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Either Yukon, Northwest Territories, or Nunavut. How common is it for Canadians to travel to these remote regions? Just curious because I have always wanted to go to one of these places, especially The Yukon or Yellowknife, NWT.
Either Yukon, Northwest Territories, or Nunavut. How common is it for Canadians to travel to these remote regions? Just curious because I have always wanted to go to one of these places, especially The Yukon or Yellowknife, NWT.
None of the the territories are "destination spots". I've been to Rankin Inlet, Chesterfield Inlet, and Iqaluit which is the largest city in Nunavut. Nunavut is beautiful in places, but incredibly barren. The closest tourist destination spot to Nunavut is Churchill, Manitoba. Thousands of tourists go there every year to see the polar bears, ride on the tundra, see the Port of Churchill, birdwatch, and kayak with whales. It's just a hop, skip and jump Rankin Inlet and other spots in Nunavut from there. The Canadian north is involves some very expensive travel. I've been to Yellowknife, but wasn't there long enough to get a get impression of the city. It's cold like any other northern place, but the people are friendly.
It's really beautiful in the summertime. If you're into the woods,hiking or biking then go to Yukon. Otherwise save your cash and go elsewhere.
Most people that live up there are working. Nobody wants to live there.
How common? Not very common but not unheard of. Unless there's a particular reason to go (ie: work, family, etc.), the average Canadian doesn't go there because it's brutally expensive to travel there - more expensive than flying to Australia, Europe, or Asia, for example. A lot of the communities are fly-in only - there are no roads. The communities are tiny and remote. You'd have to do some careful planning to travel there.
When I studied at UBC, there was an entire arctic geography program and grad students would fly up to Nunavut to do field research. I once worked as a cartographer for a mining company, and some companies we worked with had properties up in the territories, so they'd fly the geologists up there. So in those social circles it would be a bit more common, but for the most part, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are difficult to get to so the average Canadian, even if they're curious about the territories, won't spend the money to travel there when it's so much easier and cheaper to travel elsewhere.
Saying that, here in BC, it's not uncommon for outdoor enthusiasts to have travelled up to the Yukon - the territory that links Alaska with BC. It's about a 2 day drive north of Vancouver. The Alaska Highway also runs through the Yukon, making it a bit more of a tourist destination than the other territories I'd imagine. The city of Whitehorse has a bit of a gold rush town atmosphere and a bit of an arts scene - I have friends who have taken their bands up to Whitehorse on summer touring circuits. But whether that's common is debatable.
I worked for a few years as a fishing guide near the headwaters of the Mackenzie River (nearest town was Hay River, NWT). I overwintered in Hay River one year. I've travelled to various parts of the Yukon as well. I've never been east of Great Slave, though Nunavut is certainly on my list of places to go.
As for how many people make the trek up there - other responses in the thread seem pretty accurate to me. The north isn't much of a tourist destination for most folks.
The easy way to technically get to Nunavut: Drive the good, fast highway in Quebec up to one of the James Bay towns, and have someone take you offshore in James Bay to one of the islands, and step ashore. All the islands are in Nunavut.
I've been to Carcross, Yukon, which is just barely across the border from British Columbia. In fact, it's not far from Skagway, Alaska, which is where we left from. (We were on an Alaskan cruise.)
The scenery was beautiful.
Oh, and I'm not even a Canadian, although I did live in Montreal for a time.
In university I had a friend from Yellowknife. He loved the north and couldn't wait to head back each April when school ended. I have also had two friends that lived in Hay River (nurses) and they loved it as well. So there's THREE people that wanted to live there.
I spent two and a half months up in the Territories in the summer of 1989. I was on a seismic vessel in the Beaufort Sea with my company at the time (Halliburton Geophysical). It was interesting to get off shift at midnight, and see the sun brightly shining, and I swear that I wasn't smoking anything funny! That summer was exceptionally warm; even at the end of September, we were on the back deck in shirt sleeves only. Having said that, I'm still a global warming sceptic, especially after the winter we just had in most parts of Canada (and from what I gather, a lot of the US). Other than the initial two weeks to prepare the boat for its expedition while in Tuktoyaktuk, I wasn't on land too much.
My father spent a year at the DEW Line up in the Northwest Territories with the Canadian Air Force (1969/70). There were several days when, despite being considerably further south, Winnipeg was colder than where my Dad was.
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What's that? A joke? 
