Yeah but $23.69 Canadian for a case of Mountain Dew is only like $3.15 in US dollars right. Oh, wait that was before Bush.

Why would you live there in the first place?! I feel sorry for any kids living there.

Tho really, sorta like complaining that your phone's signal strength is too often unacceptably weak.. whenever visiting the planet mars.

Right, expensive. Now let's do a video on people's paychecks in the area, as I'm sure they're substantially higher too.

Can't wait for teleportation to get invented, as it will throw the world's current currency market in the toilet.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

Needs moar record scratch!

The average family income in Nunavut in 2000 was C$59,206 for a family of five.

Source
>> ^probie:

Right, expensive. Now let's do a video on people's paychecks in the area, as I'm sure they're substantially higher too.
Can't wait for teleportation to get invented, as it will throw the world's current currency market in the toilet.

but why is ice-cream so expensive?! it's not like they have to do much up there to keep it from melting

*canada

Adding video to channels (Canada) - requested by Zifnab.

how do they live without cheap pineapples and cheez whiz?

Yeah but I'd imagine that dumpster diving there would be super lucrative & rewarding.

That is not a boatload of money!

>> ^shogunkai:

The average family income in Nunavut in 2000 was C$59,206 for a family of five.
Source
>> ^probie:
Right, expensive. Now let's do a video on people's paychecks in the area, as I'm sure they're substantially higher too.
Can't wait for teleportation to get invented, as it will throw the world's current currency market in the toilet.

Lulz, oh come on. The ENTIRE population of Baffin Island (where they were) is a grand total of 11,000 people, and they AREN'T all in the same place (well, half are in Iqaluit). There's no economy of scale. I bet most of those items are flown in too.

>> ^notarobot:
That is not a boatload of money!
>> ^shogunkai:
The average family income in Nunavut in 2000 was C$59,206 for a family of five.
Source
>> ^probie:
Right, expensive. Now let's do a video on people's paychecks in the area, as I'm sure they're substantially higher too.
Can't wait for teleportation to get invented, as it will throw the world's current currency market in the toilet.




Actually, probie has it right, in 2006 the median family income for Iqualit, one of the towns pictured, was like $89,000 compared to the Territory (Nunavut) median of $60,000... and the CANADIAN median of $53,634.

Couples sharing a household, with or without kids, had a median over $100,000 in 2005
SINGLE people had median income of over $60,000.

They're doing just fine.

[redacted]

I don't think that was a locally made video, as the cheesy effects seem to prove. It is an outsider looking in. So.... your complaint is ridiculous?


>> ^Mcboinkens:

They're lucky they get imported foodstuffs that far north. Complaining is ridiculous. If you want to live there, deal with it. If not, move closer to the farmlands that produce all of it and then get lower prices in return.

I smell some business opportunities there...

My folks lived on Baffin for five years; they'd pack big Tupperware tubs full of groceries when they visited down south to bring back up with them. TP was one of the things that sticks in my mind.

That said, I do believe they were making some fine scratch while they were up north (you generally don't relocate there otherwise).

I see only two types of people living in that region:

1. People who are brought in to exploit natural resources who are raking in the cash

2. People who primarily live off the land


Which one of those groups is going to buy the Cheeze Whiz?

OMG use a freaking tripod if you're going to green screen lol

OK, so having grown up in Nunavut, I feel I should weigh in on this and dispell some of the misconceptions that have come up in the comments. These prices are from two of the larger communities in Nunavut which means that the prices are even higher in the more isolated communities. The prices are so high partly because everything has to be flown in or shipped during the few months of ice-free summer. Also, there is basically a duopoly when it comes to grocery stores in Nunavut meaning they can charge pretty much whatever they want.

I don't know where citystats.ca got their data from on the median incomes, but it's actually much lower according to Statistics Canada. The median income reported by Nunavut tax filers in 2008 was only $26,460 a year and $57,330 for Iqaluit that same year. In Sanikiluaq, which is one of the poorer communities, the median income was a measly $9,730. In Arctic Bay, where I grew up, the median income for the year fell to $11,810 from $12,500 in 2006.

