Churchill ᑯᒡᔪᐊᖅ Kugjuaq (Inuktitut)
Town
Town of Churchill
Churchill in 2010
Flag
Nicknames:  "Polar Bear Capital of the World," "Beluga Capital of the World"[1]
Churchill Churchill in Manitoba Show map of Manitoba Churchill Churchill (Canada) Show map of Canada
Coordinates: 58°46′51″N 094°11′13″W / 58.78083°N 94.18694°W / 58.78083; -94.18694[2]
Country	Canada
Province	Manitoba
Region	Northern
Census division	23
Government
• Type	Town Council
• Mayor	Michael Spence
• MP	Niki Ashton
• MLA	Eric Redhead
Area  (2021)[3]
• Land	50.83 km2 (19.63 sq mi)
Elevation [4]	0 m (0 ft)
Highest elevation	29 m (94 ft)
Lowest elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population  (2021)[3]
• Total	870
• Density	17.1/km2 (44/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC−06:00 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−05:00 (CDT)
Postal code	R0B 0E0
Area code(s)	Area codes 204 and 431
Website	churchill.ca

Churchill is an Arctic port town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly 140 km (87 mi) from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leading to the nickname "Polar Bear Capital of the World" and to the benefit of its burgeoning tourism industry.

Geography

Churchill is located on Hudson Bay, at the mouth of the Churchill River on the 58th parallel north, far above most Canadian populated areas. Churchill is far from any other towns or cities, with Thompson, approximately 400 km (250 mi) to the south, being the closest larger settlement. Manitoba's provincial capital, Winnipeg, is approximately 1,000 km (620 mi) south of Churchill. While not part of the city, Eskimo Point^[5] and Eskimo Island is located across the river at the former site of the Prince of Wales Fort.

History

Various nomadic Arctic peoples lived and hunted in this region. The Thule people arrived around the year 1000 from the west, the ancestors of the present-day Inuit. The Dene people arrived around the year 500 from farther north.^{[citation needed]} Since before the time of European contact, the region around Churchill has been predominantly inhabited by the Chipewyan and Cree peoples.^{[citation needed]}

Europeans first arrived in the area in 1619 when a Danish expedition led by Jens Munk wintered near where Churchill would later stand. Only 3 of 64 expedition members survived the winter and sailed one of the expedition's two ships, the sloop Lamprey, back to Denmark.^[6] Danish archaeologists in 1964 discovered remains of the abandoned ship, the frigate Unicorn, in the tidal flats some kilometres from the mouth of the river.^[7] The discoveries were all taken to Denmark; some are on display at the National Museum in Copenhagen.

After an abortive attempt in 1688–89, in 1717, the Hudson's Bay Company built the first permanent settlement, Churchill River Post, a log fort a few kilometres upstream from the mouth of the Churchill River. The trading post and river were named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, who was governor of the Hudson's Bay Company in the late 17th century. The fort, Prince of Wales Fort, was rebuilt at the mouth of the river. The fort was primarily built to capitalize on the North American fur trade, out of the reach of York Factory. It dealt mainly with the Chipewyan living north of the boreal forest. Much of the fur came from as far away as Lake Athabasca and the Rocky Mountains.^{[citation needed]} A defensive battery, Cape Merry Battery, was built on the opposite side of the fort to provide protection.

As part of the Anglo-French dispute for North America, in 1731–1741, the original fort was replaced with Prince of Wales Fort, a large stone fort on the western peninsula at the mouth of the river. In 1782, the French Hudson Bay expedition, led by La Pérouse, captured it. Since the British, under Samuel Hearne, were greatly outnumbered and, in any event, were not soldiers, they surrendered without firing a shot. The leaders agreed Hearne would be released and given safe passage to England, along with 31 British civilians, in the sloop Severn, on condition he immediately publish his story A Journey to the Northern Ocean. In return, the British promised the same number of French prisoners would be released, and a British seaman familiar with the waters safely navigated the French away from the Hudson's Bay coastline at a time of year when the French risked becoming trapped in winter ice.^[8] The French made an unsuccessful attempt to demolish the fort. The worst effect was on the local indigenous peoples, who had become dependent on trade goods from the fort, and many of them starved. Extensive reconstruction and stabilization of the fort's remains have occurred since the 1950s.^{[citation needed]}

