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Province profile

Nunavut

The clearest outlier in this year's report card. Combined with the highest logistics costs in the country, this is the jurisdiction where "check before you assume" matters most.

Overview

Population

42,215

Local time

Internal-trade grade

C-

Net debt / GDP

Data gap

Worth knowing

Canada's youngest and northernmost territory (created 1999); Inuktut is an official language alongside English and French.

Population: Statistics Canada, as of 2026-04-01. Internal-trade grade: CFIB 2026 report card — The lowest grade of any jurisdiction in the 2026 report card — a real, not cosmetic, gap versus every other province and territory. Net debt/GDP: a compiled cross-provincial estimate, not a single official StatCan table — shown as a data gap for territories rather than assumed zero.

Economy & key industries

Primary sectors

MiningFisheriesArts & crafts

Doing business here

Sales tax

GST 5%

Minimum wage

$19.75/hr, effective 2025-09-01

Corp. tax (small biz / general)

12% / 27%

Corporate registry

Nunavut Legal Registries

Employment standards

Nunavut Labour Standards Act

Workers' compensation

WSCC (Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission)

Extra-provincial registration by business type

Assuming you're coming from another province with no physical presence in Nunavut yet — the most common starting point. Your actual answer depends on your specific presence and revenue; run the full lookup tool for that.

Business typeExtra-provincial registration
Retail / e-commerce goodsLikely not required
Professional servicesLikely not required
Regulated trades & licensingDepends — confirm
Healthcare & medical professionalsDepends — confirm
Alcohol / cannabis DTCLikely not required
Trucking & logisticsLikely not required
Food & beverageDepends — confirm

Trade & market access

Investment / trade office

Government of Nunavut — Economic Development and Transportation

Government tenders

Nunavut Tenders

Liquor & cannabis authority

Nunavut Liquor and Cannabis Commission

Commercial transport authority

Nunavut Dept. of Economic Development and Transportation

Live federal tender listings and business-registry search across all 13 jurisdictions are also on the Resources page.

AI research brief

Have Claude search reputable sources only — Statistics Canada, the Bank of Canada, provincial governments, major bank economics desks, established policy institutes, and wire/business press — for current context on Nunavut's economy and policy climate. Separate from the sourced dataset above.

Run your own checkAll provinces

Guidance snapshot: 2026-08-05. Broader review pending. Informational only — not legal advice.