Welcome to the end of the world, and welcome to the end of trees. Baffin Island is entirely above the treeline; Iqaluit is at least 300 kilometres from the next settlement, of about 100 people. It is a completely different planet here; the geography is just windswept rock, covered by very dry powdered snow. When you fly from Ottawa to here, you really feel like you are leaving the earth as you know it behind.




And in the midst of this lunar otherworldly atmosphere is a tiny little town, a cluster of classic Canadian government buildings, classic new world wood buildings, and some space age marvels of architecture, which is called Iqaluit.




There is noticeable development though; high density housing is going up "downtown", and more of the space-age style administrative structures are being created. It's a balmy -22 degrees Celcius, a "mild" day for february. The winds give me headaches like those you get from eating too much ice cream, and breathing through my nostrils freezes my nose hairs.








Out in the distance is the sea; frozen solid, covered in several metres of snow. The view out over the sea is the most striking view in Iqaluit. And it's too cold to go out wandering in the rocky wilderness - after walking around town for an hour and a half I returned to my $110 hotel room( a good deal here) to find that both of my heels had turned numb and I didn't even notice it. I was wearing 2 pairs of thermal socks to try and ward of this sort of thing from happening. Didn't quite work.








The Inuit are one of the few native peoples in North America with a written language. Comprised of symbols which are surprisingly geometric, it looks very space age and otherworldly. It wouldn't look out of place on the console of an alien spacecraft from Star Trek. There's an overlying theme to how the Inuit are developing their society - the space age language, the space age architecture, the geography of the moon - this is a different planet entirely. All within the boundaries of my own country.

This town is truly beyond the ends of the earth. The stark beauty of it all is fascinating. And to think that people live in this unforgiving landscape is strange - Iqaluit wouldn't be bad, it's a small town but still connected to the outside world. But the other smaller communities which are hundreds of kilometres apart, connected by nothing but an airstrip, would be something difficult.

Nunavut & the Northwest Territories are small enough that they share one phone book - in the yellow pages under "night clubs" it listed one, in Hay River - 2000 kilometres west of here.There is little variety of anything in Iqaluit, and the few things you can get in the stores are all ridiculously expensive. A $9 pack of cigarettes is good incentive to quit smoking.













Still, all of this is amazing. I wish I could count a place like this in the number of countries I have visited. The pace and the way of life are very different here. People are not as friendly as those you meet in Ontario, but you know they'll help you when you need it. The geography of rock and ice is striking and memorable, as well as the way the steam lifts off packs of ice which slowly melt in the sunny day, shift a little, and then freeze again at night. And beyond Iqaluit, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to help you or save you from the harsh climate. There is no mercy in this part of the world.





Welcome to the end of the world. When the rest of us get blown up or waste away, the people up here will know about it, but it won't really affect them. Although, with the number of flights that this town gets each day, and the amount of development going on, it won't be long until the town's population his 5,000, if it hasn't already. It's a ridiculously expensive place, on par with Tokyo or London, but it many ways it's worth the trouble. It's so very different up here, and like any good trip, it has changed several of my perceptions of this earth.




-February 2000

Rankin Inlet
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* A full account of my visit to this country is available in my yet to be published book, Means To An Exit. If you are an agent or publisher and would like to receive an outline and manuscript, please Contact Me.