ern part is only 4°C, while the mean winter temperature in the north hits a numbing -31°C. Snow usually covers the ground of this ecozone for ten months, from September though June, and annual precipitation ranges from 100-200 millimetres, the lowest in Canada.

Despite these harsh conditions, Inuit peoples have lived in the Northern Arctic for almost 3500 years. Early occupations are evident in over 200 archaeological sites in Aulavik (Inuktitut for “A Place Where People Travel”), the only National Park in this vast ecozone. Excavations at these sites have yielded centuries-old flint scrapers, bone needles and harpoon heads, as well as tent rings (stones to hold down the edges of tents).

Today, the Northern Arctic has a population of just over 16,000 people, about 80 percent of them Inuit. These people hunt, fish, trap, or work in ecotourism or with government agencies.

There is also some mining, in areas such as the Borden Peninsula Plateau, in northern Baffin Island, where lead, zinc and silver are found.

The largest human settlement in the Northern Arctic is Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, on Baffin Island, with a population of about 5000.