Katudgevik Co-operative

Community owned Co-operatives in the Arctic are multi-purpose businesses that provide a wide range of services to their members and their communities. Services provided by local Co-ops include retail stores, hotel and tourism operations, cable television, arts and craft marketing, fuel distribution, construction & heavy equipment services, property rental and a variety of agency type services. Katudgevik Co-operative provides the essential services to the community of Coral Harbour—a retail store, cable TV, restaurant and fuel distribution. In Inuktitut, Coral Harbour (Population: 834) is called Salliq, meaning a large, flat island in front of the mainland. The English explorer Sir Thomas Button named the land Southampton Island, to honor his benefactor, the Earl of Southampton, who promoted his voyage in 1604 in search of the Northwest Passage. Incredibly, in the icy waters near the settlement, you can find coral! It’s fossilized coral that once flourished when Northern Canada had a warmer climate. Today, of course, the local climate is not conducive to its growth. Coral Harbour is a thriving community, where its largely young population blends the traditional with the modern. While walrus meat sits on the dock for everyone to share, for example, a front-end loader prepares a lot for construction nearby. You’ll see people busily carving soapstone, ivory, whalebone, or the marvelous limestone from nearby Bear Island.