What it was like living in Yellowknife

I moved to Yellowknife on Nov. 13, 2018. I moved out of the city — and the Northwest Territories altogether — on July 2, 2019, so I lived there for a little more than seven and a half months. At the moment, I live in Iqaluit.

Before I moved to Yellowknife, I lived in Halifax. I worked as a video journalist (VJ) there for more than three years. I moved to Yellowknife to do the same job but for a different news network.

I’ve wanted to work as a VJ in the North, which is defined in this context as the northern part of Canada (not just the one territory), for years. Once, while working as an editorial assistant in Toronto, a news host told me about her adventures reporting in Iqaluit. I was enamoured of what I heard, and those stories stayed with me. I was interested in learning more about Indigenous governments, histories, life in the North, and other things.

I didn’t have a ton of notice for the new job, so it was a bit of a mad dash to get everything sorted out in time, but it was worth it to fulfill this goal. My time in Yellowknife provided valuable insight into life in this region of the country.

 

The move

I moved to Yellowknife by myself. I’ve had to do similar big moves over the past few years, specifically the kind in which I move somewhere I’ve never visited. That happened when I moved to Regina, Halifax, Whitehorse (in 2019), and, most recently, Iqaluit.

So I’ve become relatively skilled at moving to new places, at least in Canada. Still, this move was one of the most draining in many respects. I didn’t have any friends in the territory, and I had to learn a lot on my own.

First, I drove from Halifax to my original hometown, Toronto, to take a care of a few things. That included buying some hardier winter attire for life in the North — about $300 in total.

I still find it weird that I have to wear sunglasses after 9:40 p.m. #Yellowknife pic.twitter.com/cgiLYPFfEN

— Steve Silva (@SteveCSilva) May 5, 2019

Because time wasn’t on my side, I paid a company to transport my car to Yellowknife (normally, I would have driven it myself). It was dropped off at the company’s terminal in Milton, Ont., on Nov. 29, 2018. The car arrived in Yellowknife on Dec. 18. That cost a total of $2,850.

That was a hard bill to pay. However, considering the costs of gas, accommodations, wear and tear on the car, five (or so) days I would have had to spend driving 4,800 kilometres instead of earning money by working, among other things, there was some financial justification for the cost… at least, that’s what I tell myself.

Part of me was tempted to save some money by shipping the car to Edmonton, then driving it to Yellowknife, but that, too, didn’t appear to be worthwhile. It wasn’t helpful that the company, as was the case with other transportation companies I considered, didn’t allow me to load my car with personal items.

Due to the many things I had to sort out, I only felt comfortable booking the flight from Toronto to Yellowknife the day before the journey. The cheapest flight I could find cost $661.19 in total. I fit the important things into a couple of carry-ons and one checked bag. The latter cost $33.90 in total. In hindsight, I should have checked in another bag. The extra charge would have been worth it compared to having to rebuy the things I didn’t take or having items I needed shipped to me later on.

It’s worth noting that I was able to claim many moving expenses when tax time arrived (Line 21900).

According to Environment Canada, it was –21 C (with wind chill) in Yellowknife when my plane landed. Having lived through two winters in Regina, I was prepared, but stepping off the plane and then feeling that cold air fill my lungs at around 10 p.m. was quite the welcome.

I was here.

 

Finding a place

Being temporarily carless made finding a place to live in Yellowknife a little more laborious than I desired, though my experiences using taxis and public transit in the city were mostly fine. The highlight, perhaps, was getting to ride on a Yellowknife Transit bus that felt more like a school bus.

Fitting, I guess, given how new I was to the city.

For apartment leads, I searched through websites that host classified ads. I also asked pretty much everyone I came across. In hindsight, it would have probably been a more fruitful experience had I checked out bulletin boards at grocery stores, asked colleagues I was about to meet, and looked around on Facebook.

Eventually, I found a one-bedroom unit in a downtown condo building through the website of a property management company. I signed the lease for it on my third full day in the city. It cost $2,000 a month. That price did not include internet, electricity, or parking, and it was more than double what I paid in Halifax for a one-bedroom unit.

(I’m still not on speaking terms with my savings account.)

The apartment was downtown, so I could walk to a lot of places instead of using public transit or my car. It had a gym inside, so I didn’t need to buy a membership. Heating and water was included in the rent.

One of the biggest draws for me was that it was furnished. I was able to switch to a month-to-month lease after only a few months of living there, and that flexibility was especially important to me.

The biggest selling point: It was one of the few apartments available at the time. I did not have much of a choice.

The North is well-known for having some of the highest rents in Canada, by the way.

 

Internet, food, other costs

It’s hard to think of anything that didn’t cost more in Yellowknife. In Halifax, for an unlimited home internet plan, for example, I paid $110 a month, including tax. In Yellowknife, for a plan with a limit of 500 GB a month, I paid $240, before tax.

