Canada A Cabbie Abroad

East Ender Mason McQueen drives one of London's 22,000

black taxis.

The London cab driver

is naturally a nosy bastard.

We're the eyes and ears of this city.

Last year he left London to live and work as a cabbie in Mumbai

for a BBC documentary.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

It's chaos. It's like Mad Max meets The Kumars or something.

Big bus! Big bus! Big bus!

What have I got myself into here, eh?

Now Mason has accepted the challenge to drive a taxi

in three very different cities around the world.

Can it get worse than Mumbai? I don't think so.

In the far north of Canada

he'll be battling some of the worst conditions on the planet...

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

I'm losing control of this vehicle.

..and meeting a lost people.

Would you rather have today's life, or would you like to go back?

I would rather go back.

HE SOBS

He'll be setting off for the paradise islands of Fiji...

Bula!

Bula!

London? Where's that?

..and an unusual local cuisine.

200 years ago it'd be an Oxo cube up the bum

and that'd be me in the pot.

Where am I going?

-Straight.

-Straight?

And in the capital city of Cambodia...

HORNS HONK

..Mason will be getting to grips with a very different kind of taxi.

You have got to keep your eyes open here,

otherwise you ain't going to make it.

Oh, my God!

It's one London cabbie's journey to find out how people live

in some of the most extreme and exotic parts of the planet.

It's the same the world over.

If you want the lowdown on a place, speak to the cab driver.

On the edge of the Canadian Arctic,

Iqaluit is one of the coldest inhabited cities on earth.

It's a frozen place,

where the wind can gust at 90mph,

and temperatures plummet to minus 50 degrees.

This is an Arctic boom town with a growing and prosperous population.

But it's also home to the Inuit,

a people struggling to come to terms with the modern world.

Mason will be joining Iqaluit's hardy band of cab drivers

at the coldest time of year,

when the city is cut off from the rest of the world by the frozen sea.

And the only way out, or in...

is by air.

HE SHIVERS

It's freezing.

I've never felt it so cold in my life.

This is the...

This is the coldest I've ever been.

Mason has arrived in the arctic winter.

The temperature is minus 30 degrees.

My cheek bones are, like, numb. My face is aching.

Augh!

For the next ten days,

Mason will be working for Pai-Pa Taxis.

It's one of the largest cab companies in Iqaluit.

Come in.

Hello. Mr McQueen reporting for duty.

Good morning, sir.

His boss will be Craig Dunphy.

-Have a seat.

-Thank you.

I am going to show you the ropes.

You're going to find some differences between driving here

and driving just about anywhere else in the world.

In Iqaluit we don't have a public transportation system.

-We are basically it.

-Right.

During blizzards we're always the last ones off the road.

We don't want to leave people stranded.

By the end of the day we're supposed to have wind chills

in and around minus 48, minus 50.

Once you get to minus 40

it doesn't matter whether it's Fahrenheit or whether it's Celsius.

It's the same. It's still friggin' cold,

which is another reason why a lot of people use taxis.

It gets too cold to walk.

Don't forget your shovel.

You're going to have to shovel your car out.

This is the car that you'll use.

-This one? This is...

-I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

HE LAUGHS

Oh, right.

Hop in there, and we'll start your adventure.

Has it got four-wheel drive?

No, of course not. We don't need four-wheel drive.

Oh, it's good to get in a car.

It's why we get in the car!

All right, man, this is it. We start your training.

Couple of things you've got to know.

Here we don't have street names.

-Really?

-Yeah.

We have house numbers, we have building numbers.

That's all we use.

-Just to confuse the London guy, yeah?

-Just to...

Well, it's not only the London guy, I'll tell you.

To help Mason learn the layout of Iqaluit,

Craig's taking him to the highest point in town.

So, dude...

HE CHUCKLES

From here we've got the perfect view of town.

-On the other side of the hill, there...

-Yeah, the ridge.

On the other side of that you've got your 300s, 200s and 100s.

OK, we look over here.

The red one, the grey one, the yellow one, there -

those are all 500s.

Down on the other side are your 600s, your 700s, 900s,

all down that way.

And over to our left, then we're into the higher numbers,

the 2400s, 25s, 26s, 27s, and even a 2900 for good measure.

Fantastic. I'm losing consciousness, it's that cold.

-Let's go back in the car where it's warm.

-Yeah.

Agh!

Augh!

In these sub-zero temperatures,

being outside for just a moment too long can have severe consequences.

Agh!

You're getting a bit of frostbite there already.

-You reckon?

-On your cheeks.

That is burning. That hurt.

-Yeah.

-That hurt.

That really hurt.

Have a look.

-Shit, yeah.

-Yeah.

I look like a right boozer.

Like I was drinking too much!

