Before this event, Iqaluit was a small city and not well known outside the Canadian Arctic or Canada, with population and economic growth highly limited.

Iqaluit has been a traditional fishing location used by Inuit and their predecessors, the Paleo-Eskimo (Dorset culture) and Thule, for thousands of years.

[8] World War II resulted in an influx of non-Inuit to the area in 1942, when the United States built Frobisher Bay Air Base there, on a long-term lease from the Government of Canada,[citation needed] in order to provide a stop-over and refuelling site for the short-range aircraft being ferried to Europe to support the war effort.

Iqaluit's first permanent resident was Nakasuk, an Inuk guide who helped United States Army Air Forces planners to choose a site with a large flat area suitable for a landing strip.

[citation needed] In 1949, after the war, the Hudson's Bay Company moved its south Baffin operations to the neighbouring valley of Niaqunngut, officially called Apex, in order to use the airfield.

Renamed CFS Frobisher Bay in 1966, advancing technology eventually forced the closure of CFI later that year.

[11] The American military left Iqaluit in 1963, as their development of the intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) diminished the strategic value of the DEW line and Arctic airbases.

[citation needed] Canada designated Iqaluit as the host city for the 2010 meeting of the G7 (Group of Seven) finance ministers, held on 5–6 February.

[18] Iqaluit averages just over 400 mm (16 in) of precipitation annually, much wetter than many other localities in the Arctic Archipelago, with the summer being the wettest season.

Temperatures of the winter months are comparable to other northern communities further west on the continent such as Yellowknife and to some extent even Fairbanks, Alaska, even though Iqaluit is a few degrees colder than the latter.

Summer temperatures are, however, much colder due to its easterly maritime position affected by the waters of the cold Baffin Island Current.

This means that the tree line is much further south in the eastern part of Canada, being as southbound, in spite of low elevation, as northern Labrador.

[19] Although it is north of the natural tree line, there are some short, south-facing imported black spruce (Picea mariana) specimens protected by snowdrifts in the winter,[20] in addition to a few shrubs, which are woody plants.

The principal exception is the Nunavut Legislative Assembly Building, which is remarkable for its colourful interior, adorned with some of the very best in Inuit art.

In December 2010, the exterior of a similarly shaped replacement cathedral was completed, and interior work was planned for 2011 with a potential opening for Christmas 2011.

The city is also the location of the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum, which houses a large collection of Inuit and Arctic objects.

The museum is housed in a restored and extended Hudson's Bay Company building, clad in the HBC signature red and white, transported to Iqaluit from its original site on the Apex Beach.

A small visitor's centre with viewing platform is located on top of a hill overlooking scenic waterfalls, tidal flats and traditional fishing sites.

It is a site with a long Inuit history and numerous artifacts have been recovered, including the remains of 11 semi-buried sod houses.

Frobisher Bay extends for almost 110 km (70 mi) to the east, with moderate hills, glaciers and traditional and summer camp sites, opening into the Davis Strait, which divides Nunavut from Greenland.

[26] The festival has attracted Canadian and international artists such as Joshua Haulli,[27] Quantum Tangle,[28] Washboard Hank[29] and Namgar.

For those over the age of 25: The 2021 census reported that immigrants (individuals born outside Canada) comprise 750 persons or 10.3% of the total population of Iqaluit.

[48] The Commission scolaire francophone du Nunavut runs École des Trois-Soleils and offers kindergarten to grade 12.

[59] The situation highlighted the challenges of providing safe and reliable water services in remote and Arctic communities.

Located on an island remote from the Canadian highway system, Iqaluit is generally only accessible by aircraft and, subject to ice conditions, by boat.

[63][64] The port features a dredged fixed dock, mooring space, a cargo laydown area, an all-tide barge ramp, and a fuel manifold.

[66] Experienced locals also cross the Hudson Strait from the Canadian mainland when it freezes over, either on foot or by dog sled or snowmobile, a distance of over 100 km (62 mi).

Iqaluit has a local road system only stretching from the nearby community of Apex to the Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park, 1 km (0.62 mi) west of town.

Motor cars are increasing in number, to the extent of causing occasional traffic jams known locally as "the rush minute".

The cost of shipping automobiles and the wear-and-tear of the harsh Arctic climate combined with its notoriously rough roadways mean that snowmobiles remain the preferred form of personal transportation.