There is a serious income disparity problem in Nunavut and it is the local Inuit that suffer as a result. The largest employer in the Territory by far is the Territorial and Federal Government. Those of us who are lucky enough to have a job in the public center enjoy high salaries and benefits and are able to afford the exorbitant cost of living here, but everyone else is pretty much shit outta luck. Unfortunately, it is mainly southerners that enjoy the high wages. There are of course southerners that live here because they genuinely love the land and the people (such as my Quebecois mother) but the vast majority of southern workers are here only for the purposes of lining their pockets and don't contribute much to the communities.

As for those who don't understand why people live up here, I'm not even going to bother to explain it, because you probably won't get it anyways. I'm proud to be from Nunavut despite all the problems there are up here.

Well put @JesseoftheNorth.

@Mcboinkens and others, asking why people live there is like asking why people live in "tornado alley" or Siberia or Afghanistan or any number of places. Most of the people have no real choice about it (not being able to afford anything but just carrying on with their lives), some just love the area and would never leave, and the remaining few are making a better living there than they would elsewhere.

The prices definitely suck from the perspective of someone who doesn't live there, but thanks to lack of competition and the income disparity, the prices suck even worse for many living in these communities.

[redacted]

I heard you can get a greenscreen for only 0.99 Cents up there...

I'm sorry, those so-called "special effects" are so terrible...

That is a really freaking extreme climate. Arctic climate, north of the tree line. I'm impressed that they can get fresh fruit at all. Although the prices do look a bit unreasonable when non-perishable items (detergent) seem to have a higher mark up than fresh fruits.

Based on this video, I decided high prices are caused by two different factors -- weight and volume.

Detergent is heavy. TP has big volume. And then there is the whole perishable aspect of produce, of course.

We should ask @JesseoftheNorth if very non-perishable very small and light things have prices more in line with the south.

>> ^rychan:

That is a really freaking extreme climate. Arctic climate, north of the tree line. I'm impressed that they can get fresh fruit at all. Although the prices do look a bit unreasonable when non-perishable items (detergent) seem to have a higher mark up than fresh fruits.

>> ^JesseoftheNorth:

OK, so having grown up in Nunavut, I feel I should weigh in on this and dispell some of the misconceptions that have come up in the comments. These prices are from two of the larger communities in Nunavut which means that the prices are even higher in the more isolated communities. The prices are so high partly because everything has to be flown in or shipped during the few months of ice-free summer. Also, there is basically a duopoly when it comes to grocery stores in Nunavut meaning they can charge pretty much whatever they want.
I don't know where citystats.ca got their data from on the median incomes, but it's actually much lower according to Statistics Canada. The median income reported by Nunavut tax filers in 2008 was only $26,460 a year and $57,330 for Iqaluit that same year. In Sanikiluaq, which is one of the poorer communities, the median income was a measly $9,730. In Arctic Bay, where I grew up, the median income for the year fell to $11,810 from $12,500 in 2006.
There is a serious income disparity problem in Nunavut and it is the local Inuit that suffer as a result. The largest employer in the Territory by far is the Territorial and Federal Government. Those of us who are lucky enough to have a job in the public center enjoy high salaries and benefits and are able to afford the exorbitant cost of living here, but everyone else is pretty much shit outta luck. Unfortunately, it is mainly southerners that enjoy the high wages. There are of course southerners that live here because they genuinely love the land and the people (such as my Quebecois mother) but the vast majority of southern workers are here only for the purposes of lining their pockets and don't contribute much to the communities.
As for those who don't understand why people live up here, I'm not even going to bother to explain it, because you probably won't get it anyways. I'm proud to be from Nunavut despite all the problems there are up here.



dude, if you gotta pay near 50 bucks for a pack of toilet paper, forget pride man. emigrate.