Sitting in Yummy Shawarma in Iqaluit, listening to Ice FM

The North is developing very quickly.

When I first came here the idea of a shawarma place would be laughable. No longer.

Making Nunavut a Territory gave it a self confidence it never had as just the eastern part of the NWT.

I see Iqaluit growing to 25,000 within a decade; the population is growing by leaps and bounds. The Territorial Government, and the population in general, is keen on development provided it benefits the local economy and respects the environment and traditions of Nunavut.

Nunavut has iron, diamonds, gold, fish (so much fish -- currently largely taken by Japan) and resources in abundance.

Now it certainly isn't perfect. Crime is astoundingly bad; I spoke to one lawyer who had twelve (yes 12) murders on the go right now. Prices are absurd -- shawarma plates that go for $6 in Toronto are over $20 here. And it is a wee bit cold in the winter.

And yet,,, there is potential here. Canada is a big big place -- it's more than the few hundred miles hugging the American border.