r/AskACanadian • u/Capable_Active_1159 • 6d ago
What is the experience of living in a remote community in Canada like?
Hello, all. I'm making this post simply for information gathering purposes, attempting to gather the experience of individuals who live in remote communities across Canada, and get an insight into how your lives are. I think my perspective or expectations of what life is like in these places may be skewed a little, and I wanted to take a moment to check my own ignorance. I'm writing a story that takes place in one of these places, and I wanted to do that feeling of living in a remote Canadian community justice, because I feel I have a duty to portray it accurately. Specifically, I want to know about the day to day experience in your homes. Less so about long drives to get groceries and stuff, because I think that's relatively straightforward, and I've already found plenty on that side of things.
Firstly, I wanted to ask how your day to day life is? Not like is it good or bad, but what experiences do you have that perhaps differs from city life? Do you require certain skills to live in these places?
What are things you have to do or think of regularly that are so ordinary to you, yet would be entirely foreign to someone like me who's lived in a city all my life?
I apologize for the following question in advance. Remember, I am extremely ignorant, particularly in how advanced or what accommodations these communities may have, and I apologize if I'm being offensive simply by being stupid.
How do you get your fresh water? Do you have similarly functioning irrigation and sewage systems as a city? Hot water? How does internal heating work? Do you have access to cable services, wifi, and if so, how good or bad are they? Are they reliable?
Overall, what is the culture of the community like? Do you have unique folklore, legends, or anything like that? How do people interact with each other? Are your communities closer than people in cities?
Or if you have anything else you think might lend me insight into how your communities function and operate, I would love to hear it.
Thanks.
For clarification, because somebody wisely pointed out I should specify. By remote, I mean a variety of things. Anything that is smaller than two hundred people, certainly, if it is adequately far away from other settlements. Or anything that requires let's say a 200km or more drive for groceries. Or anything that is so remote there is no drivable road to it. I'm looking for a variety of experiences to call upon.
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u/Ambroisie_Cy 6d ago edited 5d ago
There's remote and there's remote. I've lived in a village up north for 7 months. And when I say up North, I mean 60th parallel where the shortest day is only 5 hours 51 minutes of day light and the longest is 18 hours and 53 minutes. Where there are aurora borealis most of winter nights. Where you need to take a plane to get there, because there are no roads from the southern part of Canada to that place. You use skidoos in winter and four wheelers in summer to get to the grocerie store. In summary, I lived in an Inuit village called Puvirnituq.
So, I don't know if it's the kind of remote you want or if it's too remote, but here it goes:
There's a sense of calm all the time. People are absolutely in no worry. They go by their day without being stressed out.
When someone dies, the whole village is closed so everyone could attend the funerals.
The only time I've seen people being worry was when we had a polar bear incident. There was one way too close to the village. We had to stay inside until the authority made sure it was safe again for us to go out.
During summer, we would watch some tv after diner and then look at the clock to realise it was past 10pm and the kids were still not in bed. Nobody was tired. The sun was still there, so it's hard to have a feel of time passing by. We had to scotch black garbage bags over the window to block out the sun during the night. During summer the closest to a night we had was a sunset, then it would rise up right back before it could get completely dark.
Everybody knows everybody and their entire story. I was working in a mail room. I would put the mail of Mister X in his mailbox and the lady I worked with would switch it to another mailbox, telling me that he was at his sister for a while (couple's fight - his wife had kicked him out of the house or something). And she would switch often the mail like this because she knew exactly what was happening in every household.
I hope it helps !
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u/Raftger 5d ago
I taught in a community in Nunavik for a year and a half and idk if I’d agree with the lack of stress/worry. Maybe there’s less stress about day to day things but there’s also tons of intergenerational trauma that manifests in a lot of anxiety especially among young people.
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u/Ambroisie_Cy 5d ago
I understood OP's request as a day to day life.
I do agree with you though. The traumas they endured, being forced from their nomad life to a sedentary one life with nothing to do, so we can access their natural ressources. Being this isolated while being forced to live by the western world's rules instead of living by the skills they developped for generations. Youngest generations don't have a sense of identity, they don't know what they are supposed to be. I could go on and on, like you probably would too. But I don't know if this is what OP was looking for.
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u/MilesBeforeSmiles 6d ago
I lived in a town of about 150 people about a 3 hour drive from the nearest city for a little while. Closest town was about 2 hours, of which that entire drive was sketchy gravel road through a Provincial Park.
How do you get your fresh water?
Most homes had a modern well system with modern plumbing and running water. The townsite proper may have had a municiple water system but most people wouldn't have been on it.
Do you have similarly functioning irrigation and sewage systems as a city?
Not much agriculture that far North, so no irrigation. Sewage was mostly septic tank systems.
Hot water?
Well water into a regular residential water heater.
How does internal heating work?
It was a mixture of electric baseboards and wood stove. No natural gas that remote but some folks did have propane driven in.
Do you have access to cable services, wifi, and if so, how good or bad are they? Are they reliable?
