The facility was established by the federal government of Canada in the early 1970s to strengthen research in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. Within the main building, eight offices and two labs lead radially from a central area used for meetings. The research centre supplies local transportation with trucks, snowmobiles, sledges, boats with outboard motors, and ATVs all stored in a warm and a cold warehouse. Biologists, social scientists, and technicians of the Department of Environment, conduct research on a variety of terrestrial wildlife and management issues.
Research focuses on terrestrial wildlife and habitats with a special mandate on species directly linked to the traditional life of Inuit, i.e. caribou, polar bears, and muskoxen. The main research objectives of the station are to provide up-to-date information from various sources, including in-house scientific research and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, to co-management partners in order to make responsible wildlife management and land use decisions. Existing data bases include reports and publications arising from research at the station, climate records, terrestrial wildife survey and trends, as well as habitat mapping, wildlife monitoring, and ecosystem modelling.
