, and Hope Bay gold mines, and Baffinland Iron Mines' Mary River project on Baffin Island), commercial fishing (turbot and shrimp), tourism, and Indigenous arts including the famous Cape Dorset (Kinngait) print-making studios. Nunavut's traditional economy includes hunting, fishing, and trapping, with country food (caribou, narwhal, beluga, char, ringed seal) playing a central role in food security and cultural continuity. The federal Nutrition North Canada subsidy programme supports retail food access in isolated communities.