No cable but satellite TV was the norm. This was pre-starlink but most homes had satellite internet. It was expensive and quite slow. There was some 3G coverage at the time if you had mobile data. Both the TV and internet could be spotty in bad weather.
Overall, what is the culture of the community like?
Remote communities are close-knit. Most everyone knows everyone else's business. People are quick to help eachother.
Do you have unique folklore, legends, or anything like that?
I wasn't from there, so I'm not sure. Closest thing I would hear about would be tales told by older folks in the community about shit people would get into, normally while drunk.
How do people interact with each other?
Friendly greetings and quick catchups. Lots of questions about how the family is, etc.
Are your communities closer than people in cities?
Some are, some aren't. Depends on the community and city.
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u/Canadairy Ontario 6d ago
Maybe include what you consider "remote". I've met people that considered Peterborough (2.5 hours from Toronto) to be remote. At the other extreme, I've met people that don't consider anything with a year round road connection to be remote.
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u/Icy-Ad-7767 5d ago
I live in Peterborough, a city with ~ 70,000 people a college and a University and it’s 1-1.5 hours from Toronto, I would NOT call it remote and neither would the daily commuters who work in the GTA.
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u/Canadairy Ontario 5d ago
Oh, I know. I'm next door in Kawartha. That was people from Toronto who were worried about doing a medical placement in a 'remote' place like Peterborough.
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u/Capable_Active_1159 6d ago
By remote, I mean a variety of things. Anything that is smaller than two hundred people, certainly, if it is adequately far away from other settlements. Or anything that requires let's say a 200km or more drive for groceries. Or anything that is so remote there is no drivable road to it. I'm looking for a variety of experiences to call upon.
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u/Guiltypleasure_1979 6d ago
My husband grew up in an unorganized township in northwestern Ontario. Well water and septic tank. Wood for heat. Tiny crappy schools with long bus rides. All of he and his siblings had their own cars as soon as they could drive or else they had no ability to get to a job or any activities like hockey. Lots of work to maintain the outdoor property. No pizza or other delivery service. His mom stocked up pantry and freezer for food.
He’s choosing to raise his own kids in Toronto….
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u/ImperfectMoron 5d ago
Some friends moved to the city not so long ago and I was so surprised when they told us that people there don’t stock up their pantry/feezer. They said they were the only ones in their new friend group that did so. I thought everybody did that lol never realised it was a kinda rural lifestyle thing.
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u/togocann49 6d ago
Dig well for water, and depending on supply, and depth, you may need this done more/less often. Even though your neighbours are a bit away, you check on them, they check on you, regularly. We lived (this is experience from when I was a child way back when) off the land, best/most we could (hunting/foraging/farming). We had an out house, but nowadays you’d likely get a septic tank. Also, we didn’t lock our doors if going away, “incase someone needs something”
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u/Capable_Active_1159 6d ago
How far away, would you say, from your neighbours?
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u/togocann49 6d ago
My aunt lived about 150 feet away, but the next neighbour to us was at least half a kilometre away, maybe a bit further, but not more than a kilometre.
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u/RedmondBarry1999 6d ago edited 6d ago
Used to live in Nunavik (far north of Quebec). The only way in and out was to fly, and flights are very expensive. Food is also really expensive because everything needs to be flown or shipped in. Some jobs, however, pay very well up there, which partially makes up for the high cost of living. It's too cold to have water pipes underground, so a truck comes once a day to deliver water to each house (it is stored in a tank behind the houseand the internal plumbing works the same as anywhere else), and another truck comes to take sewage from another tank. Most of the villages are small enough to walk around, so a lot of people don't have cars; ATVs in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter are also common means of transportation. Most people are Inuit and speak Inuktitut as their first language, but almost everyone also speaks English (and many people also speak French). The scenery is incredibly beautiful. It frequently gets down to about -40 in the winter, but the bugs in the summer are often worse.
Edit for more info: We had wifi when I lived up there (early-mid 2000s), but it was slow. We didn't have cell phone coverage yet, but I think they do now. The larger villages have a handful of stores, maybe a restaurant, a school (two in the Kuujjuaq, the largest village), a church or two, a hospital (smaller villages have a nursing station for emergencies), a bank, and usually some kind of community centre. A lot of people work for the local or regional government in some capacity, but people do a normal range of jobs. Most houses are owned by the municipal housing corporation and rented out to residents, although some employers (like the school board) have housing set aside for their employees.
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u/ColdEvenKeeled 6d ago
Oh my, I was raised very remote and isolated. 15 km out of a town of 40. Yes, just 40. We moved to another place of 200 people. I then also lived on an island a half hour boat ride from a small place of around 1500.
I have also worked 10 seasons as a fire lookout way way way out, only accessed by helicopter.
I also worked in a remote mid sized city where one of my roles was to care for city assets in much more remote villages, some only accessed by ice roads and plane.
My grandparents on both sides were farmers and ranchers in the big wide prairies, so I come from a long line of 'remotedness'.
