Remote Work from Nunavik in 2026: interview with an Inuit entrepreneur from Salluit on northern connectivity and working from home

Claire Beaumont: You’ve been managing a cooperative remotely from Salluit for six years. How would you describe your internet connection today, in 2026?

Elisapie Angutinngurniq: Honestly, it’s improved. But it’s all relative. Today I use both — Tamaani and Starlink. Tamaani is my base connection. It’s there, it’s cheaper, and for emails, small downloads, basic administrative tasks, it does the job. Starlink I use when I need to really work: video conference with my Montreal partners, updating our online shop, online training. The quality difference is spectacular. On Tamaani, a Zoom meeting with the camera on is often chaotic. On Starlink, it’s smooth.

Claire Beaumont: Tamaani versus Starlink — what does the difference look like day-to-day for your cooperative?

Elisapie Angutinngurniq: The main difference is latency. Tamaani goes through a satellite 36,000 km away. The signal takes 600 milliseconds round trip. On a video call, that means if I reply to someone, there’s a visible delay. Conversations get awkward, people accidentally interrupt each other. With Starlink, the satellite is 550 km away. Latency drops to 30 or 40 milliseconds. It’s invisible. For calls with my craft suppliers in Montreal or with tourism agencies in the south, Starlink changed everything. My partners don’t even know I’m calling from Salluit anymore. To them it’s a normal meeting.

Claire Beaumont: What does internet really cost in Salluit in 2026 — for a household and for your professional use?

Elisapie Angutinngurniq: For a residential household, Tamaani is around $150 to $200 a month depending on the plan. For my professional use, I have a business Tamaani plan — about $180 — plus Starlink at $160 a month, plus what I’ve amortized on the equipment. Roughly, I pay between $340 and $380 a month just for connectivity. In Montreal, my partners pay $60 for a gigabit. It’s a culture shock every time I think about it. But I don’t have a choice. That’s the cost of doing business from Salluit.

Claire Beaumont: Which applications or tools are particularly difficult to use with Salluit’s available connections?

Elisapie Angutinngurniq: Large file transfers are painful. Our cooperative produces craft items that I photograph in high resolution for our online catalogue. Uploading 30 RAW photos to our shared drive can take an hour on Tamaani. On Starlink, it’s ten minutes. Cloud software too — we use an online inventory management system, and when the connection is unstable, sessions expire and we lose data. I’ve learned to work offline as much as possible and sync during off-peak hours. And online training with Quebec participants — if everyone has their camera on, it struggles. I stopped turning mine on systematically. It’s a small thing, but it changes meeting dynamics.

Claire Beaumont: How do internet outages — storms, satellite failures — affect your professional activities?

Elisapie Angutinngurniq: Storms are a reality in Salluit. We’re in Hudson Strait. In winter, winds can hit 80, 100 km/h. A good storm, and the Tamaani antenna can be down for six to twelve hours. Starlink generally holds up better, but if snow builds up on the dish, it cuts out too. I’ve learned to anticipate. When a storm is forecast, I download everything I need — catalogues, documents to sign, order files. I notify clients and partners in advance. I’ve created an emergency response policy for my cooperative: if the network goes down for more than 4 hours, here’s who to contact, here are the backup procedures. That’s a level of preparation that southern entrepreneurs never have to think about.

Claire Beaumont: You encourage young people in your community to work online. What skills do they actually need, beyond the technical ones?

Elisapie Angutinngurniq: The technical skills are learned quickly. What’s harder is the mindset. Working remotely from a northern community requires a particular discipline — because you don’t have a physical office reminding you that you’re at work. You’re in your home in Salluit, with your family, the village’s activities, and at the same time you need to be available and professional for clients who are in an office in Montreal or Quebec City. It requires asynchronous communication skills — knowing how to write clear emails, manage a shared calendar, document your work. And a self-confidence that young Inuit don’t always have, because they haven’t always been told they can work for southern employers from home.

Claire Beaumont: Government programmes — Branché Québec, CRTC — do they actually change life in the villages?

Elisapie Angutinngurniq: Progressively, yes. Branché Québec improved the institutional connections at the school and municipal office in Salluit. The CRTC set minimum speed targets. But results take time to materialize. Government announcements and on-the-ground reality are not the same thing. You announce 2025 targets, and in 2026, some communities are still waiting. What really works is when the community itself takes charge of part of the infrastructure — like Akulivik with their micro-network project. Community solutions complement what the government can’t always do quickly.

Claire Beaumont: Has Starlink truly revolutionized remote work from northern villages, or is it overstated?

Elisapie Angutinngurniq: It’s a real revolution, but an incomplete one. For people who can afford $800 upfront plus $160 a month — yes, Starlink genuinely changed things. The performance difference from geostationary satellite is spectacular. But how many families in Salluit can afford that? Less than half, maybe. The real change will come when government subsidies let every household access Starlink or a LEO equivalent at an affordable residential rate — say $70 or $80 a month all-in. That, yes, would be a revolution for the entire community.

Claire Beaumont: Your vision for 2030 — what would it concretely take for Nunavik to be truly connected?

Elisapie Angutinngurniq: Three things. First, universal affordable access — every Nunavik household with access to quality LEO connectivity (Starlink, Telesat Lightspeed or equivalent) at a subsidized rate that doesn’t exceed 10% of the community’s median income. Second, redundant infrastructure — not a single critical satellite link, but two distinct systems, so health and education institutions never go completely offline. And third, local ownership — trained technicians in every village to maintain and evolve the infrastructure, local businesses managing portions of the network, digital sovereignty that doesn’t depend entirely on foreign operators.

Claire Beaumont: To close: some true/false about remote work in Nunavik.

Elisapie Angutinngurniq: Happy to.

“Internet in Nunavik is too expensive to work online.” — Partly true. Too expensive compared to the south, yes. But not too expensive to be impossible. For someone generating professional income from their village, $340-380/month is a justifiable business expense.

“You can’t use the cloud in Nunavik.” — False since Starlink. On Starlink, the cloud works perfectly well — Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Dropbox. On Tamaani geostationary with its high latency, some reactive cloud tools can be frustrating.

“Internet outages in Nunavik are constant.” — Exaggerated. Outages exist, especially in winter during storms. But outside these episodes, the connection is generally stable. I have entire weeks with no notable interruption.

“Young Inuit can’t work for southern companies from their village.” — Absolutely false. Several already do. The connection is there. Skills can be acquired. What’s still missing is visibility — southern employers knowing it’s possible and who these talented workers are.

For more on available providers and village-by-village speeds, see our complete Nunavik connectivity guide by village.

For detailed costs and subsidy programmes, our Nunavik internet costs guide details rates by provider and available assistance.

For a complementary interview with Nadia Okalik on the impact of connectivity on communities, see our interview with a northern digital development specialist.

For resources on entrepreneurship in Canada’s northern regions, Voyage Canada provides guides on entrepreneurship and services in Canada’s northern regions.

Illustrative characters created for this article — editorial portrait.