Ward Anirniq is home to 41 neighbourhoods and industrial areas
Ward Anirniq (“A-NIRK-NIK”) Map
Ward Anirniq Origin
(Content credit: City of Edmonton)
The Inuit - Inuktitut (ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ) for "the people" - are the northernmost Indigenous people in Canada. Their traditional homeland is known as Inuit Nunangat.
In the 1950s and 60s, about one-third of Inuit people were infected with tuberculosis. Most were flown south for treatment in sanitariums like the Charles Camsell Indian Hospital in Edmonton, where they stayed for an average of two and a half years.
Those who survived returned home, but many Inuit passed away, often without their families being notified, and were buried in cemeteries in Edmonton, far from their homeland.
This ward was given the name Anirniq (ᐊᓂᕐᓂᖅ) which means ‘Breath of Life,’ or spirit. The name was recommended by Inuit Elders because tuberculosis took the breath and spirit of many Indigenous people.