What Lurks North
Canada is vast and quiet. Or at least, that's what everyone's told.
What Lurks North explores cryptid sightings, haunted places, and forgotten folklore from the Great White North. If you love the unknown, you've found your next obsession.
What Lurks North
Guest Ep: Exploring Nunavut
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Welcome to Nunavut!
Home to incredible landscapes, unique traditions, and some of the most extreme weather conditions in Canada.
In this special guest episode, we’re mixing things up with our usual Would You Rather and True or False questions while chatting about Nunavut.
It’s our classic guest episode vibes, and we hope you have fun with us!
Featuring: Gothy, Tasty, Sean, and Phil
GothicSkullMum - Twitch & VPzone
xXxBig_TastyxXx - Twitch & VPzone
sunf1tch - Twitch & VPzone
MERCH
https://whatlurksnorth-shop.fourthwall.com
Podcast Host, Script Writer: Sunnie G.
Music Score, Sound Design & Background Music by Ellis Dreams
We'll talk about that. And the experiences that make this territory unlike anywhere else. We'll also be answering questions sent in from Discord in our new fan mail system that can be found on the top of the description in each episode. Together, we'll explore none of it. Okay. We are gonna open the way we always do. When someone says none of it, what's the first thing that pops into your head? It's cold. Okay, that's fair. Okay.
PhilNooks shooks.
SPEAKER_05Okay, that's a good one. That's a good one. Okay. That's a good one, actually. That's clever.
SPEAKER_01When I was a kid, someone told me none of it was called that because there's none of it there. And for whatever reason that has stuck with me for a moment.
SPEAKER_04I mean I remember hearing that too, actually. That's kind of funny.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that kind of unlocked a memory, if I'm gonna be honest.
SPEAKER_04Yes, it did. 100%.
SPEAKER_05Oh my gosh. I feel like everyone just thinks, like, even including me, until probably recently, honestly. Um that kind of it is like this one huge giant frozen wasteland. Whereas it's actually like, yeah, okay, it has the Arctic climate and everything. Um, but it's like the landscapes are gorgeous. There's the tundra, there's the mountains, fjords, coastal cliffs, uh, massive islands, and like a lot of wildlife, obviously, because pretty much the wildlife outnumbers people for the most part up there as well. Um, and then like in summer, it's kind of like Yukon, where it transforms with like the wildflowers and the migrating birds, and then it just turns into this like super vibrant landscape under like their midnight sun because they have that phenomena there.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, but it it like came out of nowhere one day, right? Like one day it wasn't there, and then all of a sudden, boom, none of it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, liter so literally joined Canada in 1999.
PhilUsed to be the Northwest Territories, but bigger.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, basically.
PhilAnd any any reason too? Yeah, there they felt there was enough of a distinction between themselves and the Northwest Territories that basically they didn't feel like being governed all the way over, you know, and the actual capital was doing very much for the territory. A bit like Northern Ontario versus Southern Ontario.
SPEAKER_05Pretty much, honestly.
PhilOr, you know, Alberta and the rest of Canada.
SPEAKER_06Hmm.
SPEAKER_05Fair fair point.
SPEAKER_06Like I mean, I'm tired of being associated with our capital. Um but you don't see me going out to the boat to separate, because I believe in unity as a country.
SPEAKER_05This valid valid point, honestly.
SPEAKER_06I didn't know there was like rivalry between northern and southern Ontario.
SPEAKER_05Oh my god, yes. Always.
PhilBut there's basically a divide because there's like such a huge population in the Toronto area that um, you know, anywhere anywhere that doesn't have a population over like 30,000 feels as though basically all the resources and all of their wants and needs are being ignored.
SPEAKER_05Correct. But yes. Anyways.
SPEAKER_06Um about none of it.
SPEAKER_05So about none of it.
SPEAKER_06I know none of it.
SPEAKER_05You know none of it? I know none of it.
SPEAKER_06Crazy. Not a damn thing. I'm sure there's all kinds of facts.
SPEAKER_05There are! In fact, we're gonna play some Would You Rather Yeah. We're gonna learn some things, kind of. Sort of.
SPEAKER_06Let's do some learning.
