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I guess this could be similar to https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3909912&perpage=40 but since it’s Arctic Canada, I guess I’ll make my own thread. Me and my family moved to Arctic Quebec last week and we’re currently adjusting. Working in a small grocery store. Multiple people have requested this as I began to prepare for the move. So, if I can answer, I’ll answer.  Thanks!
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Jan 12, 2020 00:48
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What inspired your family to make this move? Are you coming from a similar region, or is this a complete culture shock?
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Jan 12, 2020 06:12
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Liar posted:What inspired your family to make this move? Are you coming from a similar region, or is this a complete culture shock? Work, honestly. We’re from Northern Ontario, so we’re already used to the cold. The prices and lack of roads out are something we have to adjust to. I’ve only been here for a few days but we’ve already spent $500 on groceries and our fridge and cabinets are still bare. The reserve dogs are also something I need to get used to. A lot of strays. They seem friendly and one escorts us home after we finish work. Local help is in decline, so makes for a bigger workload.
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Jan 12, 2020 06:57
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Is your family the owner/proprietor of the shop or are you just employees there? Did you have any cultural ties to the people who live on this reserve before you moved there?
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Jan 13, 2020 07:58
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What is Tinder like up there?
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Jan 13, 2020 14:30
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greazeball posted:Is your family the owner/proprietor of the shop or are you just employees there? No. It’s a Northern Store, one of the only chains up here. I’m a manager of the deli / hot foods program and my wife is a supervisor for their Quick Service Tim Hortons. The closest cultural tie to the community is one of my daughters is a statused Indian, so again, not really. MOVIE MAJICK posted:What is Tinder like up there? Dryer than my sense of humour.
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Jan 13, 2020 18:53
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Is it fly-in/fly-out or seasonally accessible by road/train or what? How short are the days right now? Being in Quebec, is French the primary language day-to-day?
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Jan 14, 2020 04:35
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PT6A posted:Is it fly-in/fly-out or seasonally accessible by road/train or what? It’s fly-in only. No ice roads, trains. We get shipments via sealift, though, during the summer. Sun is usually up around 9am, pitch black by 4:15pm. We’re not deep Arctic. And only the French workers and miners really speak French. A lot of Inuktitut, a little Cree, and a lot of English. Some of the gentlemen speak bad french to my wife to flirt, lol.
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Jan 14, 2020 05:12
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What's the draw for anyone to live there?
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Jan 14, 2020 08:36
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What do you guys like to do to kill time? I hope it's not drinking.
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Jan 14, 2020 12:02
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Liar posted:What's the draw for anyone to live there? For us, it's the free rent / utilities / phone while we work. Makes it easy to save for a house. Coworker of ours is saving up for an expensive school. Some are saving into their fifties so that they don't need to work ever again. Kritzkrieg Kop posted:What do you guys like to do to kill time? I hope it's not drinking. Before we left, I downloaded a poo poo-ton of weird Japanese games (Yakuza series, Judgement, Fist of the North Star) and I have quite a number of books in my collection left to read. Aside from that, we cook and play with our child. This summer, we're thinking of going kayaking and seeing the beluga whales. Maybe hiking. Might buy a 4-wheeler and see what's out there. We don't really drink. We like our edibles. Hitting the local bar here is asking for trouble.
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Jan 14, 2020 14:18
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virinvictus posted:
Why's that?
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Jan 18, 2020 00:49
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mariooncrack posted:Why's that? Arctic prices tend to make people pretty angry.
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Jan 23, 2020 05:20
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Also in any sufficiently small town I've seen in Canada, there's at least one person whose personal hobby is to get drunk and start fights at the local. I assume that's a risk too.
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Jan 23, 2020 15:46
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Which reserve? I used to live in Ouje-Bougoumou. It kind of turned bad for the people that stayed that I went to school with. I think that from all the people I went to school with, only one finished and got her high school certificate.
