Torngat Mountains National Park
A Gift to Us All

The Torngat Mountains are a natural region where some of the most rugged mountain ranges in eastern North America meet one of the world's most beautiful wild coastlines. The natural features here are of such scale and beauty that those who come here are often unable to capture in words what they have experienced in their souls. It is a land where breathtaking fjords slash inland for 80 kilometres; where cliffs rise abruptly from the sea for 900 metres; and where the big skies of Labrador are home to peaks rising 2000 metres above sea level. This is a land were huge polar bears are dwarfed by the mammoth icebergs they use as seasonal ferries to travel the coastline.

The Torngat Mountains crystallize classical descriptions of U-shaped valleys, cirque lakes, hanging valley waterfalls and many more textbook glacial features. Rare lowland areas are home to open stands of black spruce though the dominant vegetation in the region consists of low-lying arctic scrub, lichens, mosses, grasses and hardy arctic flowers. Geologically, some of the oldest rocks on earth are exposed here.

Wildlife in this region include black bear, red and arctic fox, snowshoe hare, wolf and muskrat. The 700,000-strong George River Caribou Herd ranges through much of this region. Polar bears seen along this rugged coastline, speak to the fragility of their habitat/this region. Seabirds such as puffins, murres and razorbills inhabit the coastal regions and share the riches of the sea with killer, fin and humpback whales and with a wide variety of seals and occasional walrus. Arctic char and Atlantic salmon runs here are the most prolific in the world.

National Park History and Status

The notion of a National Park in the Torngat Mountains dates back to the 1970s when it was recognized that no natural region such as this was protected in Canada. In 1992 the governments of Canada and Newfoundland and the Labrador Inuit began investigating the feasibility of a National Park as a means of protecting the land for all Canadians.

As a result of the feasibility assessment and Labrador Inuit land claims negotiations, an agreement has been reached that defines a national park area of approximately 3,100 square kilometres. As these are Inuit traditional lands, it was essential that our people have an ongoing say in how the park is to be established and managed. To ensure that Inuit stewardship principles apply, and that that the status of the land cannot be changed without Inuit consent, the area is defined as part of the Labrador Inuit Settlement Area and provisions for it are set out in the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement.

When established, Torngat Mountains National Park will be an investment made by Labrador Inuit, the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Government of Canada. An investment made possible through understanding, trust, compromise and mutual respect. And a recognition that the Torngat Mountains National Park is a fitting symbol of the overlapping values that bind us all together as Canadians. Truly a gift to us all.