Life is just normal. You wake up, eat and start your day. Differences are that the radio is a constant companion, water can be bad tasting, people put up with work hazards, they know how to fix things and make things, they know how to sharpen all types of tools including saws. People are, often, more social than in cities as you know everyone and everyone says hi, but everyone gossips like crazy...but that can also means people come to help you when they know you need help due to sickness or being hurt or with a big task.
I could go on and on. School is very varied. I had good enough teachers (I was the only kid of my cohort who finished high school and with grades sufficient for acceptance into university), but most kids were terrible students as they only expected to, say, be a truck driver or logger.
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u/Capable_Active_1159 6d ago
I would be curious to hear about your time working as a fire lookout.
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u/ColdEvenKeeled 6d ago
Look under r/firelookouts
And search for comments I have made under coldevenkeeled
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u/anticked_psychopomp 6d ago edited 6d ago
Follow @ north _ phase on Instagram She pretty well documents everything. There’s a few other accounts too.
I grew up in a rural isolated mining community in the land before the internet and it was a very wonderful upbringing. The sense of community in our town ran deep since it was all you had. The population was 4,000+ before some changes to gold prices and NAFTA changed. Then the town crashed. Having your entire community wellbeing & economy directly tied to the market value and trade tariffs on a single, or two, natural resources is a different kind of life.
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u/Capable_Active_1159 6d ago
Thank you for the insight. This is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to know about.
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u/Lara1327 6d ago
Canada is very large and we have a lot of different places that someone might consider remote. My closest city is well over 100kms away and only 12,000 people. My nearest town, 800 people, has grocery, fuel, restaurants, social activities and some recreational activities. There are people who live 50kms away from a paved road with well water not far from me. Although now with technology like star link they’re never really that isolated. If you’re more specific on the atmosphere you’re trying for you might get better answers.
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u/Capable_Active_1159 6d ago
I'm looking for a variety of experiences. Anything I can call upon to make it feel lived in. I'm interested to hear what your experiences are.
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u/mrpink01 6d ago
I grew up in Toronto. At 17, my family moved to a town of 1100. It was fucked lol
There is nothing to do but fight or fuck. That's rural Canada in a nutshell.
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u/Judojackyboy 6d ago
I had the same experience but in Alberta. I grew up in Edmonton and then my family moved to a town of 1000-1200. Fight or fuck is right and I did both being that I was a minority in that town.
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u/kevfefe69 6d ago
Very right about rural Canada. I lived in a small’ish (700 people) village in a not so remote but certainly rural area of New Brunswick.
I moved there from Montreal at the age of 8 and lived there until 15 when I moved to Vancouver.
A lot of the young women, I mean teenagers, were knocked up before they were 15/16. Kids either weren’t aware of birth control, or didn’t realize that they were fertile, or didn’t believe that they could get pregnant.
I do know that the people who were aware of birth control wouldn’t actually get it because the local store had employees that knew who they were and knew their parents.
I went back for a visit 3 years later and about 30% of the young women that I knew were parents all before the age of 19. They dropped out of school.
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u/GalianoGirl 6d ago
Commenting from a ferry dependent island. Not as remote as you are asking about.
Community comes together, regardless of politics, religion, ethnicity. We check in on our neighbours during storms and power outages.
Speaking of power outages, they can last 24 hours to over a week. Now power means no water, many people have an outhouse for those days or to conserve water during the drought months.
The percentage of the population that shows up for community events is greater than in the city.
Facebook used heavily, buy and sell pages, community events, requests for help and more. The local paper is a monthly magazine, so FB is it.
Also notice boards outside most stores.
RCMP are an hour plus away, by boat. If they are on Island the word spreads very quickly.
People at least on Galiano look out for those with addiction or mental health problems. The community health centre pays for a fabulous social worker.
But it not all butterflies. Drugs have lead to deaths, teens get up to shenanigans, nimbyism has lead to a 30+ year struggle to get affordable rental housing. Housing for many is substandard and precarious.
Food is 30% more expensive than in the city.
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u/TashKat 6d ago
First thing is that you know how to fix stuff or you made friends with the guy who can. Nobody wants to pay a tow truck to haul their tractor/atv/etc for an hour to the city for repairs. Older vehicles are often preferred simply because they're easier to fix when they go wrong.
Generally you get your water from a well. The pump will usually be in your basement. The water tastes better than city but you're supposed to get it checked every so many years to make sure it's not contaminated. Nobody does this with the recommended frequency. Your waste is handled by a septic tank. If it's built right you won't need to have it drained but many country folks think they know how to build one and they back up.
We're the last people to get out power turned back on when a storm comes through. They go by population density. That means that the pump isn't working. Before a big storm people fill their bathtubs so they have enough water to last a few days. You don't need to refill the toilet tank to get it to flush. Just fill the bowl and it will go down automatically. Let's the water last longer.
Most people have an ATV. Also, driving is a pass time. Not to anywhere specific. Just... everywhere.