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Jan 28, 2020 05:46
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Odddzy posted:Which reserve? I used to live in Ouje-Bougoumou. It kind of turned bad for the people that stayed that I went to school with. I think that from all the people I went to school with, only one finished and got her high school certificate. Whapmagoostui. Seems to be a hub for even more Northern communities. I’m told that my area is one of the nicer ones.
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Jan 28, 2020 06:41
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Will you be eating seal and/or whale?
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Jan 28, 2020 10:44
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Beachcomber posted:Will you be eating seal and/or whale? Only if someone offers it to me. I’ve heard neither are pleasant if you’re not used to it.
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Jan 28, 2020 12:41
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Thread is making me somewhat homesick, I spent my teenaged years in Iqaluit. Best part of the world, for my money. Nearly 15 years ago now. What's the internet like these days? I've heard streaming still hasn't made it up there (if it ever will). January is a harsh month to go up there too, everyone relies on sealift non-perishable and supplements their diets with north mart stuff - bloody expensive otherwise. I heartily suggest you find a hobby that gets you out of the house, ideally outside but definitely socializing. Isolation is a hell of a lot more dangerous than the cold.
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Jan 28, 2020 14:10
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CoolCab posted:Thread is making me somewhat homesick, I spent my teenaged years in Iqaluit. Best part of the world, for my money. Nearly 15 years ago now. I know Iqaluit had pretty decent cell / internet. A few of the people I trained with went there. Unfortunately, where I'm at high speed is between 1.5mb-5mb DL and no cell service. Streaming is bad, as expected. Can take over 10min to load a 5min youtube video depending on traffic. I've heard that Fibre optic cables might be built in within the next four or five years. I'm crossing my fingers. We're all looking forward to sealift season, lol. On the socializing front, I spend most of my time at work. Thankfully, I came with my family, so I don't feel too lonely. I know my wife does, though. She's very much family-oriented, whereas I spent my youth in foster homes. I'm acclimated to not having people around me. I downloaded the entire Yakuza series on my PS4 before we flew in and that's what I do in my spare time when my wife and child are busy.
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Jan 28, 2020 14:19
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Are you worried you're going to gently caress up your kid by doing this?
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Jan 29, 2020 06:02
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As a white kid that grew in a reserve, I will say that what was pretty hard was making friends, I found the older I got, the more the kids would become abusive and racist through learned attitutes by some of their parents and group mentality. Try and make sure your son has a few buddies and doesn't feel isolated from his friends in his age group.
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Jan 29, 2020 06:53
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Beachcomber posted:Are you worried you're going to gently caress up your kid by doing this? We have a two-to-five year plan out here. Kid is only 2. So I can't imagine much damage being done in that time. He's in an Inuit daycare right now and seems to be socializing well. Mind, the real question would be if he gets bullied in grade school.
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Jan 29, 2020 14:28
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Odddzy posted:As a white kid that grew in a reserve, I will say that what was pretty hard was making friends, I found the older I got, the more the kids would become abusive and racist through learned attitutes by some of their parents and group mentality. Try and make sure your son has a few buddies and doesn't feel isolated from his friends in his age group. Surprisingly, haven't seen any racism since I've been up here. From children to elders. Mind, I've heard rumours of kids throwing rocks at southerners windows during the summer. Like I said above, though, kids at the daycare here seem to accept him. And he's even learning to respond to some of the language around here, which is kinda cool.
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Jan 29, 2020 14:34
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virinvictus posted:Surprisingly, haven't seen any racism since I've been up here. From children to elders. Mind, I've heard rumours of kids throwing rocks at southerners windows during the summer. Like I said above, though, kids at the daycare here seem to accept him. And he's even learning to respond to some of the language around here, which is kinda cool. It got weird towards the end of grade school. It probably varies tremendously from place to place though. From what you've observed, have the older teenagers kept going to school?
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Jan 29, 2020 23:07
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What does a can of spam cost up there? Beef Jerky? Bag of chips? Bottle of Coke?
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Jan 29, 2020 23:19
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Odddzy posted:It got weird towards the end of grade school. It probably varies tremendously from place to place though. From what you've observed, have the older teenagers kept going to school? The ones I’ve met, yes. But they’re the children of prominent figures in the community. So, my experience is a bit biased.
