One of the oldest buildings in Arctic Bay, Nunavut, destroyed by fire

Arctic Bay, Nunavut, has lost one of its oldest buildings to fire.

RCMP say they are investigating the cause of the fire, which happened around 3:30 a.m. Thursday.

The building was constructed in 1941 and was first a weather station and later the local RCMPstation, according to Deborah Johnson, the hamlet's senior administrative officer.

Now owned by the hamlet, the building hadbeen vacant for a number of years, Johnson said.

She said the hamlet wanted to use the building as a meeting space for the community's elders, but before that was possible itneeded to be completely renovated. Renovations had not started.

She added that the hamlet had collected artifacts from Environment Canada from the building's time as an operational weather station and from its time as the RCMP detachment to display in the reopened building.

An RCMPnews release said the risk to public safety, giventhe amount of damage sustained from the fire, means the hamlet will demolish the remaining structure.