SPEAKER_05We're gonna learn some things about each other more than none of it, I feel like. Although there's there's some things in there. Um, so number one. Endless sun, so the midnight sun, or endless night, or polar night.
SPEAKER_06Endless night.
SPEAKER_05Endless night.
SPEAKER_06I can take vitamin I can take vitamin D. I don't give a fuck.
SPEAKER_05That's right. Okay, alright.
SPEAKER_06Also, like I'm half ginger and I do share the uh super fair skin trait. So I would prefer to not have sun.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Alright. I like the sun. You like the sun? Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm team sun as well. Um, you know plants need them. And what are we if not very complicated plants?
SPEAKER_05This is true.
SPEAKER_01Get UV lights.
SPEAKER_02I feel like they're still missing some things in the UV lights. Although there's pretty good ones now.
SPEAKER_06You'd be fine.
SPEAKER_01I I like going for runs. I hate going for runs uh at night. So I think. See, I love going distance at night.
PhilThey're so cool.
SPEAKER_01My my personality. Where we love not so much. She loves going for runs at night, and she always wants to get me out for it, and I hate running at night.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, no.
SPEAKER_01Um, so it's just one of those we will never get along on this.
SPEAKER_05I'm night blind as shit. I'm not running at night. I can be I can barely trip not trip over my own feet during the day. You think I'm gonna do that at night? Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_01That's that's where I'm at.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, no, absolutely not. I am also going to choose uh the sun.
PhilSee, I really want to experience the endless night and do like a work shift in a place like that in the wintertime, because I think that'd be really cool to be around. But if I had to live in it, I would choose endless daytime. Specifically because I could nap at any time and be like, oh, it never gets dark, so a nap right now won't hurt. Then I could sleep just like blackout curtains for like six hours at like ten o'clock in the morning and no one would stop me. I'd be unstoppable, or I guess completely stopped.
SPEAKER_05Completely stopped.
SPEAKER_06Come to a complete stop.
SPEAKER_05Do not Pasco. Do not collect $200.
PhilExactly. Because you just sleep at random hours.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Would you rather travel by dog sled or snowmobile?
SPEAKER_04I've done both, so uh snowmobile.
SPEAKER_01For the experience, I would go with s uh dog sled, but I think I would enjoy like if it was multiple times, yeah, I would prefer snowmobiling. Like I I know that is more my my vibe.
SPEAKER_07Definitely dog sled for me. Dog sled?
SPEAKER_06Definitely dog sled, yeah. And then you get to snuggle with the pups afterwards.
PhilYes, but my biggest and my biggest fear for dog sledding is they have to poop in the middle of dog sledding, and then the dog poop would get all over the bottom of the sleds, and then that would be my problem to deal with. First of all. It's called a pressure washer.
SPEAKER_05No, like it would get all over us, too.
SPEAKER_06No.
SPEAKER_05Also, get out of my brain, because that's I was literally picturing that. Mind you, they're not gonna do it like mid-run, obviously, but like No, they do poop mid-run. Oh my god. Do they though?
PhilJust get a windscreen.
SPEAKER_02Like, on your dog sled?
SPEAKER_06Pim out the sled. Put the windscreen on the front, you sit behind it on the sled, boom. It poop comes out and it flies up, it flies on the screen and over your head. Aerodynamics, it's science. It's just it's just physics.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I'm taking the snowmobile, but like I've I've I love dogs, but snowmobile is where it's at.
SPEAKER_05Can't confirm.
SPEAKER_06I've never never read the snowmobile.
SPEAKER_05It's a good time.
SPEAKER_01Yes, that's what I'm hearing. A lot of people hurt themselves snowmobiling because just not paying attention and don't know how to do it.
PhilOr you know, drinking and a lot more people hurt themselves thinking they can use a snowmobile in the uh daytime. Or in the summertime. Not daytime. You can use you can snowmobile it day or night. Yeah. Do not try and snowmobile on grass.
SPEAKER_05Probably not a good time, would be my guess.
SPEAKER_04You'll blow up your snowmobile.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. You'd like you'd wreck that shit so fast. Like number three. Learn traditional carving or learn throat singing.
PhilI like wood carving, so I would definitely want to like work with bone and other materials and like soap. We're I got a chance to use soapstone in high school for an art project. And that was super cool, and it made me want to do more like stone carving. So like absolutely I'd want to do more with that. Just give me the chisels, let me go away.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's a really tough one.
