Why does Nunavut control most of Hudson Bay? (living, legally)

[Urban Peasant]

I was browsing Google Maps and found that apart from the coastlines, the rest of Hudson Bay falls under the jurisdiction of Nunavut Territory. Can anyone explain why this is so? I also saw on my Manitoba AAA/CAA map that a small island off the coast of Manitoba near North River, Manitoba fell into Nunavut's jurisdiction as well. That is one of the oddest exclaves I have ever seen.

[Trojan1982]

Because the people that live on the islands in hudson bay are inuit and those islands were part of the NWT before it was divided. Do you think those islands should be part of the NWT
instead of Nunavut?

[Zoisite]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

I was browsing Google Maps and found that apart from the coastlines, the rest of Hudson Bay falls under the jurisdiction of Nunavut Territory. Can anyone explain why this is so? I also saw on my Manitoba AAA/CAA map that a small island off the coast of Manitoba near North River, Manitoba fell into Nunavut's jurisdiction as well. That is one of the oddest exclaves I have ever seen.

It's under the jurisdiction of Nunavut because all of it has always been the Inuit peoples' territory, not just for hunting but also for living. Parts of the coastline lands extending a few hundred yards inland from the water's edge into Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Labrador are also actually part of Nunavut controlled territory as are all of the islands in Hudson's Bay and the mouth of the bay.

.

[Zoisite]

Look at these two maps of Inuit territories and communities including their communities that are in Quebec.

https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/.../1623352671979

The entire area governed by the Inuit people and Nunavut is bigger than Mexico. The Inuit regions are:

Inuvialuit
Nunatsiavut
Nunavik
Nunavut

.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

I was browsing Google Maps and found that apart from the coastlines, the rest of Hudson Bay falls under the jurisdiction of Nunavut Territory. Can anyone explain why this is so? I also saw on my Manitoba AAA/CAA map that a small island off the coast of Manitoba near North River, Manitoba fell into Nunavut's jurisdiction as well. That is one of the oddest exclaves I have ever seen.

All islands in James Bay, which is even further south, are part of Nunavut as well.

There are islands just off of Attawapiskat, ON and Waskaganish, QC that are are part of Nunavut.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Zoisite

Parts of the coastline lands extending a few hundred yards inland from the water's edge into Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Labrador are also actually part of Nunavut controlled territory

.

That's not the case. The bays' coastlines are part of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba until you get in the water. But once you're in the water you are in Nunavut.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Trojan1982

Because the people that live on the islands in hudson bay are inuit

There is actually only one island in Hudson Bay (and none in James Bay) that is inhabited. So they are generally uninhabited.

But yes, this entire region has been part of the area hunted and fished by the Inuit for ages.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Trojan1982

d those islands were part of the NWT before it was divided. Do you th
ink those islands should be part of the NWT
instead of Nunavut?

Yes, they were part of the NWT before it was divided to create Nunavut.

Still, just because Inuit people live in a region doesn't mean it is automatically part of Nunavut. Northern Quebec has a very large Inuit population in Nunavik, and Labrador and even the residual NWT still have Inuit communities.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

I was browsing Google Maps and found that apart from the coastlines, the rest of Hudson Bay falls under the jurisdiction of Nunavut Territory. Can anyone explain why this is so? I also saw on my Manitoba AAA/CAA map that a small island off the coast of Manitoba near North River, Manitoba fell into Nunavut's jurisdiction as well. That is one of the oddest exclaves I have ever seen.

The real answer: Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba once upon a time didn't extend as far north as they do today.

Their northern regions of today were all part of the NWT.

At one point their territories were greatly expanded northward, to encompass these very sparsely populated regions.

But legally the expansion only covered the mainland territory.

The waters of the bays remained part of the NWT.

Then when the eastern and northern parts of the NTW were carved away to created Nunavut, the waters of the two bays went to Nunavut as well.

Given the mindset of the day, I highly doubt that concerns for the Inuit, at least 100 years ago, were top of mind when this was done.

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by Acajack

The real answer: Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba once upon a time didn't extend as far north as they do today.

Their northern regions of today were all part of the NWT.

At one point their territories were greatly expanded northward, to encompass these very sparsely populated regions.

But legally the expansion only covered the mainland territory.

The waters of the bays remained part of the NWT.

Then when the eastern and northern parts of the NTW were carved away to created Nunavut, the waters of the two bays went to Nunavut as well.

Given the mindset of the day, I highly doubt that concerns for the Inuit, at least 100 years ago, were top of mind when this was done.

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for the clear response, Acajack. I have a book titled How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein that describes how the political geography of all 50 of our states came into being and your explanation is pretty much a similar explanation for how Canadian geography was developed. Now if someone had written a book about how the Canadian provinces and territories got their shapes, that would be a great read.