Foreword

Management Plan

Foreword

Aulavik is a breathtaking blessing. This wondrous place on Banks Island contains the world's most northerly navigable river. It encompasses lush valleys, enormous sheer cliffs, arid desert, steep canyons, vast wilderness and gentle hills.

Aulavik National Park is home to an astonishing variety of flowering plants and more than 40 species of birds visit Aulavik seasonally. Tens of thousands of muskox live in the park. Along the park's dramatic northern coast is a vast array of marine mammals from ringed seals to beluga whales and polar bears.

The human history of Aulavik resonates with the same drama as its natural beauty. Human life on Canada's most westerly Arctic Island dates back more than three millennia. The Ugyuligmiut people harvested the land. British sailors aboard HMS Investigator became trapped in the ice at Mercy Bay for more than two years. Aulavik contains innumerable archaeological features, including the Head Hill site with its dozens of tent rings and food caches. Today, the only community on Banks Island is Sachs Harbour, home to some 140 Inuvialuit. Canadians owe deep gratitude to the Inuvialuit for their vital role in bringing Aulavik National Park into being.

The care and management of Aulavik are now guided by this new management plan. Stewardship of the park will be an ongoing and cooperative partnership between Parks Canada and the Inuvialuit. It is through this partnership that the ecological vision set out in the management plan will be translated into specific ecological goals and indicators, action plans for dealing with threats to ecological integrity and a park ecological monitoring program.

Canada's National Parks connect us to our roots, to our future and to each other. Aulavik is a precious gift which Canada holds in trust for the world and for future generations. It is of exceptional importance to protect the health and the history of Aulavik, one of the most remote places in our country and one of the most awe-inspiring.

In keeping with that spirit, I approve the Aulavik National Park of Canada Management Plan.

Sheila Copps,
Minister of Canadian Heritage