Yellowknife didn’t have all of the stores and restaurants I was accustomed to in cities in the South. A few items I considered buying online had shipping charges that cost almost as much as the items themselves, so I had to spend more time shopping around.

Compared to the cities I’ve lived in in southern Canada, groceries were more expensive in Yellowknife but not drastically so, at least for many of the things that I bought. The extreme prices are generally found in more remote communities (yes, it does get more remote than Yellowknife).

I found everything I needed in local grocery stores for most meals I made. It was sometimes challenging to find certain fruits and vegetables that were still fresh. Every now and then, I came across rotting food in grocery stores.

Something I find interesting is how many people in Yellowknife are infatuated with Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). There used to be one in the city, but it closed down before I moved there. I heard stories of people going out of their way to offer KFC food at wedding receptions. A local bar auctioned off a bucket of KFC chicken at least once. After I moved to Whitehorse, a city that does have a KFC, a former colleague from Yellowknife asked if I could buy some chicken and then deliver it to the Whitehorse airport, where their partner was waiting for a connecting flight.

The restaurant returned to Yellowknife in 2021.

 

Weather

It’s often the first thing people ask me regarding living in Yellowknife: “What’s the weather like?”

Yes, it can get incredibly cold, and that cannot be underestimated. That said, in Yellowknife, well, it is what is. I would sometimes walk to and from work in –40 C (with wind chill) and even colder temperatures, but I adapted. I added and removed layers when needed, and I also avoided letting the wind hit my face.

It can get tricky if you have to work outside, which I had to at times, but the beauty of the cold is if you get too hot, you remove a layer or two and move on. When it was –25 C or warmer, it was a relative cakewalk. Colder temperatures required a bit more preparation.

I'm not sure why I don't walk into more things. pic.twitter.com/EQp97Gk1Nc

— Steve Silva (@SteveCSilva) January 19, 2019

The sidewalks weren’t always cleared of snow right away, and there were many areas where snow and ice were packed down for most of the winter (i.e., not fully cleared, just a long-lasting layer). Still, downtown Yellowknife was relatively walkable for me most of the time.

There was snowfall at the end of May when I lived in the city.

Something I find quaint is the way people in the city refer to temperatures during the winter. A colleague once told me something along the lines of: “Wow, it’s going to be 12 on the weekend.” 

“Huh?” I thought, remembering that the weather forecast definitely predicted otherwise.

Turned out that “12” in this context meant “–12 C.” It’s so consistently cold in the winter, the “minus” part is implicit.

Also, the colleague’s “wow” was an impressed “wow” because a weekend of –12 C is practically tropical for winter in Yellowknife.

 

Lots of darkness, lots of sunlight

What I found to be one of the bigger issues for people, namely those who’ve lived there for years and learned how to handle the cold, is the lack of sunlight during the winter.

For quite a while in the season, I was arriving at work in darkness and leaving in darkness, too. People say it takes a toll, though it wasn’t much of problem for me.

The sun visible from #Yellowknife at 11:31 p.m. #SummerSolstice pic.twitter.com/XWCZyCyo9S

— Steve Silva (@SteveCSilva) June 22, 2019

It’s worth noting that I tolerate long periods of cold temperatures and darkness probably better than anyone I know.

In the summer, there’s the opposite situation. For a while, the sun is still up after 11 p.m.

Many people told me that there’s this sort of collective high spirit in the summer, and I definitely got that sense when the season arrived.

Tired of an intensely cold, dark period, people want to take advantage of the sunlight and the warmth as much as they can. People go hiking and swimming at late hours. I saw lots of kids and families walking around past 10 p.m. It felt like a different city.

All that sunlight can make it hard to sleep; blackout blinds and curtains are a worthwhile investment.

 

The northern lights

You probably don’t want any curtains for this kind of illumination.

The northern lights are remarkable.

I think the first four or five times I went out to try to see them, I saw either nothing or not much. Often that was because of cloud cover.

Other times, I was just awestruck.

In person, they usually weren’t as bright as I thought they would be (people, including yours truly, definitely tweak their photos contrast-wise), but they were still quite the sight.

I remember one night when the northern lights appeared to take over the entire sky, not just parts of it. Their colours, swirls, and movement — people say they “dance” — made for one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

It's a busy night. #NorthernLights pic.twitter.com/5mjK8ophut

— Steve Silva (@SteveCSilva) March 2, 2019

It’s easy to understand why so many people from other countries come to see them in the territory. There were many tourists from China, especially, I found. Some stores had signs written in Mandarin.

I saw the lights regularly while in downtown Yellowknife, though they were much easier to see away from the city lights; a 10-minute drive east on the Ingraham Trail (a highway also known as Highway 4) did the trick.

It’s worth noting that many consider the warmer months to be the low season for seeing the northern lights, especially because they’re harder to distinguish amid sunlight.

