Kugluktuk, Nunavut, formerly known as Coppermine until 1 January 1996, is a hamlet located at the mouth of the Coppermine River in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada. Situated on Coronation Gulf, southwest of Victoria Island, it is the westernmost community in Nunavut, near the border with the Northwest Territories. The traditional language of the area is Inuinnaqtun, written using the Latin alphabet, rather than the syllabics of the Inuktitut writing system.
In 1982, a division plebiscite was held in Kugluktuk, Nunavut. While approximately 80% of the population in what is now Nunavut voted in favour of division, Kugluktuk was one of only two communities to vote against division. In June 2004, a fuel line broke in the centre of Kugluktuk, spilling 2,000 L of diesel fuel.
As per the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada, Kugluktuk had a population of 1,382 living in 397 of its 438 total private dwellings, a change of -7.3% from its 2016 population of 1,491. With a land area of 538.99 km2, it had a population density of 2.6/km2 in 2021.
Since 2005, the community of Kugluktuk, Nunavut has been served by the Qiniq network. Qiniq is a fixed wireless service to homes and businesses, connecting to the outside world via a satellite backbone. The Qiniq network is designed and operated by SSi Canada. In 2017, the network was upgraded to 4G LTE technology, and 2G-GSM for mobile voice.
Kugluktuk, Nunavut is located on the shore of the Arctic Ocean. The surrounding landscape is dominated by the rocky and often barren Canadian Shield. The region has a subarctic climate, but barely so, with July having an average of 10.9 °C. It has cold, dry winters, and moderate snowfall which is relatively high for its latitude. Though trees do exist in the region, they are dwarfed and extremely sparse.
During the summer months, the region of Kugluktuk, Nunavut experiences plant growth that includes small shrubs, grass, moss, lichens, blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, various flowers, and dwarf willow and birch trees.
Kugluktuk, Nunavut features a subarctic climate with wet summers and dry winters. It is in the transitional zone to a cold tundra climate, but falls outside of it, since its warmest month of July surpasses the 10 °C isotherm, averaging 10.9 °C. The highest temperature ever recorded in Kugluktuk was 34.9 °C on 15 July 1989. The coldest temperature ever recorded was −50.0 °C on 2 February 1968.
