The Arctic Circle is the region surrounding the North Pole. It includes parts of Russia, Scandinavia, Greenland, Alaska and the Arctic Ocean. Canada’s northern region is also apart of the Arctic Circle.

The Northwest Territories of Canada were divided on April 1, 1999 as part of the largest land claim ever settled in North America. The western part of the Territory became the downsized Northwest Territories, while the eastern and northern parts became Nunavut.

Nunavut, which makes up over one-fifth of Canada's land mass, became the first North American territory formed by aboriginal people with a self-elected government. The capital of Nunavut is Iqaluit on Baffin Island. At present, the population of Nunavut is over 25,000 of which 85% is Inuit.

Polar bears, arctic foxes, caribou, snowshoe hare, beluga whales, wolves, moose and seals are just some of the animals who thrive in the freezing tundra and pack ice of northern Canada and the Arctic Circle.

If you visit the region you will not only be wowed by the wildlife but the Northern Lights, the outdoor adventures, and the amazing Inuksuk created by the Inuit people. In the bleak but beautiful environment of the northern Canada, the ancient message of the Inuksuks are symbols of leadership, interdependence, and friendship today.

Many lives ago, an Inuit girl dashed through a land of snow and stones and caribou and stars. She was small and inquisitive and always, always running. Her father said she reminded him of the arctic hare, the ukaliq. From that day, she was known as Ukaliq.

Ukaliq loved to be outside where she could juggle and wrestle with her brothers and sisters. Her feet would barely touch the thin grass that cloaked the earth in summer or winter's blanket of snow.

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