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Jan 30, 2020 00:26
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coronavirus posted:What does a can of spam cost up there? Beef Jerky? Bag of chips? Bottle of Coke? Only Klik that I’ve seen, no Spam. It’s $6.99. Beef jerky is $8.99 for a small bag. A big bag of Ruffles is $7.99 each. Bottle of coke is $6.99, a can is $3.99. Edit: Corned beef hash from Puritan is HUGE up here, for hunting reasons, and a case of 16 is $20.
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Jan 30, 2020 00:27
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Holy poo poo Is there a soda black market? What other shops are in town? What shops are not in town? Please eat lots of beans and onions, op.
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Jan 30, 2020 00:43
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I feel like I'd want to bring some pineapples and blow some minds.
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Jan 30, 2020 06:49
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peanut posted:Holy poo poo There's a Northern store and a Co-Op and that's it for shopping. A small little restaurant and two bars. And that's pretty much it for food and drink. Two gyms in this area, one on the Inuit side and one on the Cree side. A swimming pool. Two police forces, two firehalls. The Northern store also acts as a Tim Hortons and KFC.
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Jan 30, 2020 14:19
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Beachcomber posted:I feel like I'd want to bring some pineapples and blow some minds. A lot of people around here seem to buy frozen pineapples for smoothies. Fresh produce is pretty limited, but pretty standard fare. No fancy or short-life vegetables.
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Jan 30, 2020 14:20
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Do people do a lot of online shopping (yes of course) and how long does it take for things to arrive? What is the local industry/business?
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Jan 30, 2020 14:39
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peanut posted:Do people do a lot of online shopping (yes of course) and how long does it take for things to arrive? I can only speak for myself. Pillow selection sucks up here, I like buckwheat pillows. So I bought a 15lb pillow off of amazon, a scale, and some index cards- total cost before shipping: $130. After: $250. This is with a prime account and these are prime items. Would have been free shipping before when I lived in Timmins. I ordered it two weeks ago and it’s probably arriving tomorrow. BUT, I’ve also ordered tea from a Montreal shop and it had a total shipping time of 3 days and should be here by Monday. So it really depends on the freight for the airplanes that fly here daily. If there’s room- they’ll ship. If not, they send it on the next flight that has room. Edit: Local business seems to be hunting / trapping. Quebec has a focus on infrastructure and the hydro and water treatment plants are also big money.
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Jan 30, 2020 15:19
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NOLINOR TO THE RESCUE
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Jan 30, 2020 23:26
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Beachcomber posted:Will you be eating seal and/or whale? When I was in the Canadian army I did some stuff in the arctic. We worked with rangers (not US-style special forces, more paramilitary guides/scouts) and got to go seal hunting with them. I ate a big handful of raw seal on the beach and then did a lot of pooping. A loooooooot of pooping.
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Jan 31, 2020 13:45
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virinvictus posted:Only Klik that I’ve seen, no Spam. It’s $6.99. If a can of coke is 3.99 , how do you have a night drinking of 10 jack and cokes? You just spend 100$ even if its in your house? Is it $300 at the bar? What does a combo cost at mcdonalds? 25 bucks?
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Feb 1, 2020 00:58
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coronavirus posted:If a can of coke is 3.99 , how do you have a night drinking of 10 jack and cokes? You just spend 100$ even if its in your house? Haven’t been to the bar. No McDonalds. Only a KFC and Tim Hortons and a local restaurant. Zinger sandwich without a combo is $16 at KFC. I spent $70 on two Zinger combos and a boneless box.
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Feb 1, 2020 04:04
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Lassitude posted:When I was in the Canadian army I did some stuff in the arctic. We worked with rangers (not US-style special forces, more paramilitary guides/scouts) and got to go seal hunting with them. I ate a big handful of raw seal on the beach and then did a lot of pooping. A loooooooot of pooping. So you're saying do not consume if seal is broken?
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Feb 1, 2020 08:14
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mother fu
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Feb 2, 2020 09:14
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