It is located on the mainland on the north shore of Kinga (Kingarvalik) Lake at the juncture of the Maguse River.

The community was where, during the 1950 Caribou Inuit famine, photographer Richard Harrington took his iconic photo of a starving Caribou Inuit mother, pressing her nose and lips to those of her youngest child.

Inside, a small woman in clumsy clothes, large hood, with baby.

And went on.Containing three buildings,[3] Padlei was the site of a trading post operated by the Hudson's Bay Company from 1926 to 1960.

The subgroup of Caribou Inuit who frequented the post were the Padleimiut (or Padlirmiut, or Paallirmiut, or Patlirmiut).