SPEAKER_05Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01Uh they're both really cool skills, so it's like, uh wants to say through singing because I I like singing and I used to do it a lot more. And I could subject people to it during DD. But I I think I think I'd be more interested in the carving because I just don't have many um many art skills, like manual skills, and that that would be very interesting to be able to do. To have one thing I could actually I don't think I'd be any good at it, but I'd like to learn.
SPEAKER_05It'd be cool to learn it though, right?
SPEAKER_01Like Yeah, there's there's real benefit in just having some artistic outlets that are different than others, right? Having creating art versus performance, that sort of stuff. Uh, I think being having that would be really cool.
SPEAKER_04Uh wood carving for me. I enjoy that actually quite a bit.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_05I feel like yeah, soapstone is like really fun. You'd be proud of like the little thing you made. Even if it looks like really crappy, it's like, look, I did that. I could like show people.
SPEAKER_04I have all my stuff from high school. That's pretty interesting to see.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Well, it's probably like how where you were versus like where you are now, right? To which would be like the coolest thing.
SPEAKER_06Throat singing.
SPEAKER_05Throat singing.
SPEAKER_06How many people in the world can actually do that? Not as many as there should be.
SPEAKER_05I'm kind of leaning that way too.
SPEAKER_06And then I could do it while I'm streaming.
SPEAKER_05You could. I don't know if that's gonna like bring people in more or drive them away faster.
SPEAKER_06Fuck that. That'd be like this kind of thing.
SPEAKER_05I feel like that'd be I feel like that'd be dope though. Like I would stay. I'd be like, this is kind of cool. Kind of leaning more throat singing. Number four. Spot a pod of narwhals or a polar bear and her cubs.
PhilNarwhals. You can see polar bears basically any zoo here in Canada, but like, are you gonna see a narwhal?
SPEAKER_05This is fair. Okay. This is a valid point.
SPEAKER_01I've always wanted to be horribly mauled by a bear, so polar bear, sure. I mean, I'm just picturing the the situation where I would see a polar bear in their cup. Oh, you didn't you didn't have that in the initial question. That was improving.
SPEAKER_05You see it. You're safe, but you just see it.
SPEAKER_01I would go with narwhal. I've seen bears. I I I have not seen a narwhal. I've seen polar bears. They're amazing, but uh narwhal, absolutely.
SPEAKER_04100% a narwhal. I've seen polo bears. They're no different than bears, they're just white.
SPEAKER_07True.
SPEAKER_06And giant and ferocious.
SPEAKER_05Deadly.
PhilThey're they're basically albino grizzlies.
SPEAKER_05True.
PhilThey also really like watermelon by all account.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, watermelon is. It's actually really cute. I did not know that.
SPEAKER_06They also like Coca-Cola, not a sponsor.
SPEAKER_07And Christmas.
SPEAKER_05Specifically at Christmas time.
PhilNo, just like right now. Very important. Break in the middle of the podcast to talk about how much we love Coca-Cola for like no reason.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's great, honestly. I'll reach for a Coke Zero before most other things. Unless it's ginger ale. Then I'll take the ginger ale. Canada dry, not a sponsor.
SPEAKER_06I was gonna say which ginger ale though. Do you know there is there is one ginger ale that I like above Canada Dry. And it's not Schweps, because Shweps can go to hell.
SPEAKER_05First of all, that one can burn in hell. Yes, correct. Anyways, it's so secret.
SPEAKER_06Secrets. Oh.
SPEAKER_05It is nice. For me, I like the bite of Canada Dry, though.
SPEAKER_06That's fair.
SPEAKER_05Like I I just uh I am also gonna choose narwhal because I have always wanted to see one.
SPEAKER_06Narwhal for me too. We didn't get there yet.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Number five. You can only have one for dinner for a straight week. Okay. Arctic char or caribou.
SPEAKER_01Arctic char.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Alright. Okay.
SPEAKER_04I'm going caribou because you can make it in different ways.
SPEAKER_05Okay, alright.
SPEAKER_04That's true.
