Stephanie McDonald
Northern News Services
Monday, July 23, 2007

IQALUIT - Nunavut is renowned for its natural beauty, and its territorial and national parks showcase the region's rugged features and historical sites.

That inherent appeal was celebrated Saturday, which marked the 17th annual Canada Parks Day.

"Park Day is an opportunity for all Canadians to celebrate the environment, their history, their culture," said David Monteith, Nunavut director of parks.

Approximately 35 per cent of all visitors to Nunavut experience the territory through a park program.

"Those numbers are fairly significant. I think it's partly because they view Nunavut as still somewhat of a frontier," Monteith said. "There is a perception of it being cold and a land of polar bears."

Nunavut boasts 11 territorial parks and four national parks, covering 0.7 per cent of the territory's landmass. The first park created was Sylvia Grinnell Park, outside of Iqaluit in 1971.

"It was originally created to promote sports fishing in the park," Monteith said. "Over the years it has changed to become more of a community park and recreation area."

Katannilik Park in Kimmirut is the newest park to have been created in the territory. Park manager Tommy Akavak spends his days organizing events for cruise ship passengers and other tourists passing through the area. He registers visitors and maintains snowmobile trails in the wintertime.

Katannilik means "the place of waterfalls," and is home to Baffin Island's tallest trees - the park's dwarf Arctic willow trees grow up to 10 feet. The park also has one of the world's only deposits of lapis lazuli, a rare blue gemstone. Visitors in the park during the full and new moon can see the reversing falls where Soper Lake drains into the ocean.

"It's the main attraction in town," Akavak said.

In addition to the locals who frequent the park, Katannilik receives 80 to 100 registered tourists each year.

Among notable guests to have visited the park was Canadian scientist and environmental activist David Suzuki.

Most parks are created out of community need, Monteith said. When a community grows, there is an increased need for recreational facilities. Creating a park is also a way to promote tourism and preserve heritage sites.

A community approaches the Government of Nunavut, advising that their area deserves to be researched because of unique natural features or due to its historical significance. Consultants are hired to conduct feasibility studies, assessing the costs of developing a park, the economic benefits that the community could derive from it, and the level of community support.

A new park north of Clyde River is currently in the initial stages of being created.