Why Canada's Northernmost Town Exists

Grise Fiord is Canada's northernmost town and sits in the northern region of Nunavut Canada. This is one of the northernmost towns in the world sitting well into the Arctic Circle. With 24 hour darkness in the winter and 24 hour light in the summer, I explain why this town exists and how the town is able to operate in such a cold, arctic climate.

Visuals from:
Chilling With Zahra
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[charleshartmann]

Pilot in the Canadian Arctic here🙋‍♂️ I usually fly to Grise Fiord a couple times a year for private charters and I can certainly say that the people in Grise Fiord are some of the nicest and most generous people I’ve ever met. Everyone always comes up to say hi and have a talk. Locals always offer to give us a tour around town and every time I learn something new about the history of the village. Some trully warm-hearted people in this beautiful place!

[marcosbach]

Just for you to know, 2.3 °F is equivalent to MINUS 16.5 Celsius. It would be quite nicer if it wasn't minus.

[Skankhunt-scfk]

When they said in 2010 that the government recognized this they showed an image of Justin Trudeau, when it was Harper who addressed this, not Trudeau

[tannisjohnson]

Also worth mentioning, the Inuit were relocated during the constantly- dark winter time, and with nothing. Many did not survive, but that so many did really speaks for the incredible ability and skills of the people

[northreflec]

Just a few corrections. It is pronounced "Greece" not Gr-ice. Resolute Canada is actually called Resoute Bay. Also, Grise fiord does not have an aboveground piped water system as it is not feasible due to the cold. They have two insulated and heated water storage tanks that have to last the whole community for a year. Water is delivered by trucks and sewage is taken to a sewage lagoon for disposal. They have a very short time to refill the tanks during the warmer weeks. Last thing, sealift is not Government run. It is run by two independent companies with GN being a large customer but local people, construction companies, and municipal operations also use them to order goods, vehicles, food, and more for themselves

[Thurston]

7:15 “Ignore all the bullet holes, we just need to fix the tire and it’ll be in perfect shape!”

[SocioecologicalInterdependance]

Half of the families there were brought from Nunavik, not Nunavut. I lived here for two years and loved every moment. Just so you know, the jet you showed doesn't land there! It is also not serviced by Canadian North it is serviced only by Twin Otter Kenn Borek air. What you see is the just the bookings through Canadian North. Also, it is pronounce "greese" not Grise. ;) I did weather and "air traffic" there. My son was born while we lived there!

[sebdob]

"its good the crime rate is so low because the only police car is out of service as it is missing a wheel... and has a bunch of bullet holes in the windshield..."

[Jaws]

I spent my teen years in Canadas Northwest Territories. Admittedly, not as far north as Grise, but I've been to Iqaluit, Yellowknife, Hay River, Nahani Beut, Fort Resolution, etc etc.
Our northern communities are beautiful in every season.
Even the coldest.

[ericlanglois]

I spent 6 months at CFS Alert which is even further north but the conditions are fairly similar so I can only tip my hat to the residents of Grise Fiord and the tenacity they show by thriving in that kind of environment.

[missy]

Great video. I really appreciate your respect when speaking of the Inuit peoples and their terrible mistreatment by the Canadian government. Sad to know that this really happened less than 100 years ago.

[zzplantlover]

I have been to Grise Fiord (pronounced Greece Fee-ord). The community is not only inhabited by Inuit in Nunavut but also Nunavik (northern Quebec) which is evidenced by the dialectal differences in Inuktitut.

I flew in on a twin otter. You fly very close to the mountain, so they stall the engines to make the landing. So winds cause significant issues in the flight making it in.

It’s also one of the few places that have their weather recorded manually rather than radar.

I definitely could live there. The people in the community are lovely and I still have friends who reside there.

[DanTheCaptain]

Having spent about a year in Iqaluit, I can appreciate the remoteness of these communities and the resilience of the Inuit. It's a fascinating culture and way of life and I loved living up there. It's hard to get a true sense of the isolation unless you go up and take a walk through Iqaluit or any other of the smaller communities. The airports really are the only lifeline for these communities. Without them, they'd cease to exist.

[NeganPFVAN]

Thank you for sharing their story.

To many native tribes sharing stories is a great thing. My own tribe used to send off a few ppl to find new lands/ppl to live with them, for 3 generations.

They would then return to our tribe. Bringing us the knowledge, tools etc and stories of those they met. Becoming our brothers.

So. I thank you for sharing the story of these people.

[gregfleenor]

Grise Fiord. Pronounced Grease Fiord. Canada’s most northerly permanent civilian community. There are 2 permanent communities further north but they are largely military/weather although some civilians may be in the mix. Eureka & the world’s most northern permanent community-Alert.

[klondikechris]

I spent 2 years living at Alert, which is 500miles/800km north of Grise Fjord. Alert is the actual furthest north permanent settlement in the world. It is mostly a military station, although Environment Canada has a weather station there as well. My first two trips there were Inuit to work around the camp, but that did not work out - it was too far north for them!

[stanyou]

"Most residents use all terrain vehicles like ATVs"
Thanks for the info

[Mark-nist]

This is a sad story. Native people in modern times never lived this far north permanently and only used this area as a summer hunting ground. Much of the hunting and fishing they were promised is not there most of the year. At least the government did finally compensate them and apologize.

[adampatterson]

Remote areas like this should have government funded flights, and the governement should only cover the cost of the per-person flight.

I'd think a lot of the extremly high cost of food comes from transportation costs.

[andretavares]

The lowest temperature ever registered there is -52.6 C, far from those -72 C on the thumb.