HE LAUGHS

MUSIC: "Crosstown Traffic" by Jimi Hendrix

Now we are at Four Corners.

This is the busiest intersection in town.

Why? Because it has four corners.

Right.

# You're just like crosstown traffic

# So hard to get through to you... #

This is your Oxford Circus.

-It's like a busy West End part of London, yeah?

-Yeah.

This is busy here, yeah?

Do you get a rush hour here?

We get rush minute.

And it's primarily at Four Corners.

# Look out, baby... #

What we're going to do now, it's going to be your turn to drive.

Yeah. I'm slightly apprehensive.

That makes two of us.

Just make sure you stay on the right-hand side of the road.

Yeah, I'll forget about that!

OK, people... Iqaluit, here I come.

Oh, God...

-Take a right pass?

-Take a right, yeah.

Now you just failed your exam.

-Why?

-Cos you didn't use your indicator light.

Every single time, you gotta indicate?

Every single time.

You've got a stop sign. You've got a stop sign.

Shit.

OK, it was back there.

Sorry!

Cor!

If you got a lot on your mind,

you could get in trouble in this city, driving around.

-Oh, very easily, very easily.

-Just gone through a stop sign, boom!

Although Mason's just broken two of the rules of the road,

Craig has another test for his new recruit.

Driving up one of the iciest hills in the city.

You gotta fly up that hill.

-No!

-Yes. Go.

Yee-ha!

MUSIC: "Comanche" by The Revels

Can you brake? Ease...

Oh, my God.

Gears, gears...

All right, go for it.

You want to try from a different angle?

We're getting up there.

Oh, yeah, you're going to get up there.

Try it again, but this time once you start going up the hill

I want you to put it down into first gear.

Just for your own peace of mind, you gotta make it.

There we go. Easy on the gas.

Come on, come on, come on.

GEARS GRIND

HE IMITATES GEARS

Oh, my God, that's funny.

Them containers were coming...

They were coming in really quick.

LAUGHTER

I had no control over the vehicle whatsoever.

Not too good in front of the boss.

I'm up against a real challenge here.

People just take it for granted that you're going to get there,

and being a new driver, and not knowing what you're getting into,

now I know that these numbers here

represent a hill that I need to climb.

Driving a cab here might be tough, but it's lucrative,

and taxi drivers from all over the world have come to cash in.

I've had drivers here from Syria, from Africa, from Palestine,

from Morocco, as well as our French Canadians.

And a driver yesterday did well in excess of 600 clear in his pocket.

-Wow!

-Oh, yes.

We charge people by the head,

so if you've got four people in your car and the fare is 6,

then you've got four times 6 for one trip.

-That's great.

-Yeah.

Although wages are high, accommodation is expensive.

Craig provides staff houses for his drivers from out of town.

Mason, your roommate Gill.

-Hello, Gill.

-Gill, Mason.

Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, sir.

-How you doing?

-Good.

We'll be back in a few. I'm just going to show him his room there,

show him where he can get settled.

Here's your room there, bud.

-Home sweet home.

-This is good. This'll do.

It's got walls, it's got a bed, it's got a dresser,

it's got a window, and you're very close to the toilet.

-Yeah! Lovely.

-Try not to break the handle.

Happy days. Cup of tea on.

Gill is from Montreal.

Like many taxi drivers, he was tempted by the allure

of a paycheck double what he would normally earn in mainland Canada.

I'm not used to having someone making my tea.

It's nice, though, huh?

It's nice to have a bit of company up here, yeah?

I'm always alone here.

I like TV just to forget about the job.

I just want to hear the sound of it, making me feel like I'm not alone.

It can be lonely up here, can't it?

I got used to it.

Been like that for years.

Well...

here I am. First night, and...

I just feel isolated,

cut off from the rest of the world.

You know, there's no roads out of here.

It's like nowhere I've ever been before.

I feel like some of these cab drivers, they're loners, you know?

Coming up here for the money and getting on with things.

It's not easy.

I couldn't live up here.

It's eight in the morning,

and rookie driver Mason is getting ready to clock on for work.

-Morning boss.

-Yo, good morning.

-How're you doing?

-Good, man. You?

-Yeah.

-Good.

All ready for my first shift.

You just have to remember, watch out for your stop signs.

You know, you go through a stop sign and somebody's not ready for it,

-you're going to have a collision.

-OK.

-And we don't want that, OK?

Watch your speed.

Don't go too slow, don't go too fast.

-Watch for the spinning tyres on the ice.

-OK.

-All right, man.

-Cheers.

-Good luck.

-Thanks, Craig.

-All right, man.

Today he's on his own, and...

yeah, it's going to be fun.

The only thing I'm really nervous about is the numbers,

and maybe having a collision or coming off the road.

You know, I don't want to crash the car.

