Dubawnt Lake is a lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

 in Kivalliq Region, Nunavut

Nunavut

Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It is 3833 km² (1,479.9 sq mi) in size and has several islands. It is about 200 miles north of the point where Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nunavut come together, about 300 miles west of Hudson Bay and about 250 miles south of the arctic circle. To the northwest is the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary

Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary

The Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary, at , over twice the area of Belgium, is the largest wildlife refuge in Canada. It is located in northern Canada's Arctic region, north of the tree line, straddling the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, halfway between Baker Lake and Yellowknife, and bordered on the...

. Its main inlet and outlet is the north-flowing Dubawnt River which joins the Thelon River

Thelon River

The Thelon River stretches across northern Canada. Its source is Whitefish Lake in the Northwest Territories, and it flows east to Baker Lake in Nunavut. The Thelon ultimately drains into Hudson Bay at Chesterfield Inlet.-Geography:...

 at Beverly Lake (Nunavut)

Beverly Lake (Nunavut)

Beverly Lake is a lake in Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located north of the Arctic tree line about northwest of Baker Lake, Nunavut. The western half of the lake is within Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary. The Thelon River, at the confluence with the Dubawnt River, empties into the lake's...

. The Thelon flows east to Hudson Bay at Chesterfield Inlet

Chesterfield Inlet

Chesterfield Inlet is an inlet in Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is an arm of northwestern Hudson Bay, and the end point of the Thelon River after its passage through Baker Lake. Cross Bay, a large widening of the inlet, occurs east of Baker Lake...

. It is on the line of contact between the Chipewyan people and the Inuit

Inuit

The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...

. The first European to reach the lake was Samuel Hearne

Samuel Hearne

Samuel Hearne was a an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. He was the first European to make an overland excursion across northern Canada to the Arctic Ocean, actually Coronation Gulf, via the Coppermine River...

 in 1770, but it remained largely unknown to outsiders until it was explored by Joseph Tyrrell

Joseph Tyrrell

Joseph Burr Tyrrell was a Canadian geologist, cartographer, and mining consultant. He discovered dinosaur bones in Alberta's Badlands and coal around Drumheller in 1884....

 in 1893. There are no permanent settlements but there are fly-in fish camps where large lake trout can be caught during the 2-month ice-free season.

The Dubawnt River is 543 miles long and begins from a tributary of Wholdaia Lake

Wholdaia Lake

Wholdaia Lake is a lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is drained northward by the Dubawnt River.-See also:*List of lakes in the Northwest Territories...

 northwest of the point where Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nunavut join. There is a portage from the Flett Lake tributary of Wholdaia Lake to Selwyn Lake

Selwyn Lake

-References:**...

 which drains southwest to Lake Athabasca

Lake Athabasca

Lake Athabasca is located in the northwest corner of Saskatchewan and the northeast corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N.-History:The name in the Dene language originally referred only to the large delta formed by the confluence the Athabasca River at the southwest corner of the lake...

. In 1893 Joseph Tyrrell

Joseph Tyrrell

Joseph Burr Tyrrell was a Canadian geologist, cartographer, and mining consultant. He discovered dinosaur bones in Alberta's Badlands and coal around Drumheller in 1884....

 canoed from Lake Athabasca down the Dubawnt to Chesterfield Inlet. Lakes along the river are Wholdaia, Barlow, Cary, Markham, Nicholson, Dubawnt, (Dubawnt Gorge), Grant, Wharton and Beverly. East of the Dubawnt, the Kazan River also flows north to join the Thelon.

Ethnography

The area of the lake was once home to Ihalmiut

Ihalmiut

The Ihalmiut or Ahiarmiut are a group of inland Inuit who lived along the banks of the Kazan River, Ennadai Lake Little Dubawnt Lake , and north of Thlewiaza in northern Canada's Keewatin Region of the Northwest Territories, now the Kivalliq Region of present-day Nunavut...

, a Caribou Inuit

Caribou Inuit

Caribou Inuit, Barren-ground Caribou hunters, are bands of inland Inuit who lived west of Hudson Bay in northern Canada's Keewatin Region of the Northwest Territories, now the Kivalliq Region of present-day Nunavut between 61° and 65° N and 90° and 102° W...

group.