PhilThat yeah. I mean, there's lots of ways to cook Arctic character pesto or lots of butter. Get shrimp and things like that and have with it too.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, but like you're you're catching it. You're hunting it, you're catching it, you're eating it. Like week straight. Like this is what your community is bringing to you. Oh, you're not being specific. That's why I said it it's a for a whole week. Because technically, like your tribe or your community has gone out and hunted this thing and is bringing it back for everybody to eat for the whole week. But you can only have one.
SPEAKER_04100% a caribou. Okay.
PhilI'd probably go caribou then, if I don't get all the other fixings for Arctic Char.
SPEAKER_07Okay.
PhilYou don't get fixed things for caribou either. Yeah, but you can just like, you know, green onion, potatoes, throw it all in a big pot. Like that's not a good thing. No, no. No, no.
SPEAKER_06That's not the that's not the thing. It was you can have veggies.
SPEAKER_05You can have veggies. Just like you have to have like the meat. Oh, she's adding bars. And specifically the protein only. But it's like only stuff you can get there. So like you can get veggies there as long as they're there. Okay.
SPEAKER_06I do love architecture. One of my favorites.
SPEAKER_05I'm also going caribou.
SPEAKER_06Y'all are crazy.
SPEAKER_05Because you well, you can grind it, make some ground beef, do like some type of taco, right? You could do like you could do the heart. Smokies. Smoky.
PhilOh, yeah, corn bread tortillas in like when you you have to go and make the corn tortillas in the case.
SPEAKER_03Grass masking hard. Yeah, there you go. Done. Easy. It's not a big thing.
SPEAKER_06I'm sorry, you think you think that you can just all of a sudden make masa out of nowhere? In the middle of the wood. In the middle of the Canadian woods?
SPEAKER_02Hey, it could be a taco bowl. It doesn't have to have the it doesn't have to have the tortilla.
SPEAKER_05Like, it's fine.
SPEAKER_06You're not having tacos if you don't have the tortilla. That's important. Corn only, never flour.
SPEAKER_05Correct. Also, then I can eat it.
SPEAKER_06But by that same degree, then you can turn Arctic char into fish tacos.
SPEAKER_02You could, yeah.
SPEAKER_06You could have beer battered. Uh Arctic charge. You could do uh a braised, you could do a crispy skin, you could do all kinds of shit.
SPEAKER_05You could do a bunch of those, yeah. Beer, I don't know how you could probably do battered for sure.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mix. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_05Just do it all.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so we have how many for Arctic Char?
SPEAKER_01I believe that was three.
SPEAKER_05Three, and then two of us for caribou. We're going with red meat. We know we need the iron more than the other stuff.
SPEAKER_06More than omega-3s?
SPEAKER_05I mean we need both. But like meat. Iron. Delicious red meat. Lean meat.
SPEAKER_01One way or the other, you're not getting everything you need, so you might as well go with what you want to eat.
SPEAKER_05Pretty much. It's like what could I eat for a full week? Like I could do the Arctic Char. But I feel like by like day three, I'm gonna get really sick of it. Whereas caribou, I'm probably gonna be able to like, like, I'll have like the heart. I'll have like You can smoke it too. You can smoke it. You can like do some brown meat with it. You can do like all these other things. But like with caribou.
SPEAKER_06You can leaf wrap it. There's some you could as many ways as you think you can prepare the caribou, you could probably prepare the Arctic charm. And as somebody who's odd EHD, I could definitely I it would just become a safe food and I'd be able to eat it for even longer than the week. Until I get one weird, one weird flavor or one weird texture, and then it's ruined.
SPEAKER_05That yeah, that would ruin it for me, for sure. Um, okay. Number six. Help organize the community hunt or help organize the community feast.
SPEAKER_06Feast.
SPEAKER_05Feast.
PhilI'm not a hunter, I'm a cook.
SPEAKER_05Fair?
PhilYeah, same. Hunting is icky. Oh, I'm sure it's fun, but I'd love to cook once.
SPEAKER_02Hunting is icky, what a sentence. Oh my god.
PhilI mean, I'm not bashing people who enjoy it, good for them, but no, not a thing for me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think I would go hunt. I think I'd I'd organize the community. I would help organize the community hunt. I might not be the person pulling the trigger on that, but drawing this trick.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's just organize. It's not like you're not necessarily doing the things. It literally just says organize. Like you're just handling it.
