Nunavut is a beautiful, concentrated city in Canada with alluring places to visit and lots of cultural diversity, complete with an experience to remember. However, as with all places to visit or move to, there are pros and cons of living in Nunavut to consider:
Advantages of living in Nunavut
Solid economy
Nunavut happens to be Canada’s fastest-growing and youngest community, with plenty of investors flooding in each year. The communication, tourism, mining, and fishing sector, in particular, contribute to the economy in a significant way.
Exciting winter outdoor activities
If you love the great outdoors, then you’ll absolutely love the winter sports activities here like curling, snowmobiling, hockey, kayaking, hiking, fishing, and more.
Communities are peaceful
Given the cultural heritage in Nunavut, there are plenty of community activities which promote inter-community peace and acceptance. This is also why the crime rate here is low.
Recreational activities
Inuit – the indigenous people of Nunavut – love engaging in recreational activities like hunting and fishing. This also helps them supplement the importation of certain food products, which means everyone can consume and enjoy locally produced food.
Broad-ranging exposure
The Inuit government ensures that everyone living here is exposed to a broad range of experiences and opportunities. This is partly because the government operates with a horizontal structure compared to other governments around the world.
Warm and friendly people
The people belonging to all the various communities here are very warm and friendly, and organize lots of social events – this has made Nunavut home to many diverse cultures.
Dancing culture
The northern Inuits love dancing, with their signature style of square dancing.
Disadvantages of living in Nunavut
It can be expensive
Living in Nunavut can get expensive – the food, fuel, housing, and certain utility costs can often run very high compared to other places in Canada.
Mining for natural resources
Since untapped natural resources are abundant here, too many mining activities can cause environmental disruption and sometimes even result in the loss of lives.
Relatively high unemployment rate
Compared to the rest of Canada, the unemployment rate in Nunavut is high. Even though there are many government jobs in the administration, education and health sector, many people here are “inadequately skilled”.
High employee turnover rate
The majority of people living here are not adequately skilled, and those visiting or even moving in from the southern part tend to stay for short periods. In essence, this increases the employee turnover rate.
High taxes
Commodities in Nunavut are subject to high taxes, with the federal government also collecting heavy taxes on food consumption, property, and income.
Cold climate
Even though people visiting Nunavut often complain that it feels cold even in the summer, the winter season is when it can get frigid, -5.5°C on average, compared to other areas in Canada. Also, winters can last up to 9 months with often very long nights.
Lack of roads
Roads are scarce here with air transport used exclusively to travel distances longer than 20 km. There is only 850 km worth of roads in the entire province, which covers 2 million square kilometers.
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