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Igloolik, Nunavut (Canada)

Iglulik / ᐃᒡᓗᓕᒃ

1:2 image by Eugene Ipavec
Source: Canadian City Flags, Raven 18

Igloolik
Current Flag
- Design
- Symbolism
- Selection
- Designer
Former Flag

See also:

Igloolik

Igloolik is an Inuit hamlet in Foxe Basin, Qikiqtaaluk Region in Nunavut, northern Canada. The name "Igloolik" means "there is a house here".

Current Flag

Text and image(s) from Canadian City Flags, Raven 18 (2011), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association, which retains copyright. Image(s) by permission of Eugene Ipavec.

The flag of the Hamlet of Igloolik is a Canadian pale design of blue-white-blue with a naturalistic depiction of a winter scene in the centre, in light blue, blue, and white. The scene comprises a shelf of ice in white with blue and light blue details on which stands an igloo in light blue with blue details. Crossed in front of the igloo and its snowy base stand two Inuit tools of the hunt on the water, frozen or clear: an unaaq (harpoon) and a kakivak (trident ice-fishing spear). The harpoon is fitted out with its telltale line, coiled in loops with perhaps a small weight at its end to attach to a seal bladder float, the other end leading to the detachable spear point. On the right stands an Inuit figure, presumably a man, in full winter garb; on the left, a well-furred, attentive sled dog. Both look back toward the igloo’s entrance, which has a vague suggestion of a qulliq (interior hearth lamp) in silhouette. (If so, this is a rare example of a female tool on a flag; another is the ulu on the flag of Arviat).
Mark S. Ritzenhein, Canadian City Flags, Raven 18, 2011

Symbolism

Igloolik, meaning “houses there” in Inuktitut, is situated on the flat and barren island of the same name at (according to some) the very northeast corner of the North American continent. Igloolik Island sits at the eastern approaches to Fury and Hecla Strait, a narrow ice-choked channel between the upturned snout of the continent and Baffin Island, the fifth largest island in the world, an island large enough to carry its own significant ice fields and be mistaken by early European explorers for two separate pieces of land. Opinions differ on whether igloolik refers to igloo, snow houses, or to sod houses (the prehistoric remains of which are found on the island), but the civic flag uses the first. This igloo, constructed in realistic fashion of multiple snow blocks coloured blue for contrast with the white field, sits on its own island of snow, ice, or snow-covered land. Igloolik is considered the most culturally traditional Inuit city in Nunavut, although southern culture prevails there as well.
Mark S. Ritzenhein, Canadian City Flags, Raven 18, 2011

Selection

The flag is an elaboration and revision of the 1985 flag.
All such NWT/Nunavut civic flags were designed in 1985 for the Northwest Territories Exhibition Hall at Vancouver’s Expo ’86, at the initiative of heraldry enthusiast Michael Moore, then a deputy minister at the NWT Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA). The side-bar colours of these Canadian pale designs vary from dark blue, to green, to brown, and to bright red. The ovoid civic logo of Arviat was likely derived from a Canadian Community Newspaper Association logo, awarded in 1983 to News North, the primary newspaper of the Canadian Arctic, and printed on its masthead for many years.
Mark S. Ritzenhein, Canadian City Flags, Raven 18, 2011

Designer

Unknown. Rob Butler, graphic artist at Inkit Graphics in Yellowknife, NWT, configured the original flag based on ideas and designs supplied by the local community.
Mark S. Ritzenhein, Canadian City Flags, Raven 18, 2011

Former Flag

1:2 image by Eugene Ipavec
Source: Canadian City Flags, Raven 18

The 1985 version of Igloolik’s flag does not include the Inuit man or the sled dog. The harpoon, unaaq, and trident spear, kakivak, have more turned detail on their hafts and points but no telltale line on the harpoon. The igloo, in light blue with white details, sits on a shelf of snow or ice with a dark blue frontal margin, and there was no interior detail visible through the blank, arched entrance. The revisions to this flag—especially the addition of the man and dog—may have related to the sled-dog revival effort in Nunavut and Northwest Territories, which eventually failed.
Mark S. Ritzenhein, Canadian City Flags, Raven 18, 2011