SPEAKER_01It's hard to tell because uh Yeah, I I I don't trust myself around other people's food that much. I'm not a good enough cook to be relied on there.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Okay. I love to cook, but I feel like I would do a community hunt. For sure. Pick like very specific people to come with me and just be like, you, you, you. Okay, we're going. I need some people to like help me lug this thing out of like wherever we're shooting it. Or fishing it, or whatever we are catching that day. Hopefully. Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_06I spent all this time organizing the feast and you brought me nothing.
SPEAKER_03True.
SPEAKER_06We built six giant grills. And you brought me none.
SPEAKER_01That's the real problem. It's one's reliant on the other.
SPEAKER_05Yep. And that's like a lot of what the communities are up there. It's like they very much like rely on each other. Number seven. Spend a week in a caliwit, which is their capital. Or one of the smaller communities.
SPEAKER_01I'd go smaller community. I think that would be really interesting.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_04I think it's a good thing.
SPEAKER_07Oh, sorry.
SPEAKER_04Smaller community for me.
PhilI think a cowwit, there would be like a lot of uh boating going around and sightseeing just in that area. It's in a really cool bay.
SPEAKER_05Speri. Okay.
SPEAKER_06I think I would start with a caliwood.
SPEAKER_02No, no, you gotta you gotta pick one. One for a week. That's it. That's all you get.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that's what I mean though. Like I would I would well I would rather a calibut because I would like to see what what their city life is like. And then, you know, one day I will return for time. Get a feel for the not-so-city life.
SPEAKER_05That's fair. That's good that's a good way to look at it. I think I would also choose one of the smaller communities. Only because I would just want to see like day to day what's it like to be there. Because like with the capital, it's everything, it's like, yeah, okay, you have all the normal things. Yeah, it's not gonna be a city by like down here standards. But it would still be very interesting to see at some point.
PhilI mean, what all of the community are you talking? Like a hundred people?
SPEAKER_05Because what, a cowboy's like 30,000 or something like that. Yeah. You ready for this number? Oh wait, this is in 2021. Hold on. Hold on. Oh, I got the updated number. Just kidding. Okay. 2026 population. Guesses. Phil, first guess.
PhilUm, I said 30, you know, I feel like that's too high. Maybe like 20,000? Okay. Sean.
SPEAKER_01I think it went up. I'm gonna say 33,000, 34.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Goffy?
SPEAKER_01Uh 20,000.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so you would feel kind of same boat, okay? And tasty.
SPEAKER_0620,000 and one.
SPEAKER_05We do in prices right rules. Um you are all incorrect. It is far slower.
SPEAKER_03Um, it is exactly so far.
SPEAKER_058,723 people total.
SPEAKER_01Oh, sorry, I was thinking about the whole, none of it, not just just to calib it. Just to callow it? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. It's insane.
SPEAKER_018,000 sounds about right.
SPEAKER_06I mean, with a population that small, do you even need to go to a smaller community? That basically is a small computer there.
PhilYeah, that's kind of what I was thinking now that you said that.
SPEAKER_05Um, yeah, so I believe Nineveh itself is like 41,000 total. Some somewhere around there.
PhilMy estimate. They're all just in Calowit. There is one city. Everything else is empty. No.
SPEAKER_05Everything else is empty.
PhilWow.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's um it's a very low population, but like it makes sense, you know, with like the climate that they have, um, obviously, probably like the work and stuff like that that's up there versus like down here, all those fun things. Um yeah, it would be like crazy. And yeah, like the small communities maybe have like twenty to fifty people, I would guess. Maybe more. So yeah, it's uh it's pretty intense. Pretty crazy.
SPEAKER_06It's pretty crazy.
SPEAKER_05So our next uh second last one. Spend the day exploring sea ice or hiking through tundra.
PhilDo we get to go under the sea ice? Like when you're gonna be able to get the case.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you're just exploring the sea ice, like you're going under it, you're going over it, everything.
PhilOh, that'd be cool. I picked that one.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_04I'll do hiking. Hiking, okay.
SPEAKER_01I I have seen someone go under the ice before, and it is terrifying when it happens. But at the same time, it does sound fascinating. I'm gonna go with the ice.
