15 Things to Know About Iqaluit, Nunavut Before you Go

Iqaluit, Nunavut is one of the most remote cities in the world, not just in Canada. Many people have never heard of Nunavut, located in the very top of Canada in the Arctic, and those who have picture narwhals (yes! the unicorns of the sea are real animals!), polar bears and icebergs.  Even fewer have heard of its capital city, Iqaluit.  

The word Iqaluit means “place of fish”. It is the capital of the Canadian Territory Nunavut and is Nunavut’s only city. It was designated as Nunavut’s capital in 1999, when the Northwest Territories were spilt into 2 to create Nunavut as a separate territory.

 Jill and I spent the peak of winter in Iqaluit in 2020. Jill came to do Christmas holiday relief work for a month, and I came for the journey. And my goodness, it has been a journey unlike any other. Iqaluit is stunning, and so very very different than the rest of the Canada I have experienced.  

While it is remote, icy and dark in the winter, Iqaluit is also remarkably friendly, social and cool. For a small place, it packs a whole lot of pretty awesome personality.  I love it.

In fact, we liked it so much that in the summer of 2021, we relocated to Iqaluit… and now are residents of Nunavut. So look out for more photos shoots and more blog posts about this amazing, unique, breathtaking place.

Below is my list of facts and info for short or long-term visitors to know when going to Iqaluit, Nunavut.

Table of Contents

1. Where is Iqaluit?
2. How do you get to Iqaluit?
3. What is the size/population and language of Iqaluit?
4. How cold and dark is it?
5. What do people wear?
6. What do people do in Iqaluit (other than work)?
7. How do you get supplies? Are the stores stocked?
8. Is there alcohol?
9. Is it expensive?
10. How do you get around?
11. Internet,  Wi-Fi and Communications
12. Is Iqaluit gay-friendly?
13. What to pack for Iqaluit in the winter
14. Breakdown of the Census population statistics (2016)
15. More information

Where is Iqaluit?

It is the most northern eastern region in Canada, located in Northern Canada above Ontario and Quebec, along the eastern side of Canada. It is located near the south point of Baffin Island, which is the fifth-largest island in the world.

The next large landmass (that is not Canadian) is Greenland to the East.

How do you get to Iqaluit?

You are really far from any other centre or city when in Iqaluit. There are no roads or railways to Iqaluit. You cannot drive by car to Iqaluit from anywhere, not even from the nearest Nunavut community.

The nearest city is Ottawa, Ontario, 2099 km and a 3-hour and 5 minute flight away. There are regular flights between Iqaluit and Ottawa or Montreal through Canadian North Airline.

The Canadian North flights are pretty great—we were served food, wine, and hot fresh baked white chocolate and cranberry cookies as part of the included flight service. You just don’t get that on flights anymore!

It is however, not cheap. Expect to pay at least $800 for a roundtrip flight between Ottawa and Iqaluit, and according to Google flights these trips can often be between $1250-$1800 round trip.

According to Skyscanner, there are 17 flights from Iqaluit to Ottawa each week.

Within the communities, many people will get around and travel between communities by snowmobile in the winter when the water is frozen. In the summer, boats may be used.

 What is the size/population and language of Iqaluit?

About 8000 live in Iqaluit, according to the 2016 Canadian Census.  

The interesting thing about Iqaluit is that there is a large number of people who come to work for a period of time in Iqaluit from other places, so there are always fresh faces coming through. This creates a remarkably diverse population for such a small place, as people come from a variety of places to work or live in Iqaluit.

The predominate language in Iqaluit is English, although many Inuit people can speak Inuktitut as well. There is also a population of French speaking people in Iqaluit. Signs are often in all 3 languages.   

Inuktitut writing is super pretty: For example, “I love you” is in Inutitut is ᓇᒡᓕᒋᕙᒋᑦ.

Iqaluit’s city centre is about 10 square km. Most of the roads end after this area. Iqaluit actually has a road called “The Road to Nowhere” and you can find it on the map.

You don’t need to use street names- you just need the house number. For example, there is a jewelry studio located in an unmarked brown house at building 1017.

For a cool colour coded Map of Iqaluit, with the Building Numbers, see below and click here for a more interactive larger version.