In 1783, Hearne returned to build a new fort a short distance upriver. Due to its distance from areas of heavy competition between the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company, it remained a stable, if not profitable, source of furs.^{[citation needed]}

Between the years of decline in the fur trade and the emergence of Western agricultural success, Churchill phased into and then back out of obsolescence. After decades of frustration over the monopoly and domination of the Canadian Pacific Railway, western Canadian governments banded together. They aggressively negotiated for the creation of a significant new northern shipping harbour on Hudson Bay, linked by rail from Winnipeg. Initially, Port Nelson was selected for this purpose in 1912. After several years of effort and millions of dollars, this project was abandoned, and Churchill was chosen as the alternative after World War One. Surveys by the Canadian Hydrographic Service ship CSS Acadia opened the way for safe navigation. Construction was completed by 1929.

Once this transportation rail link from farms to the Churchill port was completed, commercial shipping took many more years to pick up. In 1932, Grant MacEwan was the first person to cross through Churchill customs as a passenger. This was purely due to his determination to take the Hudson Bay route to Saskatchewan from Britain—most passengers returned via the St. Lawrence River.^{[citation needed]}

In 1942, the United States Army Air Forces established a base called Fort Churchill, 8 km (5.0 mi) east of the town. After World War II, the base served several other purposes, including being a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and a Strategic Air Command facility. Following the demolition of the base it was repurposed into the town's airport.^[9]

Naval Radio Station Churchill, call sign CFL, was activated as an ionospheric study station by the Royal Canadian Navy in support of the U-boat high-frequency direction finding (HFDF) net and became operational on 1 August 1943. Around 1949, Churchill became part of the Canadian SUPRAD (signals intelligence) network and remained in that role until it closed its doors in 1968. The Operations and Accommodations building remains today but is abandoned.^{[citation needed]}

This area was also the site of the Churchill Rocket Research Range, part of Canadian-American atmospheric research. Its first rocket was launched in 1956, and it continued to host launches for research until closing in 1984. The site of the former rocket range now hosts the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, a facility for multidisciplinary Arctic research.^[10]

In the 1950s, the British government considered establishing a site near Churchill for testing their early nuclear weapons before choosing Australia instead.^[11]

Environment

Churchill is situated at the estuary of the Churchill River at Hudson Bay. The small community stands at an ecotone, on the Hudson Plains at the juncture of three ecoregions: the boreal forest to the south, the Arctic tundra to the northwest, and the Hudson Bay to the north. Wapusk National Park, located at 57°46′26″N 93°22′17″W / 57.77389°N 93.37139°W / 57.77389; -93.37139 (Wapusk National Park)^[12], is to the southeast of the town.

The landscape around Churchill is influenced by shallow soils caused by a combination of subsurface permafrost and Canadian Shield rock formation. The black spruce dominant tree cover is sparse and stunted by these environmental constraints. There is also a noticeable ice pruning effect on the trees.^[13] The area also offers sport fishing. Several tour operators offer expeditions on land, sea and air, using all-terrain vehicles, tundra buggies, boats, canoes, helicopters, and ultralight aircraft.^[14][15]

Aurora borealis

Like all northern communities in Canada, Churchill can sometimes see the aurora borealis (Northern Lights) when there is a high amount of solar activity and the skies are clear, usually in February and March.^[16] Visibility also depends on the sky being dark enough to see them, which usually precludes their visibility in the summer due to nautical twilight all night long.^[17]

Climate

Churchill has a very harsh subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfc) with long, frigid winters (from early October to May) and short, cool to mild summers.^[18] Churchill's winters are much colder than a coastal location at a latitude of 58 degrees north should warrant. The shallow Hudson Bay freezes over in the winter, eliminating maritime transit. Prevailing northerly winds from the North Pole jet across the frozen bay, leading to a January average temperature of −26.0 °C (−14.8 °F),^[19] comparable to the frigid cold in the Siberian Arctic city of Norilsk, which is at a much higher latitude of 69 degrees north. Juneau, Alaska, by contrast, is also at a latitude of 58 degrees north but is moderated by the warmer and much deeper Pacific Ocean. Juneau's −3.5 °C (25.7 °F)^[20] January average temperature is a full 22.5 °C (40.5 °F) warmer than Churchill's.