SPEAKER_07Okay.
SPEAKER_06Does exploring sea ice mean I have to dive?
SPEAKER_05Um, not necessarily. Like you could just like go on top of it and like walk around and stuff like that, like explore it that way. But if you want to like get like the full view, then it's good to, you know, take a peek. I think Phil is probably put putting something in the chat, is my guess. Oh, never mind.
SPEAKER_06I will uh I will take Tundra.
SPEAKER_05Oh, there you go.
PhilThere's a sea ice right there. When the tide is out, you can go in through a hole and just walk right under it.
SPEAKER_06Oh, no, fuck that. I want that. Uh forget the tundra. That I thought there was like diving and swimming involved.
SPEAKER_05You can in other areas, but like for the most part, this is like what you're going there for.
PhilYeah, no, I want this. Yeah, I want that. Give me that. Diving under ice is also incredibly cool to do in the winter time. I may pun. I didn't even mean to.
SPEAKER_05I'm torn. Because I'm like half and half on hiking, but through the tundra could be really cool, but then like you see a picture like this and you're like, well, absolutely I'm doing that. So I think I'm gonna have to do sea ice. And for those of you who can't see, um, it's basically imagined that you're in like if you've ever been to an aquarium where like it's that tube that you walk through. Uh yeah, it's basically that but ice. And it looks cool as hell. Would recommend to a friend.
SPEAKER_01It doesn't look like potentially an enemy even.
SPEAKER_05Maybe. Maybe. And our last uh would you rather question before we move on to some true or false things. Learn how to build an igloo. Or learn how to sew their traditional clothing.
PhilEggloo. I've always wanted to build one. We don't have enough snow, like enough solid packing snow around here. I built like, you know, basically an egg glue out of slush and ice or like wet snow and then waited it for it to sort of freeze, and I got like halfway up before it collapsed in on itself. I was so disappointed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm not going eggloo as well. That sounds awesome.
SPEAKER_04I'll go igloo. Eggloo? Okay.
SPEAKER_06Igloo. Igloo.
SPEAKER_05I feel like I'm gonna be the only one that's going I'm I'm going sew traditional clothing. Like turn the skins and everything like from scratch, like sew, do all that kind of stuff. I feel like I would absolutely do that because I have been privileged enough to have snow that was good enough to build an igloo as a child. And it's the coolest thing. And it'd be cool to build one like proper like really properly, but nah. Sew the clothing. Gotta know. I gotta know. Okay, some true or false questions to see if we really uh have uh learned things slash know anything about Nunavut. Which I feel like all of us are gonna get all of these wrong, so it's okay, because some of them I looked up and I was like, damn, really? Damn, really. So they're very good. Um the first one. Nunavut is the hardest to color in as a child in geography class. Real.
PhilTrue.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, probably true. Oh, the islands.
SPEAKER_05It's absolutely true. This is just for fun. Did anyone actually color in pro- Noah? Oh my god, we did. We had to fucking color them. We were graded on it. It was a whole thing.
SPEAKER_07Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_05All of us colored the islands wrong. Every single one of us had like missed one, or like we would color something thinking it was an island. Nope, it's a fucking lake.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I can't say that we had to deal with that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, nope. Uh insane. Absolutely insane. Our second true or false question. Trees grow naturally throughout none of it.
SPEAKER_04No. False.
SPEAKER_06Like through all of it?
SPEAKER_05Just like throughout.
SPEAKER_06I'm gonna say true.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_01I I assume so. That's the song, Rocks and Trees and Trees and Rocks. And water. So I've gotta assume that there's trees and rocks everywhere.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Phil is thinking hard.
PhilOh, I said true at the start. Oh, you did okay.
SPEAKER_05Sorry. Yes. Gothy is correct. It is false. So none of it lies mostly above the tree line. So majority of the territory is all Arctic tundra. Without any forests. So they don't technically grow naturally there. Like throughout.
SPEAKER_06I do remember that.
SPEAKER_05Yep.
unknownYep.
PhilWell now I want to go up there and plant trees everywhere just to spite nature. Just despite nature.
SPEAKER_05I don't know. I was gonna say, I don't know if they'll survive, but you can try.