 

Things to do

Yellowknife has the usual events, including a Santa Claus parade, fireworks to celebrate the new year, and Canada Day events.

For me, the Festival on Franklin was notable because of how many people showed up, the variety of food offered by vendors, and the atmosphere.

There are a lot of outdoor activities. The annual Snowking’s Winter Festival, which includes a snow castle built on Yellowknife Bay, was quite the sight. The castle had a slide, live music, and other things to check out.

Cross-country skiing, skiing, and snowboarding are quite popular.

The Yellowknife Ice Caves were a little hard to find but neat to check out.

The ice road between Detah and Yellowknife is another major draw.

In the summer, a lot of people go camping, fishing, hiking, and swimming.

Along the Ingraham Trail, there are several places to hike. Be aware that there are wolves and bears in the area; prepare accordingly.

The mosquitoes were as intense as people warned me about.

For many, a visit to the Bristol Freighter monument is a must.

I can’t forget to mention a certain road with a well-loved name.

Capital Theatre is the only movie theatre I’m aware of existing in Yellowknife. It was cash-only when I was there. There was something quaint about it and its small arcade. Coincidentally, I got my first Viola Desmond $10 bill there.

I enjoyed exploring Yellowknife’s Old Town because the designs of the homes are interesting.

As an aside, lots of homes in the North are interesting. Construction materials — well, again, basically everything — cost a lot to transport to the region, so people repurpose a lot of things.

 

Driving in Yellowknife

The main drag of the city (Franklin Avenue) has lights that turn green in sequence, which got me across downtown pretty quickly by car. The lights change fairly often, so I knew that I could always cross soon (no need to push the button). I didn’t have many close-calls with cars, unlike in Whitehorse’s downtown (one of the most obvious differences I noticed when I moved).

It took me a little while to get used to the speed limits on many roads in Yellowknife. The limits are noticeably lower than those in other cities I’ve lived in.

Driving in the winter was fairly standard. The roads did develop ruts at times, which made journeys a bit bumpy. The ruts kind of acted like train tracks that made driving tricky at times.

A section of Highway 3 near Yellowknife was particularly wavy in some parts.

There are many foxes in the city, and they are well-known jaywalkers.

Yellowknife is relatively contained and, for me, living downtown, I could drive to most places in the city within about 15 minutes.

Oh, and did I mention that the Northwest Territories license plates are shaped like a polar bear?

 

A few weeks in Hay River

I filled in for a colleague in Hay River, a town near the south end of Great Slave Lake, for about three weeks. From Yellowknife, it’s about a five-hour drive.

According to the Government of the Northwest Territories, the town has a population of 3,793, as of 2020. Yellowknife has 21,372.

The home I stayed in was right next to the town’s eponymous river. I think this was the first time I’ve ever lived in a home that had to have water trucked in (it was not connected to a water main). That was an interesting experience.

Across the river is the Hay River Reserve, home to K’atl’odeeche First Nation. For part of the year, there’s an ice road that connects the community to Hay River. It was fun getting to explore the reserve through my job, and the residents were so welcoming and helpful.

I found groceries to be more expensive in Hay River than in Yellowknife.

I enjoyed walking around downtown discovering businesses and getting to chat with different people.

Alexandra Falls, about a 30-minute drive away, was a nice place to unwind for a while.

 

Things to keep in mind

If you’re thinking of moving to Yellowknife, here are a few things you may want to think about.

If the numbers I provided earlier in this post didn’t make it clear enough, living in Yellowknife can be quite expensive. Ditto moving: With flights, the cost of transporting my car, a security deposit, and other things, I spent thousands of dollars.

One last trip on the ice road (Wednesday). #Yellowknife pic.twitter.com/YziR9v66nS

— Steve Silva (@SteveCSilva) April 12, 2019

Yellowknife is one of the coldest cities on the planet, but the temperature doesn’t need to control your life. Just prepare. Layer up. If you have a car, find out what a block heater is. There is a lot of fun to have in the winter, too. Having an open mind will help a lot.

For many people, Yellowknife is a difficult a place to live in. It’s relatively isolated, and the climate can play with your mind. There are many people willing to help. People take pride in being a northerner, and there’s a kind of collective understanding of the challenges of living in the North.

 

Conclusion

Yellowknife doesn’t have some of the extreme challenges associated with life in the North, at least not ones on the same level elsewhere. I mean, it’s not a fly-in community with no hospital for hundreds of kilometres. There is, relatively speaking, a lot of access to the basics found in the South.

Still, it provides a good taste of what life is like in the region. Having lived in all three of Canada’s territories, I think the Northwest Territories feels like a mix of Nunavut and Yukon. I feel privileged to have been a Northwest Territorian (I go with that demonym anyway). My job allowed me to meet a lot of people, including many from elsewhere in the territory. I learned a lot, and I left accomplishing most of what I wanted.