AKLAVIK

hamlet, Inuvik region, northwestern Northwest Territories, Canada. It is situated in the Mackenzie River delta near the Yukon border. Its Eskimo name can be translated where there are bears. Established as a Hudson's Bay Company trading post on the south bank of the Mackenzie River's West Channel in 1912, Aklavik was moved to the north bank in 1920. It is the site of a radio and meteorological station. Fur trapping and the manufacture of fur garments and Eskimo handicrafts are the main sources of income. In 1955 the administrative staff (for what was then called the Western Arctic region) and some of the population moved to Inuvik town, 33 miles (53 km) east, because shifting permafrost-silt soil hampered building and road and sewer construction in Aklavik. Pop. (1991) 801.