An outpost was established at the harbour in August 1924 as part of a government presence intended to curb foreign whaling and other activity. The Hudson's Bay Company leased the outpost in 1933. The following year, 52 Inuit were relocated from Kinngait (then called Cape Dorset) to Dundas Harbour but they returned to the mainland 13 years later.
The abandoned settlement in Johnson Bay, Dundas Harbour (from near the cemetery)Johnson Bay Cemetery, Dundas Harbour sits above the abandoned settlement. It contains the graves of two RCMP members.
Dundas Harbour was populated again in the late 1940s to maintain a patrol presence, but it was closed again in 1951 due to ice difficulties. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachment was moved to Craig Harbour on southern Ellesmere Island.
Only the ruins of a few buildings remain, along with one of the northernmost cemeteries in Canada.