Ulukhaktok

Sam Oliktoak shares the story of where the name Ulukhaktok comes from.

A couple had just arrived at Uqpilik, after hunting tuktu-caribou at Uyaraktuuq, and set up camp for the night. The next day, the man went walking until he reached the shoreline and continued walking along the three bluffs.

As he walked along side the third bluff, he noticed thin slates of rock which he picked up and examined. He thought to himself, “this might be good material for making an ulu-woman’s knife for my wife so she can cut up the tuktu that we caught.”

He took a few pieces in his nattiq-sealskin bag and walked back to camp at Uqpilik. Once he got back to Uqpilik, he made his wife an ulu and arrowheads with the slates of rock.

His wife was very pleased with her ulu and proceeded to cut up their catch of tuktu.

As they travelled down the coast, they ran into other camps and shared the discovery of this material.

From this time on, men would travel to the third bluff and tie an ugyuk-bearded sealskin rope around their waist. Then they would climb down the third bluff with a nattiq bag on their back to collect the thin slates of rock which they used for making ulut and arrowheads.

Thus giving this area the name,
“Ulukhaqtuuyuq”,
place where ulu material is plentiful.

That is the traditional name our ancestors gave this area. With time and change, and people travelling from one end of Kangiryuaq-Prince Albert Sound to Kangiryuaqtihuk-Minto Inlet, the name has been shortened to “Ulukhaktok.”