Life in the extreme north of Canada is very different from many parts of the world. For a start, the territory of Nunavut is home to just 36,000 inhabitants or 1.3 people per 100km2. To put this in context, there are more than 2,000 people squeezed into the same footprint in New York City. Nunavut also experiences bone-chilling temperatures of up to -50F in the depths of the long winters.
The climate, terrain and remoteness require unique approaches to delivering services like banking and social benefits. In Baker Lake, Nunavut, supplies and mail are delivered by plane, including payroll and government cheques. When one of the winter’s 20-plus blizzards hit, planes are often delayed, leaving local residents without access to their money.
In the past, even when cheques did arrive, residents would have to trek back and forth between the post office and the local North West Company store in the frigid cold to cash the cheques and purchase money orders to send funds or pay bills. With no traditional bank branches in Baker Lake, this system was the norm.
The North West Company, an iconic 350-year-old Canadian company, sells groceries, clothing, housewares and hardware, and also offers some banking services. The introduction in 2012 of the We Financial prepaid Visa card allowed customers to deposit their cheques directly to their card so they could pay and transfer funds conveniently.
In the words of Sally Aaruaq, a long-time We Financial prepaid Visa cardholder: “I usually put my salary in the We Visa. I’ll use it at the store, pay my groceries, I’ll pay bills with it. Four of my children have We Visa. It’s a lot easier if I have to send them money.”
This week, Visa and North West Company announced an important new addition to the program: direct deposit. This means that payroll deposits and government disbursements can be paid directly to a customer’s We Financial prepaid Visa card. Direct deposit will offer a significant convenience by providing customers with immediate access to their funds.
This video shows how cardholders like Sally Aaruaq are using their We Financial prepaid card to make their lives easier and to continue a way of life that has endured for generations.
Content on this page is brought to you by Visa, a sponsor of the Guardian Global Development Professionals Network.