How cold and dark is it?

It is the Arctic. It is cold and snowy and icy much of the year.

It’s Christmas day today, and it is a balmy -12 degrees Celsius. It is partly cloudy with wispy pretty clouds and the sun is poking through. The next 10 days are predicted to be a high of -11 to a low of -22.

Today the sun rose around 9:30am and it will go down around 1pm and be dark around 2:30pm.

According to the Government of Nunavut FAQs page, the average temperature is -27 degrees Celsius in January, and can be upwards of +11 degrees in the summer. It can feel much colder due to the wind chill.

In the winter, in Iqaluit there is about 4-5 hours of daylight from 9:30am to sunset around 1pm—the Polar Night.  In the summer, it is mostly daylight, except for a few hours- the Midnight Sun. However, Iqaluit is more south than some other Nunavut communities which experience close to full darkness in the winter and full sun in the summer.

The great thing about Iqaluit’s weather is that the cold is a “dry” cold. So, if the wind isn’t blowing, and you have proper clothes on, you can happily go out in the winter. You will see people walking all over, even in the middle of winter, although most people drive about, and many of the Inuit people will travel about in snowmobiles with sleds behind them.

I herald from one of the most temperate places in Canada, Victoria on the southern west coast, which is as far away of Nunavut as is possible in Canada. However, Victoria has a “damp” climate that rarely goes below 0 degrees. Yet, I have felt colder in Victoria at times than I have felt in Iqaluit in the winter. Mainly this is because the damp cold sinks into your skin and through your clothes and so it feels far colder than it is. In Iqaluit’s dry cold it is the opposite experience: so long as you dress warm (and it’s not excessively cold and windy), you will be fine. For example, -10 degrees feels quite balmy if there isn’t wind. But -40 with wind is stay inside weather or run from your car weather (which occurred my second day here).

 The key to dealing with the weather in Iqaluit is to dress well.  

What do people wear?

The dress and style philosophy here is clearly “the more fur the better”. And the items are truly gorgeous. Many people walk around in beautiful custom-made parkas—some made of seal skin and some made of material, but almost all of which have fur around the hood. The gloves here are stunning, and the first thing I bought myself was a beautiful set of handmade sealskin/fur gloves to keep my hand toasty and to rock my inner Arctic style. The foot wear range from winter hikers, to sealskin and fur covered boots. Toques and hats are everywhere and are clearly a favourite style accessory.

What do people do in Iqaluit (other than work)?

They hang out, eat food, have a coffee or few drinks, and socialize. They hang out at each other’s houses or meet out somewhere.

For information on what do do in Iqaluit check out my post on what to do in Iqaluit here.

There is now a great brewery NuBrew in Iqaluit where you can go hang out, play games, and eat food (take out from somewhere else or bring your own snacks). The Black Heart Cafe coffee shop is an awesome bustling hub, with lots of seating and delicious baked goods and sandwiches. There are a handful of restaurants, and a bar/ nightclub. The Legion is quite happening, with dinner options and sometimes karaoke, live music or DJs and dancing, but you need a membership.

In the summer, there are lots of outdoor activities. We were in Iqaluit in the dead of winter, when the land is completely ice-covered, and the water is ice locked. The opportunity for outdoor adventures is reduced in the winter for obvious reasons. But even in the winter people are out and about walking, snowmobiling, cross country skiing etc. If you are going to go out snowmobiling or dog sledding you need really good gear– the gear we brought was not sufficient for an extended outing in the winter.

In the summer, there are opportunities, which I hope we one day get to experience, that include explorations of the floe edge (the edge of the frozen water) in the more northern region of Baffin Island, where there are a number of national parks. The ultimate sounding arctic adventure is Auyuittuq and Sirmilik National Park where you might potentially see polar bears, narwhals, and icebergs in what is undoubtedly breathtaking scenery. I plan for us to come back in the summer just to do some adventuring here.

Iqaluit is friendly and remarkably social. In our short time here (Jill for 1 month, me for 2 weeks) we met other people, were invited to games night at the brewery for a potluck, were invited to brunch, were invited for drinks in a living room, and were offered a house to housesit as its better to have someone home so the pipes don’t freeze (which we were delighted to accept and made our trip really great!).