PhilWell, we gotta like wait until they're big enough so that way they can grow and we don't need to worry about all that. And then we'll transplant them in the summertime. It'll be a whole thing. True. I'll start to go sp help me spite nature and Nunavut growing trees everywhere.
SPEAKER_05You can do this. I believe in you. Just talking to the tree, giving it a pep talk.
PhilHashtag GMO trees.
SPEAKER_05Oh my god. Okay. Our second true or false question. Nunavut is the largest region in Canada.
SPEAKER_01True.
unknownOkay.
PhilI'll say true.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Oh, including the islands, that's close. Just for for being different, I'm gonna say no, false. Okay. I think it probably is, but that's fair.
SPEAKER_05That's fair. Okay. Alright. It's true. So it is the largest region, spanning about 2.09 million square kilometers, somewhere around there. Um, however, Quebec is the largest province. None of it is technically a territory. So usually when you go to look it up, it's like, what's larger? Nunavut or Quebec. It'll automatically say Quebec because they assume province. But if you think of the whole region, none of it wins. And it's literally because of all the islands and all of those types of things. So it has more land mass total. A number three. Every community in Ninevet can be reached by driving from another Canadian province slash territory.
SPEAKER_06Sorry, can we repeat that?
SPEAKER_05Uh so every community in Nineveh, so every like little town, city, all that fun stuff, uh can be reached by driving from another Canadian province or territory.
SPEAKER_01False.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_05False. True. Okay. I think that's everybody.
SPEAKER_06Is it false, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_05I think so. Yeah. Uh it is indeed false. Because the fun fact is there are no highways linking none of it to the rest of Canada at all.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_05A lot of trains. For the most part, they don't even have roads.
SPEAKER_06That's insane.
SPEAKER_05Yep. Pretty crazy.
SPEAKER_06Is it is it all is it all dog sled? Snowmobiles?
SPEAKER_05It's like dog sled, snowmobiles, like ATVs, cars, SUVs, like all that kind of stuff. It's like ice roads, or like it's a lot of that. It's not really just roads. This is one of the places that kind of follows like the animal migrations for like thousands of years. So they're just like, yeah, we're just what's the point?
PhilUm of it, which you get a special uh you get like a special uh plaque for completing because it's so remote.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I really want to go to this place. I like it. It's really cool.
SPEAKER_05I really, really genuinely would love to see it one day. Um so on top of the road slash highways question, um there are no such thing as traffic lights in Nunavut. I'm gonna say true. Okay. So we got true from Sean, false from Tasty, false. True, okay, and then false from Gothie. So it is true. There aren't any traffic lights in the territory at all. All I'm saying is there could have been. There could have been, but there aren't. It's a place with no roads or highways. Why do you need traffic lights? Too small.
PhilSee, that just makes me think that a callow it is like super forward thinking and it's all roundabouts, but I know that's not the case. It's like, wow, they're so progressive as a city. Roundabouts everywhere. It's so nice with traffic flow.
SPEAKER_06Is that what makes things progressive? Fucking traffic circles? Yes. God, I hate them so much. That's the only thing. I don't think they're not so much.
SPEAKER_05They actually help a lot.
SPEAKER_06Like, I hate people who don't know how to drive in a roundabout.
SPEAKER_05That's fair.
SPEAKER_06And there are many. There are many that are.
SPEAKER_05So many. Yeah. It's very frustrating. Anyways, seal skin can legally be sold and worn in Canada.
SPEAKER_01Uh true.
SPEAKER_07Okay.
PhilYeah. I will also say true.
SPEAKER_07Okay.
SPEAKER_01But only in certain areas, I believe.
SPEAKER_04And did you say in all of Canada?
SPEAKER_05Um, worn in Canada, just uh in general.
SPEAKER_04I say false.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it's yeah, it's not everywhere in Canada, I'm pretty sure.
SPEAKER_02Tasty?
SPEAKER_01False.
SPEAKER_05False? Okay. So it is actually true.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_05Uh seal skin products uh can are absolutely legal in Canada. And for many Inuit communities, sealing remains an important part of culture, food security, and traditional craftsmanship. So it is legal.
PhilInteresting.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, can be sold and worn.
PhilA very clear childhood memory is watching YTV where Carlos from the zone goes up to Nunavut and uh he gets trial. Like they show him like eating raw seal meat.