Car 20 clear at base. Roger.

Mason doesn't have to wait long for his first call.

'Number 20, 281. Near the graveyard.'

Roger that, dispatch.

Jeez, slippery.

Oh, f...kin' hell.

My last job in London was Aldgate High Street to Moorgate station.

This is slightly different.

Dispatch, this is car 20.

Can you give me a reminder of that number again please, mate?

'Car 20, 281.'

I'm at two...two thousand something.

Most new cabbies take weeks to master the numbers.

Mason's had just one day, and he's feeling the pressure.

This is a crazy system.

'Car 20, Charlie?'

Yeah, I'm on my way, dispatch.

Where is it?

I'm a cab driver, not a postman.

Down here somewhere.

They're waiting.

Hi there, Miss. Sorry about the wait.

No worries!

I'm a bit of a new driver,

-so it's just been an adventure finding your house.

-OK!

Now, where were you off to?

-723 please.

-Where?

-723.

-733?

723.

-7..23.

-23.

-Is that near Four Corners?

Behind the Northmart.

-Behind the Northmart?

-Yeah.

-Oh, I kinda know that.

Getting there is a different thing, though.

Oh, yes, a right and then a lift, and then Northmart will be on the left.

Yeah.

You're there.

I'm there. It's just the numbers, more than anything.

I'm sort of OK with Northmart,

but not everyone wants to go to the Northmart!

Busy, busy, busy at Four Corners.

Bit of argy-bargy there.

-Hello, Miss.

-Hey.

-Where're you off to?

-The library.

Is that near Four Corners?

It's just down there. I can direct you.

112.

Is that near Four Corners?

Where are you off to, Miss?

To the hospital, please.

Is that near Four Corners?

That's all I know!

Mason's been on the road for a couple of hours,

and business is booming.

All right?

Court house, please.

How're you doing, mate? You OK?

I'm in a bit of a hurry, to be honest.

-I'm a new...

-Are you new in town?

-Yeah, I'm a new guy.

Let's go. I'm going to be late. Let's go.

-Where're we going again?

-2621.

You're going to two.

Yeah, I know, darling, I know. Bear with me, yeah?

You're not a taxi driver?

I am a taxi driver.

Hard to believe, but I am, madam.

Mason might not know the numbers yet,

but it's a chance for him to find out what life is like

in this isolated city.

Does it bother you, the cold?

It does, actually.

It bothers me a lot, but you learn to deal with it.

-Don't you think it's too cold to live here?

-Yeah...

-A bit isolated?

-Yeah, but it's not a problem to me

because I take a cab going to work, going home.

You're happy with, you know, being a resident here, and...?

Yeah, I'm really happy.

Like, I don't know why, but this place runs in my vein.

I just think it's so special.

Oh, that's cool.

-Yeah. Otherwise I wouldn't be here.

-Yeah, that's right.

-Au revoir.

-Au revoir.

-Au revoir, Danielle. Bye. Thank you.

Car 20 clear at the library, over.

'Car 20, 515 alpha.'

Roger that, 515 alpha. 515 alpha.

Mason's next passenger is one of the city's 6,000 Inuit,

the original inhabitants of the Arctic.

Hi. How're you doing?

-Good. How are you?

-Sorry I'm late.

-That's OK.

Little baby on her back. Oh cool.

Hello.

Where're you off to, Miss?

I'm going to CBC.

CBC? Is that...

-It's...

-Is that near Four Corners?

-It's near the...

-That's all I know!

-..the tallest building in town.

-The tallest building in town -

I should be able to find that!

And who's this on your back?

This is Vivi.

-Vivi?

-Yeah.

-Hi, Vivi. What's your name?

-Nancy.

Nancy. My partner in England's called Nancy as well.

It's a lovely name. We like that name.

Inuit culture is rich in music,

and Nancy knows one of the more quirky traditions,

throat singing.

You use your throat, so...

SHE VOCALISES

That's part of it.

-There's all sorts of different ways to do it.

-Wow!

So it would be like...

SHE VOCALISES

Why don't you try?

Just go...

SHE VOCALISES

HE REPEATS

Do you get it? Like, it would...

I'm not getting it, no.

Let's try an easier one.

Yeah.

Um-MUH. Can you do that?

-What's that one?

-It goes Um-MUH.

-Um-MUH...

-It sounded like the Cookie Monster in Sesame Street!

THEY VOCALISE

This sounds quite funny, Nance.

It sounds like I'm doing something else, not singing.

I've learnt some stuff today, Nance, but throat singing, that's amazing.

-It was nice to meet you as well, Nance.

-Nice to meet you too.

-Really nice.

-OK, all right.

-OK, you take care.

You too.

Have a good day. Bye, Vivi. See you, darling.

Take care.

Wow.