How do you get supplies? Are the stores stocked?

Since there are no roads in, all supplies must come by airplane, or in the summer months by boat.

Many people who live here get a “sea lift” in which they buy a year’s worth of supplies and have them delivered by boat in the summer months. Houses in Iqaluit have large storage areas just for this stockpiling purpose– yes each house has a “sea lift” room!

The stores were far better stocked than I had expected. There are three grocery stores, and between those, I felt like there was everything I would need, although of course you would be hard pressed to find a lot of specialty items. The grocery stores were at least as big as the grocery store, I grew up with in a small town in BC and I was impressed considering how far things have to come.

As well, Amazon and (some) Costco have now come to Iqaluit, and orders can be shipped to Iqaluit for pick up at the post-office or pick up depot. This has undoubtedly made it much easier to access a variety of items from the south.

I do have a difficult time picturing someone successfully being vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free here for a long period, due to the limited specialty items, so that is a consideration if that is your gig. That said the grocery stores did have a health food section that included gluten-free options.

Is there alcohol?

Now there is. Iqaluit used to be a “dry” community. Now there is a liquor store, although it is only open 5 days a week, and you must register before you can purchase alcohol. There are limits to how much you can purchase at a time (i.e. 4 bottles of wine or 24 beer or a combo of those). This is the only place you can buy alcohol to take home.

You can buy only beer and wine at the liquor store. If you want spirits/ hard alcohol or any fancy alcohol, bring it with you. There are however restriction on how much you can bring on the plane in your luggage, so don’t bring more than a couple of bottles.

Going to the liquor store on Christmas eve was a surreal experience. The line-up was literally out the door, and we had to stand in the Arctic cold dark afternoon for about a ½ hour before getting in. The available alcohol is listed in tv screens across the wall. When you get to the front you show your ID (and register if you are not already registered) and ask for the items you wish, up to your limit. Once you pay, someone in the back brings your order to you.

Is it expensive?

Well, yes and no. It should be more expensive considering how difficult it is to get things here. Everything is more expensive than it would be in the south. But I thought it would be more costly than it was. I heard horror stories about how a bag salad at the store would cost $18. But I didn’t find it that bad (more like $10). Or milk would cost $12; but it was more like $7.

Most food, other than “treat” foods, have a northern subsidy, which offsets the high costs and makes much of the food closer to prices in the south.

So, expect to pay more for things like groceries. But don’t worry, you don’t have to bring your own veggies and chocolate, like I did. You can just buy them here, unless you want special items.

I would suggest bringing items such as good coffee, specialty teas, treats, spices, hard alcohol, your favourite wine if you are picky, your favourite toiletries and cosmetics…. But all of the basics you can find in Iqaluit.

How do you get around?

Vehicles have to be brought in by boat or plane, at significant cost. As such, vehicles in Iqaluit are not cheap. They also don’t run well, due to the extreme weather and the fact that a vehicle never goes faster than 50km an hour here and can never can be run long distances since there are no highways and no long roads. In the winter, vehicles need to be plugged in overnight and warmed well before driving to avoid wrecking the car.

If you don’t have access to a vehicle, you can cab around. The taxis are a set rate of $8 no matter where you are going (since nowhere is particularly far). You need to know that it is $8 per person per stop. So, if there are 2 of you, and you need to stop at the Snack Restaurant to get takeout before going to the NuBrew Brewery, that will cost $32, plus tip if you leave one.

As well, you may not have the taxi to yourself—the cab driver will stop and pick up others and you may take a detour to drop those people off first before going to your destination. This is normal, and you can hop into someone else’s’ taxi as well. Always leave enough time to make a few stops.

You only need to give the driver the number of where you are going—you don’t need the street name.

There is an app for Cariboo Cabs- download it and you can order your taxi on the app and get its ETA.

Internet,  Wi-Fi and Communications

Internet service is far less spotty than I was expecting, although can be intermittent and quite slow at times. It is very expensive so there is very little public Wi-Fi around. Down “south” we are used to wi-fi being in every coffee shop etc, here that is not the case—there is no public wi-fi in the coffee shop. Even the in-home wi-fi is limited and expensive.

