Dolphin and Union Strait

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Dolphin and Union Strait ( 69°7′59″N, 116°0′0″W) lies in both the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada, between the mainland and Victoria Island. It links Amundsen Gulf, lying to the northwest, with Coronation Gulf, lying to the southeast. The southeastern end of the strait is marked by Austin Bay.

The indigenous groups who use this area have been variously known as the Copper eskimoes, the Copper Inuit or, the "People at the end of the world," because few other aboriginal groups had continuously used the area before. This is partly why the first explorers who ventured into this awe-inspiring, lethally-formidable landscape, were amazed by the "blonde" Inuit they had encountered. Where had they come from, these faired-haired denizens of the Arctic?

The strait is about 161 kilometres long and ranges from 32 to 64 kilometres in width. When frozen, it is used by Barren-ground Caribou, labeled the "Dolphin and Union" herd, to reach Victoria Island (Canada)|Victoria Island for the summer and to return to the mainland for the winter. Eider ducks are also found in the strait.

The caribou are known locally as Tuktu which is understood across the circumpolar world. Conversely, Eider ducks are called Kingalik which means simply, Big-Nose.

In recent decades, the local Inuvialuit have seen the reduction in average winter sea-ice thickness. From roughly 6 to 7 feet thick in the early sixties to about 110-120 cm even in the dead of winter today. There is also a preponderance of new species from flies to wasps, and new birds arriving that have never been seen before; grizzlies roam where they were once that most rare curiosity.