Talent in the Cold? Creative Capital and the Economic Future of the Canadian North

ABSTRACT. The concept of the creative economy provides an alternative perspective on regional development in the Canadian North. Most studies in the economic geography of talent and creativity have focused on large metropolitan centres, but from the path-creation perspective, the creative class is no less important in the northern frontier area, where it acts as the agent of economic transformation and revitalization. I used both traditional and newly developed creative class metrics based on the four-sector model of the creative class to analyze creative capital in northern towns. Although the creative class is weak in the Canadian North, I identify a group of six leading communities that constitute the creative core of the North (Yellowknife, NT; Whitehorse, YT