Consider getting extra data on your phone before coming. Because there is not much Wi-Fi around, you will use your data all the time. I ran out of data after my first week and then was hit with a massive data bill.

As such, do not be led astray and think you will be able to fill the cold night streaming Netflix or music. You will not. People watch DVDs or saved movies, or resort to whatever is on TV. So, consider downloading some movies and music on your computer, and bring some books and puzzles.

Cell phone service is pretty consistent, although its not uncommon to drop a call now and then.

There is a CBC North building and CBC radio is at station 91.1. CBC also provided news articles with a north focus. Click here for the news!

The community radio station is CRFT Radio Iqaluit and broadcasts in french and Inukitut, and you can get weather reports on Weatherradio at CIQA FM 93.3. There is also 103.5 Capital FM that airs classic hits and oldies music.

Is Iqaluit gay-friendly?

We think so! We have felt comfortable everywhere we have gone, and have met a number of other lesbians.

See my post (to come).

What to pack for Iqaluit in the winter:

• Warm, weather proof footwear—I brought a pair of mukluk style lined boots and a pair of heavy weather waterproof hiking boots and this was a good combo for a short stay. If you are staying longer, invest in ultra warm boots.
• Toques are a staple so bring more than 1 so you can change your style!
• Gloves—bring a set, and buy a pair of handmade gloves here. They are amazing. They will run you around $250-300 but they are worth it.
• A heavy winter jacket with a hood or a parka—or have one made here if you are staying a while.
• Layers – I brought a thin down vest, as well as a thin/ mid-weight down packable jacket, and a shell that was wind and waterproof. I could then layer these up depending the temperature, or wear an extra layer under my parka. This also gave me a range of “looks” so I didn’t have to wear the same thing out every day.
• Under layers: a set of merino wool or other warm long johns.
• Jeans, sweaters, hoodies and other day to day clothes, including some dressier or more stylish items.
• Snow pants if you plan to be outside much.
• Bathing suit, towel and runners with a set workout clothes: Iqaluit’s Recreation Centre is wonderful. It is a fairly large, new facility with a really nice gym and a great swimming pool with a hot tub and sauna.
• A good book.
• Downloaded movies.
• I would suggest bringing items such as good coffee, specialty teas, treats, spices, hard alcohol, your favourite wine if you are picky, your favourite toiletries and cosmetics… you can get all of the basics in Iqaluit, but specialty items not so much.

What I would have brought differently:

• I brought a number of outdoorsy pants and clothes, which was good, but I didn’t even wear them all because when we went outside for a longer time I worse my insulated pants or my snow pants to stay warm.
• I only brought 1 pair of jeans. I wish I had have brought more regular day to day wear. Because most of the time you are in a car or indoors, you usually will just wear jeans or regular clothes.
• I wish I had have brought more day-to-day items, including another “nice” sweater and a couple more slightly dressier items. I wished I had brought the new turtle neck sweater dress I just bought, as I wanted to dress up just a bit nicer than jeans and a sweater or hoodie a few times.

Breakdown of the Census population statistics (2016)

I find this type of information very interesting, so am including it here, in case you also find it interesting. The 2016 Canadian Census is the last Census done on the population (they are every 5 years) and the 2016 was one of the most fulsome in history. It found the following regarding Iqaluit (thank you Wikipedia for summarizing the stats):

• Population: approximately 60% of the people are Aboriginal with over 56% being Inuit; 34% are white, 3% are black, and the remaining 3% are of other decent.
• Iqaluit is young: the median age is 30 years old, compared to the national median age of 40.
• About 53% of the population is married or common law, and the divorce/ separation rate is 6%, much lower than the national average of 9%.
• The average household income is about $100,000 compared to the national average of $54,000.
• Over 75% of the population is high school educated and 60% have post-secondary education.

More information:

• Government of Canada Nunavut FAQs
• City of Iqaluit webpage
• Travel Nunavut
• The Guardian article “The Struggle in Iqaluit: north and south collide in Canada’s Arctic capital” is a interesting look at the creation of Iqaluit and current issues it struggles with as south meets north in the growing capital of Nunavut.