Captain William Christopher of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who was
the first European to sail up the inlet from Hudson’s Bay in
1761, named the large lake after Sir William Baker who governed
the entire HBC from 1760 to 1770, and the Captain’s brother,
Richard Baker. Qamani’tuaq, as it is known by Inuit, means
“where the river widens”. The community has a strong heritage.
It is populated by elders and descendents of nine major cultural
groups who once inhabited both the coastal and inland regions,
spanning from Gjoa Haven to Repulse Bay down to Arviat, and to
the inland regions of the Back River, Kazan River, and Beverly
Lake regions, to name a few. Due to the decline of the caribou
herd migration, many people suffered great hardships and
starvation and were, therefore, moved off the land by the
government and into the community. Due to this relocation, the
creation of an arts and crafts program was developed in the
1960s. |1916||Hudson's Bay Company established original post on
Okpiktuyuk (Big Hips) Island nea