Ikaluktutiak 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. Ikaluktutiak Co-operative began in the late 1950s as a craft store and hotel. It was incorporated in 1961 and at one time operated a commercial fishery. Today, this thriving Co-op operates two hotels, a gas bar, taxi service, cable services and property rentals. The Co-op expanded its retail facility in 1995 and is also involved in many of the local contracts in Cambridge Bay. The population for Cambridge Bay today is 1608. The traditional Inuinnaqtun name for the area is Ikaluktuutiak or Iqaluktuttiaq (new meaning “good fishing place”).  Located on the southeast coast of Victoria Island, Cambridge Bay has an abundance of wildlife, including caribou, fish, waterfowl, and seal. Visitors to Cambridge Bay can take arranged naturalist tours which include wildlife watching for musk oxen, tundra birds and other waterfowl, and brilliantly flowered tundra in July, or can choose from self-guided walking tours to learn more about the community’s history.