Nunavut

Nunavut is the newest Canadian territory, as it was created from a part of Northwest Territories in April 1999. Its population, mostly Inuit, is sparsed over a territory as large as Western Europe. Although most native's first language is one of the various dialects of Inuktitut, most people have a good command of the English language. The capital city, Iqaluit, is located on the Baffin Island close to the Arctic Circle.

There are officially 26 communities in Nunavut, though there are other former settlements, weather stations and mining sites. There are approximately 850 km of road over the territory, the main one being a temporary ice road (568 km) lasting a few weeks each year. There is no real road link between actual communities, the network being limited to the various settlements, only accessible through air and, seasonly, sea.

Nunavut is a remote territory and hardly accessible for hitchhikers unless they hitch a boat or a plane. Airfares are expensive: typically, Montreal-Iqaluit is 1,5 to twice the price of a Montreal-Paris flight. The passenger airlines reaching Iqaluit from communities linked to Canada's main road network are Canadian North, First Air and AirCanada. They depart mostly from Montreal, Ottawa and Yellowknife, with indirect routes from Winnipeg and Edmonton. But as airliners are usually not good to hitchhike on, one could have more chances with cargo flights, some of which also leave from Val d'Or in Quebec. It varies with the time of the year and weather conditions.

Private plane owners could be found by networking with Nunavut's only flying club : Polar Pilots

Therefore, hitch-hiking in Nunavut might only reveal being a local experience or only possible through air traffic or snow traffic (sledge and snowmobile car).

isin: Canada