The Kativik Regional Government (KRG) and the communities of Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kangiqsujuaq, Umiujaq, and Kawawachikamach have developed an ice-monitoring program based on weekly fieldwork and interviews. Snow and ice characteristics are measured at strategic locations along the trail networks. Interviews with ice experts are conducted to obtain more detailed descriptions of ice, snow and general weather conditions along the trail networks. Weekly ice trail information is displayed and updated regularly on this website. This winter, the project has also benn extend to the communities of Ivujivik and Akulivik.

Portrait of the region

The Nunavik region is made up of fourteen (14) local communities that are accessible only by plane (year-round) or boat (during the summer months). The Naskapi community of Kawawachikamach is located inland, just south of the Nunavik border and is linked by road to the community of Schefferville, itself accessible by train to a community on the Lower North Shore of the St-Lawrence. None of these communities are linked to each other or to the rest of the province by a road network. The winter trail networks are therefore particularly significant since they connect the communities and allow residents to travel to other villages in addition to providing access to harvesting grounds. Apart from connections via air, these regional trails are the lifelines for many communities year round.

This program is part of the larger research project called “Climate Change in Northern Québec: Access to Land and Resources”. Information gathered during the ice-monitoring program will be used in conjunction with predictions from regional climatic scenarios developed by the Ouranos Consortium. The goal is to help identify the specific conditions under which ice becomes safe for travel and predict the potential changes that might occur along the trail networks within Nunavik as well as the implications of these changes on the existence of “safe” ice as viewed from a human health and safety perspective.

Ice monitoring in Northern communities:

• Kangiqsualujjuaq
• Kangiqsujuaq
• Kawawachikamach
• Umiujaq