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GJOA HAVEN, NUNAVUT — In Canada’s most northerly territory, a set of Arctic greenhouses is growing more than just leafy greens.
Locals in Gjoa Haven hope that their new “grow pods” can be seeds for their children’s future.
The project, developed by the non-profit Arctic Research Foundation, has already produced food for the hamlet of about 1,000 people. Food scarcity plagues much of Nunavut where groceries can cost 10 times the national average. Job scarcity too compounds the problem in Nunavut, where the unemployment rate is the highest in the country at more than 14 per cent.
But areas of the northern territory, which has maintained a rich traditional culture, are embracing new technologies like the “grow pods.” The greenhouses are dubbed “Naurvik,” a word that means “continuous growing” in Inuktitut. They’re an investment in Gjoa Haven’s future.
One of the hopeful benefactors of that future is Dustin Atkichok, a 22-year-old local who helps operate the “power pod” that charges the greenhouses.
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