Daniel Gabois would usually be out hunting this time of year.

Flocks of Canada geese have started to appear overhead in their V-formations, returning to nesting grounds in the northern Quebec region of Nunavik. That’s the signal for him and many others in his hometown of Kuujjuaq to head out on the land.

But the electrician and entrepreneur is working 10- to 12-hour days, trying to finish more work than he can keep up with as companies and governments scramble to fill a critical housing gap.

“The North is growing too fast,” he said.

Statistics Canada population projections from 2020 show that Nunavut and the Northwest Territories will have the youngest median populations in the country over the next four decades, well below the Canadian average.

A study of Nunavik’s population between 2006 and 2016 shows it grew at a much higher rate, 22 per cent, than the rest of Quebec at eight per cent. At the time, a third of the people in Nunavik were under the age of 15.

Gadbois comes from a family of tradespeople. One brother owns a plumbing and heating company. The other is a carpenter.

They’re local companies working to build housing in the North. But even the solutions are being hindered, he said, by housing issues.

“It all comes back down to lodging,” Gadbois said.

To fulfill his contracts, he’s renting eight workers from a company near Val-d’Or, Que., paying for their flights, food, lodging, and salaries.

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