What a nice girl.

HE VOCALISES

THROAT SINGING

The Inuit have lived in this frozen wilderness for 4,000 years.

Just a few decades ago they were a nomadic people,

hunting for food from the land and the sea.

It was a tough life, but they managed to survive

in one of the most unforgiving environments in the world.

Today the Inuit live in towns and cities like Iqaluit.

Life has changed dramatically for them.

You must be Mason.

-I am.

-I'm Carlene.

To find out more, Mason has offered to help at the local soup kitchen,

which many Inuit rely on for food.

If you want to help spread the egg salad on the bread there...

Spread it on nice and thick.

Nice and thick. Is that good?

Yeah, that's good. That's good.

Carlene is one of the volunteers.

So Carlene, who comes to the soup kitchen?

The people that come here, a lot of them are Inuit.

A lot of them are on social assistance,

which is a subsidised funding from the government, on welfare.

It's just families that are trying to make ends meet.

It's brutal out there, the weather.

To think about, you know, being down on your luck,

it must be extremely hard.

Well, the elements up here are harsh.

The Inuit have survived up here for so many years with this environment.

-Yeah.

-And it's our home.

You are on Inuit land here.

Right.

How many people do you think we'll have coming through the door today?

It could be anywhere from 50 people to 120.

The soup kitchen is open seven days a week.

For many of the people here it's the only meal they get each day.

The Inuit community is plagued with social problems

such as high unemployment, crippling poverty

and a life expectancy ten years less than the rest of Canada.

Two white?

In 2012 more than half the children of Iqaluit went hungry

because their families couldn't afford to feed them.

Brown?

There you go, sir.

45-year-old Padlow bakes bread for the soup kitchen.

You volunteer here do you, Padlow?

Yes, I do, every day.

I'm just volunteering, waiting for a call

from any of the companies

that I've applied for, for a job.

So I'm keeping myself busy here.

Is there a lot of unemployment up here?

Very much, especially if you're uneducated.

Padlow is one of a thousand Inuit in this small city

who doesn't have an adequate place to stay.

He makes do with anywhere he can find to get out of the cold.

I sleep here and there, or sometimes in a shack.

-In a shack?

-Yes.

How can you survive in a shack in these conditions?

When it gets too cold I move to other places.

If there's no room on the couch I'll sleep on the floor.

Have you got any family?

I do, but...

they have their own problems.

I don't want to burden them with my...

situation.

Padlow grew up learning the old traditions from his forefathers.

Now, homeless and penniless, he yearns for the past.

Was traditional life better than it is now, Padlow?

Back then, I loved it.

-You did?

-Yes.

Nobody was homeless. Nobody went hungry.

We've a hard life.

Yeah, a lot of Inuits I'm seeing,

they look like they've had a hard life, you know?

Yes. You can see it on their faces.

You can.

Would you rather have today's life, or would you like to go back,

with how things were back then?

I would rather go back.

HE SOBS

You OK, fella?

I'll be fine.

I'd love that back.

Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world,

and it's a shock for Mason to see what's become of its arctic people.

I had no idea about this side of Iqaluit,

and the constant struggle that Inuits are under.

This is where they're from. This is their territory.

They've been here for thousands and thousands of years,

before the white man came up here, and now they are losing out

and they're struggling to adapt to the modern way of life.

A lot of them, they're on the breadline,

and they're the ones that I've seen that are really struggling

in Iqaluit.

London cabbie Mason McQueen has been on the road for a few days,

and he's getting to know his way around Iqaluit.

-Augh!

-Guess where we're going?

You ain't going to swimming club, are you?

No, we're not going swimming, buddy.

In 1999, this small town was chosen to be the capital of Nunavut,

a new territory carved out in northern Canada

and given to the Inuit

to have more control over their ancestral homeland.

Since then, Iqaluit has boomed.

New jobs have been created, and it's doubled in population.

It's the gateway to the Eastern Arctic.

To oil, metal and minerals.

Did you have a good flight?

Yeah, I sure did.

Very smooth.

I like it smooth, don't you?

THEY LAUGH

It's the only way to travel.

Mason is meeting people from all over Canada

who have come to work in the city.

Are you from Iqaluit?

-Montreal.

-Oh, Montreal.

-Yeah.

And who's this lovely young lady?

SHE REPLIES IN HER NATIVE TONGUE

She's my girlfriend.

Ah! How are you? You all right?

You come up from the south to work up here?

Yeah. I'm a mechanic.

-And you're in demand up here, yeah, in Canada?

-Yeah.

Mason's next pick-up is Zoya, a professional who moved north

from mainland Canada four years ago

to take advantage of the job opportunities.

-Hello.

-Hello, Miss.

-Hi.

Hope you haven't been waiting long.

No, not too long.

-Where're you off to?

-Home. 4080.

Zoya is a marine biologist, and her husband is a teacher.

I don't think I would have my indeterminate job,

and I don't think my husband would have taught for the last four years

as a teacher consistently if we didn't move up here.

And the pay is obviously better than it would be in Winnipeg?

The pay, and just available jobs.

-Yeah.

-Yeah. It's nice to kind of have the freedom

and the finances to do what we like.

We have a boat, and we have Skidoos, and we have ATVs.

Gill!

That's my buddy I share digs with.

Oh, good.

Good.

Right, this one over here?

The white one with the Skidoo, yeah, in the driveway.

Oh, yeah, look at that - Skidoo!

In this cut-off part of the world

fresh produce and groceries are flown in daily,

and they're extortionately expensive.

This is the container all of our stuff got shipped up in,

so now we use it as storage.

Zoya has shipped up a year's worth of supplies from Winnipeg

to Iqaluit to save money.

Yeah, so here's our toilet paper.

We brought this up four years ago.

The whole back here was packed with toilet paper cos it's so expensive.

You haven't bought a toilet roll for four years?

-That's right, yep.

-HE LAUGHS

We brought up a lot of those.

Thankfully toilet paper doesn't expire.

So, yeah.

Here's just a little bit of our flour left,

and that's going to last us until the end of the summer.

-End of the summer.

-Yeah.

You've really done your homework, haven't you?

We have, yeah, before we moved up, and it's a good adventure.

We love it up here.

-Thanks for showing me your sea-can, Zoya.

-Thanks for the ride up.

-Nice to meet you, Zoya.

-Nice to meet you.

-Take care.

-You, too.

-Bye now. Bye-bye.

Mason is learning there's a huge divide

between the rich and the poor in this city.

He's arranged to visit Padlow, who he met at the soup kitchen,

to see where he lives.

-This is it, Padlow?

-Yes.

It's literally a little wooden shed.

Yes, it is.

It is unbearable, but as long as you have a roof over your head.

What do you sleep on, Padlow?

I sleep on a couch.

-On a couch?

-Yes.

With a blanket over you, a sleeping bag?

Over my jacket, over my winter...

Is this the stuff...? This is your only stuff?

Yeah, at the moment.

So thin, it really is. It's too thin.

Is there lots of people like yourself in this situation?

Yes, there's lots of us, people behind the shadows.

Oh, mate, you're so cold, ain't ya?

Over half the Inuit live in overcrowded conditions.

Padlow squats with his friend Amy.

How long you been living here?

-Four and a half years.

-Oh, my God.

And they can't get you an apartment or something to live in?

Oh, no, I'm on the housing list.

You're on the housing list?

But I'm single, so I'm low priority.

There's lots of people couch-surfing.

Like I am.

-We're invisible.

-Yes, we are.

And how long haven't you had a house for, Padlow?

-For about 20 years.

-Jeez.

How cold is it, guys, when you wake up in the morning?

Here, oh, about three or four degrees below freezing.

You can see your breath.

I get up, get some clothes on,

then run to the stove and turn it on.

This stove keeps you guys alive.

Yes, it does.

My God.

Poor Padlow. He's just surviving. It's invisible here, homelessness.

You know, cos you couldn't sleep on the streets here. You'd perish.

There's two sides to this city, you know, the people making money,

and the people that are just surviving up here.

It's a beautiful place, you know, to have a boat in the summer,

and your skidoos for the winter.

But on the other hand, you've got the tough side as well.

Life here without money is really hard.

As darkness falls, ice covers the roads.

It's too expensive to import salt to keep them clear.

Whoa-eeeees...

Getting a bit slippery out here.

These are tough driving conditions.

In these winter months, Iqaluit is in darkness for 18 hours a day.

20 past three and it's virtually dark.

With his shift over, Mason is going shopping for dinner,

and he's decided to try some local produce.

-Hello, sir. How're you doing?

-Good. Yourself?

-Yeah, I'm after some surprise.

-Little bit of whale meat?

Whale meat? Yeah, muktuk. Oh, muktuk.

Whale and seal meat used to be the staple diet of the Inuit.

Now it's sold at prices many struggle to afford.

This is muktuk, yeah?

-Yeah, yeah. Little bit of red there, that's the blood, eh?

-Oh, right.

-I'll give you a piece to try.

-Yeah, OK, fella. Yeah, that'd be great.

Hey, you want to cut this into pieces?

-Into little pieces?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-What's your name again?

-Mason.

-Mason?

-Mason, yeah.

-Mison?

-Mason. Mason.

-Mason.

-Mason.

-Mason.

-There you go.

-You got to press on it. Got it?

-Yeah.

Joe, do you eat it frozen all the time?

I used to, but now I don't have any more teeth.

It's hard, though, isn't it?

It's diced up and then cooked.

They don't eat it cooked at all.

They just eat it like that.

Really?

Yeah. I eat it.

It's delicious.

Right, that's the whale situation then,

so I might go for something different.

I don't know, I got some smoked char or plain char.

This is char.

Look at the size of that.

And this is smoked.

Wow, the smoked, now there you go. This is more me.

Yeah, I'll take that one, Joe.

-You know what this is?

-Go on, what is it, mate?

-A walrus penis.

-It's a what?

-A walrus penis.

-A walrus...?

-Penis.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

That's a walrus's penis.

-Yeah.

-Oh, my God. I can honestly say...

-You ever seen one of them?

-He ain't got no problems, has he?

-I bet Mrs Walrus is happy.

-That's a small one!

Yeah, and it's nice and hard. No complaints there!

There's ten, Joe. Lovely. Thanks, mate.

Have fun driving cabs.

OK.

Cheers, Joe.

Frozen fish is far from Mason's normal takeaway,

but he's treating his flatmate Gill to dinner.

-Hello, mate. How are you, Gill?

-I'm good, you?

-Ca va bien?

-Mais oui!

-GILL CHUCKLES

I got some dinner. I got smoked char.

I don't eat fish.

Oh, really?

More fish for me, then, if you don't want any.

How am I going to do this?

Am I just cutting it up? It's still frosty.

Cooking, I'm useless at it.

I used to go out nearly every night when I was on my own.

For this first-time chef, frozen fish is a step too far.

I'm definitely going to leave the fish.

I can't eat that like that.

I just think I'll stick with the noodles tonight. Easier.

To be honest, that tastes OK.

Anything you're consuming up here just tastes good,

cos your body's just craving it all the time.

All done.

It's halfway through Mason's stay,

and boss Craig has given him a day off.

He's been invited to go ice fishing with Solomon, one of the best

hunters in town.

Am I kitted up OK, Solomon?

-No, not at all.

-No?

No. That's not good enough.

I have a better coat over there that you might want to wear.

That's a seal skin. I've got also polar bear pants.

-Polar bear pants!

-Yes.

God. You caught the polar bear?

Yes, I caught the polar bear last summer.

That's unbelievable. A pair of polar bear trousers.

Some Eskimos might think that you are a polar bear.

Yeah, someone'll shoot!

Solomon has a full-time office job, so he hunts at weekends for pleasure.

I'm going to bring my daughters with me too.

-Oh, great.

-Yes.

All right. You know what? I'm getting worried,

because they're probably going to catch a bigger fish than me!

Oh! God!

I'm baking in here, Solomon.

When the Inuit were nomadic they relied on dog teams for transport.

But with the move to permanent settlements, dogs are no

longer a vital part of life.

Now Solomon uses a snowmobile instead.

-Are you ready?

-I'm ready.

It's a two-hour journey across the frozen sea to reach Solomon's

fishing spot.

-We'll stop here and go fishing.

-OK.

With a good salary, Solomon can afford the trappings of the

modern world to make hunting easier.

Instead of the basic tools used in the past, the power drill

cuts through the ice in seconds.

That's a good one. That's a lucky one, Solomon.

So what kind of fish are we after, Solomon?

I think we're going to go after Arctic char.

-Arctic char.

-Yeah.

Solomon, you don't use any bait, just a lure, yeah?

Yeah, just a lure. Sink it down.

-That's how you do it.

-Yeah.

Just go a little bit more.

-It's a waiting game now, Solomon, isn't it?

-Yeah.

3,000 miles from home, Eastender Mason McQueen is ice fishing

on the edge of the Arctic.

Come on, Arctic char.

I really want to catch one to show him that I can do it.

Just, it's absolutely amazing the landscape here. It's fantastic.

Look at it.

It's just beautiful, and it's so quiet as well.

It gives me a tiny sense of what it was like for the Inuit

living up here, but it's just a tiny one, you know?

I know I can go back to my digs and it'll be warm there and that.

But can you imagine, like, just getting in your igloo

and not catching any fish, knowing that you've got to go on

and get some fish somewhere to feed the family and stuff like that?

Yeah, it's a harsh environment up here.

-Nothing?

-Yeah, nothing.

Nothing here yet too.

About an hour now I've been standing here.

Just need a little bit of luck.

It's a bit like driving a cab really, fishing for fares.

I'm a lot luckier in a taxi than I am fishing, definitely.

-You caught any fish?

-No.

-No fish.

-No luck.

-No luck.

The chances of Mason catching his first Arctic char are starting

to look slim, so to keep spirits high and the blood flowing,

Solomon teaches him some Inuit exercises.

You're trying to pull me that way,

and I'm trying to pull you that way, OK?

-OK.

-Harder. Very harder!

Urgh!

-Like this.

-Yeah?

And your hand like that, and you push.

But I fight back.

Agh!

Now I'm warm.

-You think it's time for our tea?

-Cup of tea?

-Yeah.

-Oh, yes, please.

-Cheers.

-Cheers. Good hunting.

-Good hunting!

How old was you when you killed your first seal?

-I was about five years old.

-Five?

Yes. I couldn't forget those memories.

In traditional society, hunting gave a man his status and his identity.

But now the Inuit are spending less time hunting.

Do you think the Inuit are losing their connection with the land?

Unfortunately, yes.

There's not much interaction out on the land like it used to be.

I used to be out almost every day.

Our children, they're more at home now.

It's kind of sad.

It's time to go home.

But before they leave, Solomon wants to bestow an Inuit honour

upon Mason.

-I thought of a name for you.

-Oh, you did?

Yes, I did.

SPEAKS IN NATIVE TONGUE

MASON REPEATS TERM

-Yes.

-And what's it mean?

It means that you never catch anything.

MASON LAUGHS

Life has changed rapidly for the Inuit in just two generations.

In the 1950s and '60s the Canadian government encouraged the

Inuit to settle in towns like Iqaluit, with the promise of

a brighter future, of education, of opportunity.

But many have struggled to find their place in this modern

world, and Nunavut Territory is awash with social problems.

Alcoholism, drug abuse,

and a new ill is consuming the Inuit - suicide.

100 years ago suicide was rare among the Inuit.

Now Nunavut has one of the highest suicide rates in the world.

18-year-old Paka grew up in Iqaluit, and knows only too well

about this troubled territory.

Drugs and alcohol are a big struggle here.

Considering how there's nothing really to do,

it's just the same thing every day so, you know,

people turn to other things like smoke pot, or drink some alcohol.

Kids even younger than me are selling pot

and smoking it themselves.

During the winter too, you know,

you only get, like, five hours' daylight,

sometimes less, and that's another big factor, you know,

you're stuck in the dark, you're stuck far away from everybody.

-It all adds up and then...

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

A year and a month ago my good friend Robert, he killed himself.

Wow. That's shocking, that really is.

Losing your best friend, you know, that's tough.

You know, when you lose somebody,

that person's not going to be there any more.

You're not going to see them ever again.

Like, we planned to get our first tattoos together

and, you know, go down south, but it all gets thrown away

in that split-second it happens,

you know, makes me feel small, makes me feel weak.

A couple of years ago an 11-year-old boy killed himself.

You know, that's horrific. That's something we need to stop.

In 2013, Nunavut reached a grim milestone.

The highest annual total of suicides on record.

Most of those taking their lives are young Inuit men.

Just over there by that big rock over there,

that's where my friend Robert was buried.

I try to come here at least once a week.

It says, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine", and you know,

Robert was full of sunshine, like, before he got depressed,

like, he was always smiling

and, you know, he was always laughing and joking around with us.

He was always the one with the biggest smile.

You've got to be in a real dark place to take your own life.

It really hits home for me as a parent.

It does hit home.

There's a procession to life, and it's not burying your kids at 17

for taking their own lives, you know, it's such a waste.

You're out there to live your life at that age.

Life's just beginning, not ending.

It's hard to understand why he would've done it.

Come on, mate.

The pain, you know, of losing my best friend, that doesn't go away.

Yeah, it's been a shock to me today.

You know, hearing it first-hand, and being a parent.

The frenetic pace of change

is deeply scarring this remote community.

But in the Arctic wilderness the amazing natural beauty is timeless.

Wow. That's amazing. That is just incredible.

I've heard so much about 'em, these Northern Lights,

and they are, it's amazing.

You know, working in a cab in London of a night I see some sights,

but nothing as beautiful as this.

The Northern Lights were incredible. Never seen anything like that.

It was fantastic.

The more I looked at 'em, the more it changed actually.

It's quite spiritual. It was really special to see those.

Definitely won't forget the place.

It's Mason's last day as a cabbie in Iqaluit.

Bitter, bitter wind starting to blow.

Could be a blizzard coming in.

This close to the Arctic Circle, the weather can change quickly.

At Pai-pa dispatch Craig is briefing his staff.

-Morning, Simon.

-Hi.

-We've got some weather coming in.

We've got winds 50 to 70, 70 gusting to 100.

It's going to be a bit of a mess.

When a storm approaches, Iqaluit shuts down.

Few people in the city own cars.

They're at the mercy of the weather, and taxis are the only way

they can get home.

-Morning, boss.

-Morning.

-Wow.

We're expecting winds now

anywhere between 70 and 100km an hour,

plus we've got the snow with it this time.

All flights in and out of here are cancelled.

The schools have been closed.

Government offices, we've just been told, are shut down.

So our job now is to get everybody home, get 'em there safe.

-We're it now.

-OK.

The people of Iqaluit now depend on their taxi drivers.

Car 20 all cleared outside base.

Mason McQueen, a cabbie used to battling light showers on the

A40, is about to take on one of the city's legendary storms.

-RADIO:

-'We have a few blizzard warnings

'here in Nunavut's capital in Iqaluit,

'and we're expecting some high winds going all the way up

'to 140km an hour, so be prepared.'

-TWOWAY RADIO:

-'Car 20.'

Roger that.

Look at this. It's like a ghost town in here.

-Hello, sir. How are you doing?

-Good.

-Where're you off to?

-4102 please.

OK.

Are you used to these conditions, sir?

Well, this is going to be the first major one that I've had this year.

Can't see anything, can you?

You lose where you are, don't you, where the snow's blowing across?

Is this your first time in a blizzard, driving?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You really don't want to hear that, do you?

-When you're sitting in the back!

-No, I'm OK, I'm OK.

The best thing to do is if you can find a car ahead of you

just follow the lights so you don't go in the ditch.

Whoa.

Yeah, you want to watch out for those.

-Jesus!

-Just go in low gear.

-This is mental.

-That's OK. Now go a bit slower here.

Again, it gets iced up on this stretch.

OK. Nice talking to you, yeah? Take care.

All the best.

The temperature is minus 32 and plummeting,

and a gale force wind is brewing.

Conditions are treacherous.

70 mile an hour winds, dense, blowing snow, and a deadly white-out.

I would not like to be outside now.

This is a proper blizzard.

But Mason's determined to get his passengers home.

WHEELS SCREECH Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Just losing control of this vehicle!

Hello there. How are you doing?

Pretty good. How about you?

Not too bad. Surviving.

-Where're you off to, sir?

-1011.

1011? This weather's crazy, eh?

-This is difficult driving conditions.

-Yeah.

Sometimes it gets a little dangerous,

like some small pieces of houses will go flying.

Yeah. That's what you've got to worry about, flying debris, right?

-See you, mate.

-See you.

If conditions get too dangerous,

Craig will pull his drivers off the road.

It won't be long now until we shut down.

The winds are getting stronger, drivers are getting more nervous.

Everything is shut down.

-Hi.

-Hi. Boarding home.

-Boarding Home?

-Boarding home.

-OK.

-Blizzard now, eh?

-Scary, eh?

-Yes. There was a car off the road.

-Was there?

-Yeah.

-Where? Along here?

-Yes, over there.

Yeah! Whoo! We're sliding into town.

There you go. OK?

THEY SPEAK IN NATIVE TONGUE

OK, thanks. Bye.

-Take care, darling. Look after yourself.

-Yeah, thanks a lot.

I've been in the middle of a tornado.

Mason McQueen has survived a ferocious Arctic storm.

And got all his passengers home safely.

I feel exhausted for the concentration level.

One minute you're going along and you can see to 25, 30 yards,

and then it just disappears.

You're, like, in a blanket. It's crazy.

It's mental.

Oh, Craig. Oh, dear.

I am glad to be back here, mate.

I'm just glad to be back in one piece, I really am.

That was the worst conditions I've ever drove in.

Really tough.

So that's it, man. We're all but done. Easy does it.

-All right.

-All right, see you later.

-Bye now.

After ten days driving on the streets of this unique Arctic city,

it's time for Mason to go home.

The lives of the Inuit today have changed a hell of a lot.

They're struggling to cope

with how quick it is all changing up here, you know?

They had a very simple sort of life before

compared to how they are now, cap in hand.

They've lost their independence.

Some have adapted better than others in this modern world.

I just feel that they have got a vulnerability to 'em.

It's a very fragile community, it really is.

Mason has one last farewell.

-Craig!

-Mason!

-How are you?

-I'm good, brother. You?

-Yeah, good, fella.

-Good, good, good.

-Keys, mate.

-Thank you very much.

So, what do you think of the place?

I think it's a little city with big city problems.

It'd be interesting to come back here in a while

and see how things turn out.

But it's a great place.

Good people, good people.

Well, if you ever decide to come back,

we'll have a car waiting for you.

It's got to be car 20!

We can arrange that, I'm sure.

Cheers, mate.

-Thanks for everything, yeah?

-My pleasure.

You take care. See you, Craig.

Next time, Mason is heading off to the tropical paradise of Fiji.

London? Where's that?

He'll discover a city where taxi drivers struggle to survive.

Very lucky. You need it here, I tell you.

A people living under military rule.

And he'll realise that paradise

isn't always what it's cracked up to be.

It ain't what you see on the postcards then.

This is the other side of Fiji.