Churchill, Manitoba (Population 800)

 The town is situated in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly 110 kilometers from the Manitoba/ Nunavut border. It was the former home to nomadic hunters from the north. The Hudson Bay Company of fur traders built the first permanent settlement in 1717.  This was followed by the construction of the stone Prince of Wales Fort in the 1730s.

 The landscape around Churchill is influenced by shallow soils caused by a combination of subsurface permafrost and Canadian Shieldrock formation. The black spruce dominant tree cover is sparse and stunted from these environmental constraints.

 The town has a modern multiplex centre housing a public library, hospital, swimming pool, ice hockey rink, basketball courts and a cinema. The nearby Eskimo Museum displays over 850 high quality Inuit carvings. The Northern Studies Centre at Churchill is an amazing state of the art research place that monitors the environment, wildlife and polar bear movement and offers placements for educational purposes.

 In 1813, over 100 people from Kildonan left Scotland for a new life in Canada. The group arrived at Churchill in late summer and was forced to overwinter in subzero conditions with few provisions. The party finally arrived at Red River nearly one year later.