History
Inuvik was conceived in 1953 as a replacement administrative centre for the hamlet of Aklavik on the west of the Mackenzie Delta, as the latter was prone to flooding and had no room for expansion. Initially called "New Aklavik", it was renamed to Inuvik in 1958. The school was built in 1959 and the hospital, government offices and staff residences in 1960, when people began to live in the community: Inuvialuit, Dene and Metis.
Inuvik achieved village status in 1967 and became a full town in 1970 with an elected mayor and council. In 1979, with the completion of the Dempster Highway, Inuvik became connected to Canada's highway system, and simultaneously the most northerly town to which one could drive in the summer months — although an ice road through the Mackenzie River delta connects the town to Tuktoyaktuk and Aklavik, on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, in the winter.
Between 1971 and 1990, the town's economy was supported by the local Canadian Forces Station, CFS Inuvik, (originally a Naval Radio Station, later a communications research/signals intercept facility) and by petrochemical companies exploring the Mackenzie Valley and the Beaufort Sea for petroleum. This all collapsed in 1990 for a variety of reasons, including disappearing government subsidies, local resistance to petroleum exploration, and low international oil prices.
On 10 February 2010, the Google Street View imaging service uploaded images of most Inuvik streets. It is currently the northernmost Canadian community so imaged.
Read more about this topic: Inuvik
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