Craig Harbour

Craig Harbour is Canada's northernmost outpost, lying beyond the 76th parallel on the southern tip of Ellesmere Island. It was established in 1922 for political purposes. In the early 1900s the only people to venture that far north were a handful of explorers, the Canadian Inuit and the Thule people from Greenland. When the Thule began to treat Ellesmere Island as a hunting ground without regard to Canadian sovereignty, the need was seen for a greater presence in the region. An RCMP post was established along with the settlement in October of 1922 and tasked with patrolling both Ellesmere and the surrounding islands. Craig was also seen as a potentially valuable military outpost in the Eastern Arctic and it was considered a potential location for an airbase.