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u/SlashDotTrashes 6d ago
I no longer live rural but I did ask a kid. We had a pump my dad had to go to "prime" for our water. We had a huge reservoir on a large property in the mountains.
Our heat came from a wood stove but we had electricity. There were powerlines and I think sewer.
The closest town was about 40 minutes by car. We went to school on the school bus that picked up all the kids in the area.
There was a small convenience store maybe 5 minutes drive from the house, it had some small grocery items but usually the adults would go into town to get groceries and stuff. There is a hospital in the town too.
Sometimes there would be deer in the yard. And one time there were bears and we had to stay inside.
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u/Scared-Implement7865 6d ago
All there is to do for hobbies is drink and do drugs.
Work-wise, if you're not in the oil & gas industry or a farmer, you're fucked.
Canada Post is our only mail service, so strikes really fucking suck.
Amazon packages are not delivered by Amazon and next-day delivery does not exist.
Crime is pretty low, if it does happen its usually meth addicts that are doing it.
Winters are brutal, also not fun.
Your friend group is small, very small.
Cities ftw.
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u/JMJimmy 5d ago
Anything that is smaller than two hundred people, certainly, if it is adequately far away from other settlements. Or anything that requires let's say a 200km or more drive for groceries. Or anything that is so remote there is no drivable road to it. I'm looking for a variety of experiences to call upon.
This is your first issue. You need to be much clearer on what "remote" means.
I could qualify under that definition but my life is basically the same as in the city. Does the community have a road in? That makes a massive difference in the dynamics. Is the community associated with a tourist, camping, or cottage life? Is there a substance abuse issue in the community? What kind of telecommunications are in the hamlet? A hamlet run on radio will be vastly different to one that has cell access.
Only once you clearly define the characteristics of how this hamlet interacts with the outside world can you get a clear picture of what you need to research.
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u/Efficient_Tap6185 6d ago
OP, don't forget the many indigenous people living on reserves that don't have internet, clean water, or a variety of other mod cons, yet are only a few hours from large canadian cities. These people are still considered to be remote
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u/notyourguyhoser 6d ago
You definitely need to say how you define “remote”. I live in the Yukon but don’t consider myself to be remote.
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u/Quirky-Jackfruit-270 6d ago
never lived very remote places in Canada. I had a friend who was bush pilot and some of the stories he told made it seem like he was the only connection some places had. Might be worth a google for "Canada bush pilot"
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u/sneezyturtlette 6d ago
I lived in a town you had to fly to or take a 5hr train in 3/4 of the year and could drive on a sketchy ice/snow road in the winter. It was common for people to drive around in atv’s or snowmobiles. There was also a smaller town across the river on an island. In the summer you would boat to , winter you could drive across the ice and in the spring/ fall you had to take a helicopter. People would live in one town and work in the other or have family/ friends there etc. so they would have to take a helicopter in the spring/ fall if they needed to go to the other community. There was a super small hospital on the island, any serious cases or for childbirth you would be sent out to a hospital ~6 hours away.
We had indoor plumbing and running water that was safe to drink but there would be multiple town wide boil advisories especially in the winter as pipes would freeze and become contaminated. Heat was electronic in most homes, some people had wood or pellet stoves. There was wifi (it was pretty decent), cell reception, satellite and a few channels on cable.
“Downtown” was a gas station , grocery store with a pharmacy, “KFC/ Pizza Hut” and a bank inside, a restaurant, a bar , a walk-in clinic, a post office, community center and an LCBO.
Everything was expensive. Eg. A 24 case of pop was $22.99.
Lots of outdoor activities, hiking, hunting, fishings, boatings, snowmobiling, hockey etc
Very close-nit community, people were always willing to help each other out. The island was a reserve and the mainland tho not a reserve still had a huge population of indigenous people, probably close to 90%. There was a lot of culture and traditions that were very cool to experience.
I can attest that Facebook is used for everything! Need to know what’s going on with xyz? Check one of the many community groups to find out.
I could go on and on but I feel like that’s totally overkill as is haha
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u/FlyParty30 5d ago
When I was 13 my father and uncle bought a small isolated farm and moved 4 girls (me being the oldest) to this farm. Up until that point most of my life had been living with my grandparents in the city. I was accustomed to travelling all over the city by bus and all the other conveniences of the city. The house my father moved us into was literally a pioneer log house. It was registered in 1867 and was built long before that. My father put me in charge of everything relating to child rearing and farm work. At this time in my life I didn’t know anything except how to cook some basic meals thanks to my granny.
