The Queen Elizabeth Islands () are the northernmost cluster of islands in Canada's Arctic Archipelago, split between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories in Northern Canada. The Queen Elizabeth Islands contain approximately 14% of the global glacier and ice cap area (excluding the inland and shelf ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica). The southern islands are called the Parry Islands or Parry Archipelago.
Geography The islands, together in area, were renamed as a group after Elizabeth II on her coronation as Queen of Canada in 1953. The islands cover an area approximately the shape of a right triangle, bounded by the Nares Strait on the east, Parry Channel on the south and the Arctic Ocean to the north and west. Most are uninhabited although the Natural Resources Canada's Climate Change Geoscience Program Earth Sciences Sector (ESS), has monitors on the islands. In 1969 Panarctic Oils, now part of Suncor Energy, began operating exploration oil wells in the Franklinian and Sverdrup basins and planned on establishing its resource base in the Queen Elizabeth Islands. It ceased production in the 1970s. At the 2013 GeoConvention the Arctic Islands region were called Canada's perpetual "last petroleum exploration frontier". Hogg and Enachescu argued that the development and implementation of advanced marine and land seismic technologies in Alaska, Northern Europe and Siberia could be modified for use in the Queen Elizabeth Islands.
Queen Elizabeth Islands had not been fully charted until the British Northwest Passage expeditions and later Norwegian exploration of the 19th century.
These islands were known as the Parry Archipelago for over 130 years. They were first named after British Arctic explorer Sir William Parry, who sailed there in 1820, aboard the Hecla. Since the renaming of the archipelago in 1953, the term Parry Islands continued to be used for its southwestern part (less Ellesmere Island and the Sverdrup Islands). The regional break down of the archipelago is therefore as follows: Ellesmere Island Sverdrup Islands Parry Islands
Ellesmere Island is the northernmost and by far the largest. The Sverdrup Islands are located west of Ellesmere Island and north of Norwegian Bay. The remaining islands further south and west, but north of the Parry Channel (Lancaster Sound, Viscount Melville Sound and M'Clure Strait), have been carrying the name Parry Islands, which name until 1953 had also included the Sverdrup Islands and Ellesmere Island. South of the Parry Channel are the remaining islands of the Arctic Archipelago.
The islands lay on top of and were formed by the movement of the Queen Elizabeth Islands Subplate.
Major islands Many of the islands are among the largest in the world, the largest being Ellesmere Island. Other major islands include Amund Ringnes Island, Axel Heiberg Island, Bathurst Island, Borden Island, Cornwall Island, Cornwallis Island, Devon Island, Eglinton Island, Ellef Ringnes Island, Mackenzie King Island, Melville Island, and Prince Patrick Island.
Smaller islands Other smaller but notable islands include; Beechey Island (), which held the graves of Petty Officer John Torrington, Royal Marine Private William Braine, and Able Seaman John Hartnell, three members of Sir John Franklin's crew who took part in his lost expedition,Researches for Sir John FranklinFranklin timeline Hans Island (), a small, uninhabited barren knoll measuring whose ownership was disputed by Canada and Denmark until 14 June 2022, when both countries agreed to split the disputed island roughly in half., the Cheyne Islands (), three small ( together) islands that are Important Bird Area (#NU049) and a Key Migratory Bird Terrestrial Habitat site (NU site 5)Cheyne Islands and Skraeling Island () an important archaeological site where Inuit (along with their ancestors the Dorset and Thule) and Norse artifacts have been found. They consist of Silurian and Carboniferous rocks covered with tundra.
Population With a population of less than 400, the islands are nearly uninhabited. There are only three permanently inhabited places in the islands. The two municipalities are the hamlets of Resolute (population 198 as of the 2016 census), on Cornwallis Island, and Grise Fiord (population 129 as of the 2016 census), on Ellesmere Island. Alert is a weather station staffed by Environment and Climate Change Canada, a Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) atmosphere monitoring laboratory on Ellesmere Island, and has several temporary inhabitants due to the co-located CFS Alert. Eureka, a small research base on Ellesmere Island, has a population of zero but at least eight staff on a continuous rotational basis.
