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Despite life-threatening winters, polar darkness and two months of unbroken summer sunlight, the remote town of Inuvik is home to a surprisingly diverse mix of newcomers.
Mayor Peter Clarkson, a retired biologist who moved there in 1987 to study bears and wolves, puts the population at about 3,300. “It really is a cosmopolitan town,” he said.
Roughly 60 per cent of the people in this remote outpost are part of the indigenous groups Inuvialuit, Gwich’in and Métis, some of whom still lead a traditional lifestyle centred around hunting, trapping and fishing. But many of the rest come from towns and cities across the world. While most economic migrants and asylum seekers who arrive in Canada gravitate towards its biggest cities, a significant number have opted to embrace life 200km north of the Arctic Circle.
One symbol of that diversity is the Midnight Sun Mosque, the world’s northernmost Islamic place of worship. In an epic effort, the mosque was built in Winnipeg, then transported 4,000km by road and river to Inuvik in August 2010. Five minutes away, the town’s Catholic community worship at Our Lady of Victory, a church designed to resemble a large igloo.
Amier Suliman, who fled violence and political turmoil in Sudan in 1995 and swapped the heat and dust of his home country for the snow and cold of Canada’s Northwest Territories, says those who adopt Inuvik as their home need to be good at adapting. During Ramadan, for example, the town’s 100-strong Muslim community breaks its fast according to sunset times in Edmonton, thousands of kilometres to the south, because the sun sets so late in Inuvik.
Suliman arrived in southern Canada and moved north in search of work. But he settled for more sentimental reasons. “Inuvik has become my home for many reasons, not least because I found my soulmate here,” he said. “I am filled with gratitude for the life we’ve created in this remarkable town.”
Uruguayan Juan Bidegain was on a road trip from Vancouver along the Dempster Highway, the only road in and out of Inuvik, when he was persuaded to stay by a local he met fishing.
Since then he has worked as a baker and now runs a small business selling merchandise. He has also built a “dome home” — one of the energy-efficient, customisable geodesic-shaped houses that can be found all over Inuvik.
“I said I’d do one winter in the Arctic,” he said. “It’s been a very long winter. Fifteen years later, I still don’t know what I’m doing here.”
Bidegain, like nearly everyone I spoke to, said he relished Inuvik’s sense of community. The local hospitality and camaraderie are especially meaningful in extreme conditions.
Hesborn Mayieka, who arrived in 2023 and works as a part-time teacher and full-time auditor, said there are about 200 Africans in Inuvik who came looking for work and to enjoy a “quiet life”. His two sisters joined him here from Kenya. Mayieka, who was raised in Kisii in west Kenya, found his first winter incredibly hard to manage. Temperatures in Inuvik can fall below 40C. “There was pain all over my body. Now minus 20C is fine. I could walk naked in that,” he said with a laugh.
Extreme cold is becoming more rare. While winter temperatures regularly drop below minus 35C, scientists are warning the Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the globe since 1979.
Clarkson said climate change was already wreaking havoc locally as permafrost melts away. “In town we see the effects. The infrastructure gets wonky, walls crack.”
The good news is that work done by the government and military, Inuvik’s key revenue streams, is unlikely to be affected. This is especially true as Canada fortifies its Arctic from potential Russian and Chinese threats.
Inuvik recently celebrated it’s 67th Muskrat Jamboree — an annual highlight featuring snowshoe races and log-sawing competitions. Those who live here are hopeful about the town’s future. The winters may be tough but every spring the sun shines, people come together outside and new projects begin.
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