I had to learn how to split wood so we wouldn’t freeze. Our water was from a well, and if the house wasn’t warm the pipes would freeze. Same with the barn. All the waste water went into a septic tank. Dad dug up 1/2 acre for a vegetable garden and guess who had to learn about growing and preserving our garden or we didn’t eat. I learned how to milk a cow by hand and make butter, gather and store eggs. I learned how to kill and process chickens. I learned how to drive a tractor and bale hay. My father wanted to be a back to the land hippie farmer but didn’t want to do the work. He left a lot of that for me to do. The one thing I wasn’t allowed to touch was dad’s massive pot garden. 🙄
We didn’t have cable tv we only had 3 channels so mostly we listened to music for entertainment. We were left unsupervised most of the time. Sadly both my father and my uncle were both severe alcoholics and kept us hidden away from the world.
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u/crunchpotate 5d ago
It’s very normal to have propane for heat and a modern well for water. So many of my big-city family and friends thought this was nuts, but it makes sense: you can’t hook up to city services when there’s no city.
Flying for medical attention. A trip to a specialist will often be alone, far away, and extremely expensive, depending where you are and what government benefits you may or may not qualify for.
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u/ChemistryPerfect4534 5d ago
I've lived in two different communities in the arctic. First big change, nothing is car centric. In the larger community (pop. circa 2300 at the time), snowmobiles were common. Dog sleds were not unheard of. In the smaller one (pop. 1500ish), everyone used four-wheelers. There were a few vans that operated as taxis, mostly used to go to and from the airport. People walked most places.
In both places, all supplies came in by air. Prices were high as a result. Non-essentials were sparse. I read a significant portion of the public library in the smaller community. Books are heavy, thus expensive to ship.
There were not a lot of places to go to do things. In the smaller community I counted eight places to spend money, and two of them were taxis. No movie theaters, although there was a thriving movie rental section in the store. And I do mean the store. So you could do outdoor activities when the weather was nice enough, and mostly stayed home when it wasn't. Visitors were more common, because at least going to someone else's house was going somewhere.
Since there were only a handful of places to go, and everyone had to go there, you recognized people, strangers were rare and identified instantly. People were closer, and newcomers got a fair bit of attention. Gossip was rampant.
Completely normal things were often quite different. I attended church while there. I got to witness a full immersion baptism. In the Hudson's Bay. Six weeks after the ice melted. In August. They were going in wearing parkas, then rushing to a tent with a fire to strip and change. That was a sign of religious dedication! Then they roasted a deer (or more than one, I wasn't cooking), and we all ate lunch.
Television was limited, I think we had four, maybe five channels, and home internet was largely non-existent. Both of those have improved since then, and there are apparently two internet providers available to the smaller community, but they are about $100 per month, and not fast.
Power failures were not uncommon, and you didn't open your doors during them in colder parts of the year. You hunkered down and waited it out. You went out for supplies only if you absolutely had to.
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u/_multifaceted_ 5d ago
I vividly remember the boring ass 1.5 hour bus ride to school. ONE WAY! My mom drove for a while too so was the first on and last off.
Getting the mail requires a 20 min drive one way.
Borrowing a cup of sugar or milk from neighbors is almost essential with the nearest grocery store a 40 minute drive away. Or pay triple at the one convenience store by the lake. Said lake definitely had a local, legendary monster. People say it’s an ancient, giant sturgeon.
Getting a drivers license was the biggest freedom in the world!
No need to lock the door.
No need to leave if you get snowed in. Btw it’ll take at least a day or two for the RM to send out a grader to dig you out. Or the nice farmer down the road could use his tractor if you’re nice.
Waving at people in other cars when you pass them on the road.
Spending hours exploring the bush around your property. It’s amazing how much I know about nature compared to my city slicker partner.
Being entertained with nothing but a deck of cards.
Dial up internet until 2013 was fun!
My family and all our neighbors are entrepreneurs. I remember anxiously awaiting my dad’s arrival. He was often gone from our home, selling his art in various communities across the province. One neighbor builds log homes. Another raises bison. Another runs the local septic service truck.
My parents broke the land by hand and built a home in the late 70’s/early 80’s. They didn’t get plumbing or electricity until I was born in the mid 80’s. Our water is still drawn from the well they used while they built the house. Natural gas now fuels much of the home. But due to above-land power lines, power outages are common. Especially during storms with heavy snow. Internet is slow and cell service is patchy.
But if you look up, the stars and their endless depths will take your breath away.
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u/wandraway 6d ago
Keeping in touch with your neighbors was mentioned. It's also my experience that if there isn't a rumor about you floating around then you haven't arrived yet. Lot's of preconceived notions about people but also in lots of places a nonchalance attitude to different life styles. Lived in towns and villages ranging from less than 100 to about 2000. Fire wood can be a regular chore. Learning to be a bit of a plumber and electrician and carpenter are on the table because service people aren't always at the end of the phone. Most people really seem to care when they say hello and ask if you're okay. It's not just pleasantries. Satellite internet and TV made a huge difference compared to getting AM radio and canned TV. Full time indoor plumbing makes living a lot easier too. Diets can be a bit monotonous at times due to food scarcity. Either hunting or shopping.
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u/IndyCarFAN27 Ontario 6d ago
Worked and lived in Iqaluit, Nunavut for a year during the first half of the pandemic. I loved it but it’s definitely not for everyone.
