Herschel Island National Historic Event
© Richard S. Finnie / Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development fonds / Library and Archives Canada / a100660-v8
Herschel Island was designated as a national historic event in 1972.
Commemorative plaque: Herschel Island, Yukon TerritoryFootnote 1
Herschel Island
Named by John Franklin in 1826, this island in 1890 became the principal base for American whalers in the western Arctic. During the peak winter of 1894-95 it boasted a brawling community of 2,000, both whalers and Inuit, who here made their first prolonged contact with Europeans. Alarmed by the demoralization of the natives, Reverend I. O. Stringer established a mission here in 1896. In 1903, Canadian sovereignty was asserted by an R.N.W.M.P. post, one of the first in the Arctic. Herschel Island was a major trading centre, but by the 1930s it had been abandoned for mainland settlements.
Qiqiqtaruk
John F Franklin 1890mi una qilaluqarniartuat mani nunaptingni 1894-1895mun. 2000 Inuit qilalurarniartuatluq, Inuit tanqitlu, tanmarnit paklangitkait Inuit. Rev Stringer una aungatchilikrri 1896mi. 1903mi Canadian Sovereignty, piliaugangat RNWMP tantuktauliagaat. Aklaqaqngat manni nunaptingni. Qiqiqtaruqmi tauqiqniarrunikkuat.
Herschel Njuu
John Franklin zrivàazhìi 1826 dài’ oozrii vats’an ałtsàii, 1890 gwànoo aii kaiik’it kaleeluk eenjit nìdhìzrii kat American gidilii gwaa’àn tr’oochìt gwilàii gòodlìt. 1894-95 khaii tł’at dài’ uunjit leii 2,000 giinlii Eneekaii hàh gwizhìt gweech’in’, jùu tr’oochìt guk’àdadhizhii gwik’ìt gwįįli’. Juudìn Eneekaii giinli’ łòo goot’àiinji’gijąhch’uu kwaa hàh leii nehsrigijàhch’uu gwik’ìt gòodlìt, geh’àn giikhii I. O. Stringer vàazhii gihk’yàanjik geenjit 1896 dài’ tr’igiikhii zheh giiyàłtsàii. 1903 gwànoo, niveh t’ah’ii R.N.W.M.P. k’ìighe’ zheh gogwàłtsaii, zhigweedì’ tr’oochìt įįlì’. Herschel Njuu ookat zheh gwįįtshii gàgoo’aii gwįįli’, gwàt 1930 dài’ kwànk’ìt gòodlìt.
Herschel Island
Inuit have hunted whales in what is now the Canadian Arctic over many generations, harvesting resources for food, shelter, tools and clothing. Commercial whaling by Europeans began first in the Eastern Arctic in about 1820. In the Western Arctic, starting in 1890, American steam whalers operating out of San Francisco pushed beyond Point Barrow, Alaska, into the Beaufort Sea where large herds of bowhead whales could be found. From 1890 to 1895, a wintering station established by American crews at Pauline Cove on Herschel Island was the centre of Beaufort Sea whaling. Herschel Island was a place of cultural and commercial exchange between Americans, Europeans, and Arctic Indigenous Peoples. The presence of commercial whalers drew Inuvialuit and Alaskan Inuit to the island who were seeking opportunities for trade and employment. Hundreds of people spent the winter of 1895 on Herschel Island, which had a diverse population of whaling crews, Inuit, and Anglican missionaries.
© Rudolph Martin Anderson / Library and Archives Canada / C-023649
Through trade and paid work as hunters and seamstresses, Inuvialuit profited from their exchanges with commercial whalers. At the same time, sustained contact with Americans and Europeans caused devastating social and demographic changes. The newcomers introduced diseases, such as measles, influenza, and sexually transmitted infections, which caused the deaths of many Inuvialuit (particularly from the Mackenzie Delta area) and Inuit from Alaska. The establishment of a Royal North-West Mounted Police (RNWMP) post on Herschel Island in 1903 enabled the Canadian state to assert sovereignty and impose law and order within its Arctic waters. Another RNWMP post was established that year at Fullerton Harbour, Hudson Bay. Expanding the presence of the RNWMP was part of a broader Canadian response to the activities of international whalers and explorers in the Arctic archipelago around the turn of the 20th century.
European whaling in the Western Arctic was relatively short-lived, beginning in the 1890s and already declining by the early 1910s. Due to over-hunting and a diminished market for whale byproducts, commercial whaling across the Canadian Arctic had largely ceased by 1914. After the collapse of commercial whaling, Herschel Island remained an important economic centre for Inuvialuit. In 1915, the Hudson’s Bay Company established a post on Herschel Island, and the focus of the regional economy evolved from whaling to trapping. Inuit maintain their land- and sea-based lifestyles by adapting to such transitions in Euro-American industries and incorporating these industries into their lifeways and economies.
This press backgrounder was prepared at the time of the plaque unveiling in 2025.
The National Program of Historical Commemoration relies on the participation of Canadians in the identification of places, events and persons of national historic significance. Any member of the public can nominate a topic for consideration by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
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