I have been thinking of writing a novel based around the year 2100 that takes place in a prison colony in the Canadian arctic after a political upheaval of some sort in North America. This would take place in a scenario of climate change that has not been mitigated by any coordinated policy response (i.e. business as usual).
I'm trying to decide where the prison colony would logically be situated. The main requirement for story purposes is that it would need to be somewhere in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, i.e. off of the North American mainland.
The general idea is that the prison colony would have a central hub with guards' quarters, a port, power plant, district heating, dorms, and other central facilities in which the inmates would stay for the winter season, but there would also be scattered homesteads for each inmate in the surrounding countryside on which they might be allowed to go off and more or less do their own thing during the warm season. Therefore, I'm looking for a spot that would have the potential for:
1. Port facilities.
2. River.
3. Southerly enough to have potential for making transition from tundra to taiga climate by 2100, and possibly supporting some farming.
I've picked out two possible settings for the fictional prison colony in which my characters would be set:
1. On Victoria Island, with the port just north of Edinburgh Island (there appears to be deep water right up to the sheltered coastline at 68.558 N, 110.933 W). Homesteads would be spread out northwards along the Nakyoktok River that flows into Johansen Bay. See:
https://richedwardsimagery.wordpress.com/2019/09/07/johansen-bay-victoria-island-nunavut-canada/Pros: Somewhat sheltered from the ocean. Might eventually have warm-ish summers if the sea ice in nearby Coronation Gulf were to start melting significantly earlier, such as by late May.
Cons: Hilly terrain. Very poor (almost non-existent) soil. Figure8blog described the neraby coastline as, "low and dreary, reddish dirt with as much differentiation mile after mile as that between infield and pitchers mound. Up close, the hills look neatly swept clean of life. Nothing sticks up higher than a medium sized rock. I think somewhere a giant groundsman is dragging his chain link fence across the land, readying the entire Arctic for the words, “Play ball!”"
http://figure8voyage.com/to-byron-bay/How much different would this be in the year 2100 even with climate change?
Note: Currently land with Inuit claims, but I'm assuming some sort of political upheaval infringes on this. This imperialism itself would factor into the plot of the story.
2. On Banks Island, near the Kellett River, just north of Sachs Harbour.
Pros: Flatter, slightly better soil (less eroded). Also, a nearby harbor and community already exists (albeit not a very deep one).
Cons: Less sheltered from the ocean. Summers would probably remain cooler, even if the Beaufort were to melt much earlier in the season. Also, the existing residents of Sachs Harbour would probably have something to say about a prison colony being set up not far from them. Could be an interesting plot point.
Note: Currently bird sanctuary land, but I'm assuming some sort of political upheaval infringes on this. This imperialism itself would factor into the plot of the story.