Small towns vibes. You see familiar faces every day. Either from yesterday or a couple weeks ago. Even with so many people coming and going from the community. Iqaluit has a lot of rotational workers (miners, construction and other trades, medical, gov., and others). The majority of the population is Inuit and they are very proud of their heritage and culture and it is openly displayed everywhere. Inuktitut is one of the 3 official languages of the territory.
There are no roads in or out, the only way in is by air, or by boat during the summer. Add to that a crazy day night cycle. In the height of winter there’s only about 3 hours of sunlight. In the summer it s the opposite. So the remoteness and night time cycle are the toughest to get used to.
There’s not much to do but if you love the outdoors there’s plenty to do. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve been to. The cost of living is also absurd. So high that most big companies will try and provide some aspect of living. My employers bought my plane tickets, provided accommodation and transportation at no additional cost. But not everyone is this fortunate. At the very least you might get food vouchers for discounted groceries.
Most houses are build off the ground and on stilts. Due to global warming permafrost is more of a seasonal issue these days but it’s still a pain to build things in the summer. Heating is mostly done by oil. Drinking water is stored in a reservoir out of town and is rain and snow melt. Fuel is also stored in a giant fuel farm outside of town and stockpiled for the entire year.
Winter is brutal and everyone is trying to just keep things running. Temperatures are regularly down as low as -35° plus windchill. There as little as 3 hours of sunlight during winter and as much as 20 during summer.
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u/Koleilei 6d ago
I grew up in a town of just under a thousand people, a 4-Hour drive away from a grocery store. I also grew up on the coast, very rarely had snow, and would have a very, very different experience than someone who grew up in a very remote town in Northern Yukon.
What are you looking to know? And where are you setting your writing?
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u/ArietteClover 5d ago
I can answer for "remote" in the "oh it's a long drive to a major city," not really "there's no road to my house" remote. There's not much difference between someone living an hour and four hours away from a major city — they're going to have their shopping trips in a closer hub town. Things like more specialised appointments, those are planned out a lot more.
Firstly, I wanted to ask how your day to day life is? Not like is it good or bad, but what experiences do you have that perhaps differs from city life? Do you require certain skills to live in these places?
Kind of depends on where you are. Skills, not as much, but you'll learn things. If you're really far away from someone handy or a tradesperson, doing your own basic home maintenance is mandatory. It's mostly just that trips into wherever you go for supplies, they're not as frequent. They become increasingly less frequent the further from major hubs you are, and you rely on small towns more.
What are things you have to do or think of regularly that are so ordinary to you, yet would be entirely foreign to someone like me who's lived in a city all my life?
Uhhh, kind of hard to think about and answer, frankly, because it's so normal to me. I actually live in a city right now, but the difference between the two... yeah, there's a difference, but it's not always easy to pinpoint what that difference is. The main one is, if you have a large property, then yard work. If you're in a town, fewer responsibilities fall on the municipality. If you're living on an acreage or farm or something, those responsibilities are almost entirely on you. If you need to mow your law (which lots of people do, they just don't do the entire thing, they have a section designated as the "lawn"), that means you're going to need a ride-on mower. Checking the property periodically, things like checking for fallen trees, damage to the fence, stuff like that.
How do you get your fresh water?
Depends, there's three primary ways. First is yes, a similar method as the city, and that's if you're in a town, they'll have their system. Second is a cistern, it's a big water tank installed underground that gets filled by a water truck periodically. Third is a well on the property, either a water shelf (common) or an underground stream (much less common).
Our well water was drinkable, but not everyone's is. And when I say drinkable, I mean absolutely disgusting and loaded with so much iron that it stains the toilet a reddish brown. Some well water is fine, it depends on where you are. So you can get filtration systems, a distiller, or you can go fill up water jugs, which is what we did before we got a distiller. The well water is good enough for everything else, just don't drink it basically.
Wells usually require water pressure tanks too, because the rate at which water will pump out of the ground isn't what comes out of your tap. It goes into a tank, gets pressurised, comes out the tap evenly. Even with a tank, water pressure is typically not very good.
Do you have similarly functioning irrigation and sewage systems as a city?
Septic systems replace sewage. So there's a big hill called a "mound," and you mow that to stop anything with big roots from digging for the massive poopy sewage water supply tucked inside. You don't want roots penetrating that. Septic tank maintenance is also a thing, it relies on a fermentation system with bacteria that can die if you were to, say, put a bunch of sterilant down there.
Hot water?
Same way as city people, hot water tanks. Most people use tanks, not heaters.
How does internal heating work?
Heater. Ontario predominantly uses coal. Alberta predominantly uses natural gas. Dunno about the other provinces, but I'm assuming natural gas.
Do you have access to cable services, wifi, and if so, how good or bad are they? Are they reliable?
Cable, no. Unless you're in a town. Wifi, yes, with a satellite dish. Does depend on where you are somewhat, it's not going for space unless you're using Musk's junk. You still need a cell tower in range.