Name Image Type Island Population Established Coordinates Notes Alert Weather station, Canadian Forces base (CFS Alert), airport (Alert Airport) Ellesmere 5 1950The weather station was established in 1950 and the military station was established in 1958 Northernmost permanent settlement in the world Alexandra Fiord Research station Ellesmere 0 1953 Used as a Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachment from 1953 to 1963. At the time, it was the northernmost police station in the world. Camp Hazen Warden station Ellesmere 0 1957 Used as a research station from 1957 to 1958 for Operation Hazen Owned by Parks Canada and currently used as an access point to Quttinirpaaq National Park Cape Columbia Depot North Pole expedition depot Ellesmere 0 1909 location for Robert Peary's northernmost depot of his final attempt to reach the North Pole Cape Sheridan North Pole expedition wintering site Ellesmere 0 1908 location for Robert Peary's wintering site of his final attempt to reach the North Pole 13.5 km ESE of Alert Craig Harbour Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) detachment Ellesmere 0 1922 Established in 1922 to protect Canadian sovereignty of the island Dundas Harbour Outpost, RCMP detachment Devon 0 1924 Established in 1924 to create a government presence to curb foreign whaling and other activity in the area Eureka Weather station, research station, aerodrome (Eureka Aerodrome) Ellesmere 0 1947 Founded in 1947 as part of a requirement to set up a network of Arctic weather stations May have up to eight people on a rotating basis Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station Research station Devon 0 1999 The structures were built in 2000 Fort Conger Research station Ellesmere 0 1883 Established in 1881 but abandoned several decades later Grise Fiord Hamlet, airport (Grise Fiord Airport) Ellesmere 129 1953 Northernmost civilian settlement in Canada Created as part of the High Arctic relocation Isachsen Weather station, research station Ellef Ringnes 0 1948 An Automated Surface Observing System was placed at the site in 1989, linked by satellite communications to southern Canada McGill Arctic Research Station Research station Axel Heiberg 0 1959 Owned by McGill University Mould Bay Weather station Prince Patrick 0 1948 Former Environment and Climate Change Canada weather station Still occasionally visited by members of the Canadian Armed Forces Resolute Hamlet, airport (Resolute Bay Airport) Cornwallis 229 1947 Created as part of the High Arctic relocation Most populous settlement in the Queen Elizabeth Islands Second northernmost public community in Canada, only behind Grise Fiord Tanquary Fiord Warden station Ellesmere 0 ?? Tanquary Fiord Airport nearby Owned by Parks Canada Ward Hunt Island Warden station Ward Hunt Island 0 1960s? Ward Hunt Island Airport nearby Owned by Parks Canada
Formerly staffed stations were Mould Bay on Prince Patrick Island, Isachsen on Ellef Ringnes Island, and Fort Conger on Ellesmere Island.
Abandoned settlements are Dundas Harbour on Devon Island and Craig Harbour on Ellesmere Island.
Administration Until 1999, the Queen Elizabeth Islands were part of the Baffin Region of the Northwest Territories.
With the creation of Nunavut in 1999 all islands and fractions of islands of the archipelago east of the 110th meridian west became part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the new territory, which was the major portion of the archipelago. The rest remained with the now-reduced Northwest Territories. Borden Island, Mackenzie King Island and Melville Island were divided between the two territories.
Prince Patrick Island, Eglinton Island and Emerald Island are the only notable islands that are now completely part of the Northwest Territories.
Below the level of the territory, there is the municipal level of administration. On that level, there are only two municipalities, Resolute and Grise Fiord, with an aggregate area of (0.11 percent of the area of the Queen Elizabeth Islands), but with most of the population of the archipelago (327 in 2021). The remaining 99.89 percent are unincorporated area, with a census 2021 population of zero, albeit a fluctuating population centred in Alert and Eureka, Nunavut.
Overview of the islands According to the Atlas of Canada there are 34 larger and 2,092 smaller islands in the archipelago. With the exception of Ellesmere Island, they fall into two groups, the Sverdrup Islands and the Parry Islands: