a zone with widespread permafrost occurrence and permafrost exists with a considerable thickness in the area. This resulted in difficulties when blasting in the open pit mine. Iron ore mining therefore ceased in Schefferville in 1982 on orders from Brian Mulroney, president of the Iron Ore Company. He later was elected as Prime Minister of Canada. When mine operations ceased, most of the 4,000 or so non-aboriginal occupants left. The remainder were mostly aboriginal people who had settled there in the preceding 30 years. In 1986, the town ceased to exist and dissolved as an incorporated legal entity; the town was incorporated again in 1990. Some houses and public facilities were demolished, while other parts of the infrastructure were added to the Matimekosh Reserve. Many of the remaining houses in the town are used as company housing by businesses active in the iron industry. Geography One of the two only municipalities (with Fermont) on the territory of the Caniapiscau RCM, Schefferville owes its existence to mining. Located in the heart of the Labrador peninsula, between Knob and Dauriat lakes, 200 km from Labrador City and 533 km north of Sept-Îles, to which it is still connected by the railway. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Schefferville had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Many Naskapi first nation people live mostly in the village of Kawawachikamach, northwest of Schefferville. They are mostly Anglican and United Protestant and speak English as their second language. The Innu people reside mainly in Schefferville and Matimekosh. They are largely Roman Catholic and speak French as their second language. The Naskapi and Montagnais/Innu languages are, generally, mutually intelligible. Most local inhabitants are able to speak varying amounts of all the local languages, and code-switching is common in conversation. The breakdown of mother tongues is: English as first language: 12.2% French as first language: 42.9% English and French as first language: 0% Other as first language: 36.7% Population trend: Population in 2021: 244 Population in 2016: 155 Population in 2011: 213 (2006 to 2011 population change: +5.4%) Population in 2006: 202 Population in 2001: 240 Population in 1996: 578 Population in 1991: 303 Schefferville iron ore mining in the 21st century As a result of