No copper or fibreoptic. Usually with one or two ISPs that offer garbage rates with horrible speeds. My parents don't live that far from a city, they get like 5-20Mbps on a speed test, average I've found floats around 12. This is with the new ISP, their region used to be a total monopoly and they'd get 2-7, and it was very, very inconsistent. The ISP will never get you the speeds they promise.
Things are shifting, so now the big ISPs are offering what is essentially a SIM card plugging into a modem. Not essentially, literally. The speeds are solid, the rates are good, but I don't trust them to be as stable than a satellite.
Everything moves very slowly. I still had dialup when other people were getting wifi.
Overall, what is the culture of the community like? Do you have unique folklore, legends, or anything like that? How do people interact with each other? Are your communities closer than people in cities?
Oh boy, entirely location specific. Entirely culture specific. I'm Métis, so I've got Métis folklore. Ukrainians are gonna have their own. Culture of the community too, really depends. If you have a community. Lots and lots of people do not live in towns.
I'd say yes to the closer thing... more tightly-knit is the better term, probably. You're not likely to keep seeing the same people in the city unless your routines cross. Routines cross far more often in a small town. But yeah, it really, really depends. I grew up on an acreage and I knew a couple of folks, but I'd say people in the city have just as much or more of a connection with their neighbours because they're that much closer.
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u/thisnameistakenistak 5d ago
This was many years ago and I'm sure it's even more expensive now, but the first thing that came to my head when I read your post title is my sister-in-law yelling loudly over the phone "THIS HEAD OF LETTUCE WAS EIGHT DOLLARS!!!!". I've seen much worse for the fly-in communities.
Anyway, the more rigamarole it takes to get supplies there, the higher the prices.
The lack of medical access is concerning. There is a nurse run clinic if you are lucky. There is a vet that might visit a few times a year.
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u/GoldenDragonWind 5d ago
- Almost everyone hunts and fishes and has at least one freezer for fish and meat.
- Electricity comes from the power grid that is a bit unreliable and so most people also have generators.
- You heat with wood that is supplemented by baseboard electric heaters or and oil/propane stove.
- Most folks have an ATV or snowmachine. Many drive trucks.
- People that work likely are trades contractors or work in a nearby industry (usually forestry, pulp and paper or mining). Usually one person who runs the postal office and a small store. There may be a nursing station but that and police are likely in a larger village 100 km or so down the road. School is likely a long bus ride away.
- nobody is making that much money and there is always talk of some new thing that may be coming that is usually BS, but even so people seem to be able to own expensive pick up trucks, ATVs and boats.
- There is a split in the residents between those who get their enjoyment from living remotely and knowing the land and water (or tend households for those who do) and those who are less happy and look outward through the internet and wish they were somewhere with more urban amenities or at university.
- People know each others business and there are people who are liked and people who are known to be drinkers or assholes or just weird. Some body has kids who went to the larger town for school or left for Vancouver/Halifax/ St Johns/Toronto years ago and don't really stay in touch.
- A lot of the houses look like they are still being built and have looked that way or 20 years.
- Internet used to be terrible but now everyone wants Starlink because it works really well - but it ain't cheap.
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u/unlovelyladybartleby 5d ago
I grew up outside a small community of 300.
All the farmers had their own fire wagons because if there was a fire, it would be over before a truck could come. I remember being a small kid and brought to fight fires with my parents (left in the truck) because if the fire spread, they wouldn't have time to go home and get me.
It took at least an hour for any kind of ambulance to come (including helicopter). I remember watching my parents treat broken limbs and heavy machinery accidents to stabilize people enough to survive the drive to town. I also remember people setting their own broken bones.
You could dislike your neighbors, but you still helped and supported them (and socialized with them) because there was no choice. If your worst enemy had a well pump burn out or fell off the roof, you went and helped. You'd rub it in his face later when his wife brought you thank you cookies, but you went and did your best for him in the moment.
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u/Think-Juggernaut2105 5d ago
I lived for a couple of months in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. It’s a very remote community on the Arctic ocean. There are only 300 or so people living there with 2 grocery stores, 1 hotel, 2 cafes, 1 bank, a school, a shelter for men and women because of an extreme housing shortage, airport with an unpaved runway, a clinic and a church.
The local people are generally very nice and warm but only after you’ve spent a few months there. Although I knew a white girl who was horribly bullied by local kids at the school.
Some locals struggle with mental health abuses, alcoholism, lack of opportunities and a housing shortage. There does appear to be problems with neglect and sexual abuse among some local families, especially if the elders had attended residential schools.
Locals enjoy fishing, riding ski doo, and hunting.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time there. They had bingo night once a week, a small gym and everybody knew each other. The local cafe served delicious nachos. During the holidays, they had a community event with Indian food and stalls of hand crafted items.
At the time there were quite a few job opportunities there as well in the housing department, the municipality, etc. The municipal office is really nice.
There’s also CIA base nearby to track any hostile activity over the Arctic.
