Aulavik National Park, in the Northwest Territories, comprises nearly one-fifth of Banks Island, the most westerly island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Established in 1992, it consists of 12 274 square kilometres of arctic wildlife and plant life, windswept tundra and broad river valleys. One of Canada’s newest parks, it represents the Western Arctic Lowlands natural region. In the Inuvialuktun language, ‘Aulavik’ means a place where people travel, a description exemplified in the 225 kilometre waterway bisecting the park’s rugged landscape: the serene and gently winding Thomsen River, the most northerly navigable river in the world, has been a thoroughfare for Inuit hunters for thousands of years.