SPEAKER_05Yep. Like the blubber or whatever.
PhilYeah, he does a little whole dive culture, shows off the different clothing and all of that stuff.
SPEAKER_05Yep. Uh second last question. Number six. Anookshik were originally built as decorations or tourist landmarks.
PhilFalse.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_01I believe that's false, yeah.
unknownOkay.
PhilYes, I think it's false as well.
SPEAKER_05Okay. I'm going false. You are all correct. So, traditionally, Anooksha served practical purposes. So they were marked as like travel routes, hunting areas, fishing spots, or even places of significance across the tundra. So that is what they were originally built for. And our last true or false question. Traditional Inuit clothing made from animal hides is designed to keep people warm in Arctic conditions.
PhilTrue.
SPEAKER_03True.
unknownTrue.
PhilSee, that sounds true, but I also don't know if you're just messing with it. I will also say true.
SPEAKER_05It is true. Uh so caribou and seal skins are exceptional insulators. Uh, and they have actually been used for generations to make parkas, mitts, boots, uh, that are basically more suited to the Arctic climate.
PhilYeah, you could still get um actual caribou like parkas at the uh Hudson Bay before it closed like the Hudson Bay Company before it closed, but they were like 800 bucks.
SPEAKER_05Oh, they're uh just outrageously expensive. Which like fair. Yeah. I find it just interesting that like people always just kind of assume that the trit like the traditional like Inuit culture just disappeared because like modernization and everything like that. But then it's like just kidding. Like, we're still here, we're still doing these things because it fucking works. Like, if it's not broke, don't fix it, kind of like vibe.
PhilIt survived in spite of Canada's best efforts to kill it, because holy Oh my god, they really tried.
SPEAKER_05They have really tried over the years, and it's like, no. Like, first of all, they were here first. So, like, no, get out. Uh and like the fact that not only is it all very much alive, like, it's still continuing to evolve. Which is even more crazy. Like, it's not just like the traditions that are there. It's like, yeah, we used to do it this way, now we do it this way. So it's like, yeah, okay, they've made some things a little bit easier for themselves, but it's still pretty like down to traditional things, like practices like, you know, the throat singing, the carving, the storytelling, the hunting, sewing, knowledge of the land, like those are all still passed down while blending in like obviously all that modern stuff with it now. We also wanted to hear what you guys were curious about. So we asked for Nunavut-related questions in our Discord, on Twitch, and our new fan mail system that can be found on the top of the description in each episode. Let's dive into them. Judy from Ontario, Canada asks, what's the main occupation in Nunavut? So this is actually an interesting one because there isn't just one answer from what I found on my mini deep dive. It actually sounds like a lot of people work in government, healthcare, education, construction, and community services. But traditional Inuit ways of life are still incredibly important too. So hunting, fishing, and harvesting animals aren't just jobs. They're a way of providing food, passing down knowledge, and still staying connected to the land. Our next question comes from Stanley's Universe, and he asks, what interesting things can you do there? Honestly, where do I start? You can watch the northern light, experience the midnight sun, or if you visited winter, the opposite leaks of polar night. If you're feeling adventurous, you can go dog flooding, hop on a snowmobile, or hike through some absolutely unreal Arctic landscape. Wildlife lovers might spot narwhal, beluga whales, muffins, polar bears, or even Arctic foxes. And if you're interested in culture, you can visit local communities and admire beautiful innate carvings and artwork, and even experience traditional throat thing. It's kind of one of those places that's less about pecking off tourist attractions and more just experiencing a completely different way of life than we're used to. Our last question comes from Wayne from Ontario, Canada. And he asks, what is their main export? I'm not gonna lie, this one actually kind of surprised me. Um, it's actually gold. Gold is their biggest export, along with iron ore from some of the territory's mines. Arctic car and other seafooders shipped around the world as well from here, and a lot of Inuit artwork, especially carvings, prints, and sculptures, are also huge exports from here. Thanks again to our guests for joining the conversation, and you guys for sending an awesome question. We hope this episode gave you a quick look into benefit and that you visit someday. Next Wednesday, we come back to the Arctic region of Canada, where a demon with pure thick white eyes has the ability to break people with definitely cold eyes.
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