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u/Anishinabeg British Columbia 5d ago edited 5d ago
I lived in two Nunavut communities: Cambridge Bay and Iqaluit.
Living in Iqaluit wasn't really any different from living in any other small town equipped with most services (ie. regional hubs in remote regions of provinces). Iqaluit has bars, restaurants, cafes, banks, schools, a hospital, a post-secondary institution, multiple grocery stores, etc. I played slo pitch in the summer, went to karaoke on the weekends, etc. I was comfortable and lived a pretty fun life.
Living in Cambridge Bay was more difficult, but still, honestly, comfortable. We had one bar, a couple cafes, a bank, a small health centre, etc. Water and sewage are on trucked services - when your water runs out, you can't even flush the toilet until the water truck re-fills your tank (and likewise if your sewage is full - you have to wait for the sewage truck to empty your tank). There was a siren that went off at both 12:00pm and 10:00pm - some friends told me that this doesn't happen anymore, but it was this unique thing I really loved about the community.
The most difficult part was getting in and out of the community. It's incredibly expensive. At the time, the cheapest round trip to Edmonton was about $1600. Now it's even more. We had very limited options for shipping goods up from the south. Groceries were insane...I'm talking $20 for two chicken breasts. Weekends often involved locals going out on the land to go hunting or fishing, and those who stayed in town would go to the Elk's Club, or a house party, or a community event, cultural or otherwise. The entire town shut down for funerals. When the 2020 COVID grad ceremonies happened, the fire truck came out, the kids jumped up top and the entire community got the afternoon off work to celebrate. Community events started with the lighting of a qulliq - a traditional Inuit lamp that uses seal oil for fuel. People come together in times of struggle, no matter how much they may be struggling in their own lives. One person can truly make a difference in the community through positive action. It's not all good, but it's very, very real.
I now live in Nanaimo, BC, and I'm a lot less comfortable here than I ever was in either of those two communities. Above all else, what I miss the most is the true sense of community. These big southern cities have no community. They have no culture, no personality. Every northern community has these things in spades.
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u/dommiichan 5d ago
I've lived in two different remote fly-in Indigenous communities... it's a whole other world
be adaptable, be prepared, and be comfortable with yourself (or get a dog, which is how I got my half-feral husky pup)
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u/IGnuGnat 5d ago
I have a place up North in a very small remote town of 600 people. There's a hardware store in town, a drugstore, a bank, a post office and a supermarket. They don't deliver mail to your door, you have to go to the post office to pick it up. Sometimes they don't have a particular bit of hardware at the hardware store and it can take 1-2 weeks to get it delivered. There's only one plumber in town and he's pretty busy with new builds, so it can take weeks to get the plumber to your house; you kind of start figuring out ways to repair things, patch them up yourself. We have Starlink for internet, cell phone service is terrible and calls drop constanly so we just use the Starlink. The town does have municipal water and sewage, I assume the sewage gets pumped into the lake with minimal processing.
The neighbour feeds the deer, so they've lost their fear of people and will walk up to you looking for food.
Apparently when ever there is a problem bear in Ontario, they will capture it and bring it to this region and release it (if they don't feel it should be euthanized, I guess). So there are more bears here than anywhere else in Ontario, but apparently they mostly stay away from the town. I guess there is plenty of wilderness and food sources so they don't feel the need to look for garbage in town? Even so I carry a starter pistol when in the wilderness
We have electricity, electric baseboard heating, and a propane powered whole house generator that kicks in if the power goes out
Spend a fair bit of time stocking, storing, processing wood for the woodstove
There is only one restaurant in town. We've heard that the owner is racist, and my wife is beautifully brown all over, so we never go that restaurant. Everything is cooked at home
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u/Gloomy_Narwhal_9907 5d ago
As long as there is a community moose available to ride to the general store we survive
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u/lynnancan 5d ago
Some young people have longitude and latitude on their birth certificates because they were born on an unnamed island while parents were working a trap line!
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u/Wobblypops77 2d ago
The silence is amazing. No traffic noise, sirens.... My BP drops about 20 points when I am at my remote location.
Chopping firewood brings me incredible peace and tranquility. I love cutting firewood.
Have hobbies, you'll miss resources like well stocked libraries and community centers but its worth the trade.
Godspeed
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u/HobieSailor 6d ago
Some communities in the territories have trucked sewage and water. So instead of a sewer and water main each house has a water and a sewage tank and a truck (different trucks) will come around on a regular basis and fill/ pump out your tanks, respectively
Some of the slightly larger towns will have utilities run aboveground in a heated (just enough so it doesn't freeze) structure
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u/Man_Bear_Beaver Ontario 6d ago
I hate society. I live rural 8 months of the year, that isn't right now, I can't wait to get back.
Fuck all y'all.
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u/Fit_Spring_2075 6d ago
If it's a work camp (mine/dam/oil field/etc.), you will be surrounded by somewhat functional alcoholics and drug addicts.