The Arctic | Why Some Love Living There

In many ways this is the end of the earth. The farthest reaches of Canada. Roads to nowhere. The only escape by plane. Surrounded seemingly by nothingness. In short it is for many who come here paradise. You're such good dogs. Lynn Poplinski originally from Ontario has lived around the world but Nunavut is home. I've been here more than longer than I've been anywhere. 20 years now. One of hundreds of southerners as they're called up here who come north often for a short stint and never leave. Poplinski has raised her kids here, works here and runs sled dogs here. I like winter. You know I think it really, I think there's people who like winter and who like summer. I like winter. When I first came up here I loved to be able to go in a straight line somewhere. You know like there's no yards and there's no fences and you could be on the top of hill and you could say I want to go there. You just go straight there. There are many like her. Shannon Hessian came years ago from Halifax for a summer job to run the local pool. She never left. Now has adopted kids and dogs. And every Sunday the southerners who stayed connect over supper. Lynn hosting this week. On the other side of town only about five minutes away Michel Gilbert is busy running one of the busiest auto garages in Iqaluit. No problem. Thank you. Bye. Also one of the only ones. His motivation to be here straightforward. The work, lots of work, good money. We like the place you know it's friendly and it's nice view. And many do come for the money. Salaries can be much higher here. Though costs for housing and food are also high. You brought back the tow truck? Michel is one of hundreds of transplanted Quebeckers who have no problem finding work and opportunity. But Michel did have difficulty moving his family here. Your kids like it here? Yeah at the beginning no. They wanted to kill me but after a year it was okay. They make friends. Yeah yeah. Learn English that was a good thing. In Quebec they didn't speak very much English. Up here they have no choice. The greatest draw is outdoors. It's dry here so not much snow over the winter. But powerful winds and deeply frigid temperatures. Why stay? This. If it was easy everybody would be here. It's a common response often accompanied by a request that we don't do this story. People want their north left alone. A secret for those already here. It's a really neat place because once you sort of head out your back door you can head over to the tundra and you can make it to the north pole without crossing the road. It's just the just the wilds out there and that makes it a very unique experience. And that they do leaving behind Nunavut's capital. It doesn't take long. Out on land long traversed by generations of Inuit. Now embraced by increasing numbers of southerners. Caught by the Arctic allure. David Common, CBC News. Overlooking Frobisher Bay near Iqaluit.