Makkovik Community Profile

History

Fish: An Important Resource

Living off the Land

Education

Health Care
White Elephant Transportation

Accommodations

Stores / Retail Outlets

Crafts

Church

Makkovik has a population nearing 400. The people are mainly settlers (having an ancestry that is a mixture of European settler and Inuit). In 1959, during the provincial resettlement program, about thirty Inuit families were uprooted and brought to Makkovik from the northern community of Hebron. Many have since chosen to move back north or elsewhere.

History

The community was founded in 1859 by a Norwegian named Torsten Kverna Andersen and his wife, Mary Ann Thomas. Torsten had come to Labrador as an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company. Mary Ann was from Makkovik Bay. Her father came from England and her mother was a Labradorian. The settlement was first called Flounder's Bight, but in time it became better known as Makkovik. Vik is an Inuktitut word meaning 'place'. Makko most likely is a corruption of 'maggok', an Inuktitut word meaning 'two'. A reference to 'two Buchten Machovik', meaning 'two bays Machovik', is found in a 1775 writing by the Moravian and German missionary Johann Ludwig Beck.

Cod Fish
Photo courtesy Jessie Winters. Photo of Cod Fish taken
approx. 1985.

Fish: An Important Resource

The Turbot Plant
The Turbot Plant in the summer.

The fish plant, owned by Torngat Fish Producers Cooperative, employs about 110 workers at peak periods, while between 15-20 persons are involved in the fishery. Boats from elsewhere in Labrador and Newfoundland also offload here. The fish plant operates from the end of June to October. In the year 2002, the fish plant processed a total of 1.6 million pounds of snow crab. The year 2003 saw a decrease in crab landings, down to 732,000 lb. This was supplemented by 505,000 lb. of turbot, and 3000 lb. of grenadier. In 2009, the plant processed 962,515 pounds of snow crab, brought in by nine crab boats, all owned by out-of-town fishers but most were from Labrador. It processed 325,285 pounds of turbot, brought in by eleven boats, most of which were from the island part of the province.

Living Off The Land

Most families hold a food license and and tend trout and salmon nets, in season, in their spare time. Hunting is carried out for ducks, geese, partridge, seal and the most important meat source, caribou. Berry picking for bakeapples, blueberries, blackberries and partridge berries is a favorite pastime in the fall.

Education

Makkovik's school, John Christian Erhardt Memorial (newest building opened in 1993) has about 100 students from Kindergarten through Grade Twelve. It is operated by the Labrador School Board. Some high school courses are done via distance education. English is spoken by the majority of people in Makkovik. Inuktitut, our second language, is taught as a subject in school from Kindergarten to Grade Nine.

Health Care

Makkovik Clinic
The Makkovik Community Clinic, built in 1981.

Labrador-Grenfell Health has a nursing clinic staffed by two nurses. A doctor and a dentist from Happy Valley-Goose Bay visit once every six weeks. The Department of Health and Social Development also employs a public health nurse in Makkovik. In the event of an emergency, patients are flown to a hospital in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, St. Anthony, or St. John's, Newfoundland.

Transportation

Makkovik has an airstrip. Air Labrador and Innu Mikun Air Lines (both out of Goose Bay) operate a twin otter service all year round with flights six days a week, weather permitting. One passenger-freight boat, the Northern Ranger, and one freight boat serve the coast from July until November.
Most families own a speedboat as well as one or more snowmobiles. The snowmobile is an important means of transportation during the long winter when snow covers the ground from December until the end of May. Makkovik is also connected to other communities in the winter by the Trans Labrador Trail. This trail is groomed regularly from February to April and has a number of resting stations along its path.

Accommodations

The Adlavik Inn is a hotel with a restaurant and a lounge. There are also two bed & breakfasts.

Stores / Retail Outlets

Besides Post Office and gas station, retail outlets include Big Land Grocery, Skipper Gil's Variety, and David's.

Crafts

Craft Center is in a period of transition. A list of craft producers can be obtained from the Makkovik Inuit Community Government office at 923-2221.

Church

Inside the Church

There is one church in the community, the Moravian Church, established in 1896. Makkovik has been without a resident minister since 1993. Local chapel servants hold services each Sunday.

We would like to thank Joan Andersen for the above text.

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