About Up Here

Up Here

Up Here is a Yellowknife-based magazine chronicling life across Canada's North, published by Up Here Publishing Ltd. Written, edited and published in the territories, it covers the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Nunavik through creative non-fiction — stories about the region's people, history, politics, science, culture and landscapes. In 2010 it won Magazine of the Year at the National Magazine Awards, becoming the first magazine from Canada's North to take the industry's top prize.

Overview

The magazine describes itself as the voice of Canada's North, bringing to life what it calls the region's romance, intrigue, wonder and weirdness. Its articles work in the genre of creative non-fiction, covering social, political, historical and Indigenous subjects alongside travel and geographical writing. The editorial stance is that the North deserves the same quality of magazine journalism as the South — reported and written from inside the region rather than parachuted in.

The title's national recognition has been exceptional for a small regional publisher. Beyond the Magazine of the Year win, Up Here has collected numerous National Magazine Awards over the years, most recently being named Best Magazine in the Special Interest division at the 2019 National Magazine Awards.

History

Up Here was built by publisher Marion LaVigne and Up Here Publishing Ltd. in Yellowknife. For much of its history the company published two titles: the general-interest Up Here and Up Here Business, a business magazine for the northern economy. Up Here Business had itself been launched about seven years earlier as a merger of the company's Far North Oil and Gas and Canadian Diamonds magazines, and grew into an award-winning resource on business in Canada's North.

In November 2014, Up Here Publishing announced it would merge the two magazines into one. Starting in January 2015, readers of the revamped Up Here received in-depth coverage of lifestyle, travel, business, politics and all facets of northern life, including science, history, mythology and sports. The company said the change was inspired by readers: Up Here subscribers often requested more political and business content, while Up Here Business readers asked for lifestyle and history. Publisher Marion LaVigne described the expanded Up Here as the natural progression — the trusted, award-winning resource on everything in Canada's North.

The magazine's defining moment came at the 33rd annual National Magazine Awards, but its story starts earlier: Up Here was first published in December 1984 by co-founders Marion Lavigne and Ronne Heming, who head Up Here Publishing Ltd. Its first editor was Eric Watt, and the art direction of the first 26 issues was handled by Rod Raycroft, with John Allerston providing layout and illustration in the early years; John Pekelsky later served as art director for many years before leaving in 2020. The masthead over the decades has included editors Aaron Spitzer, Tim Querengesser, Eva Holland, Katharine Sandiford, Cooper Langford, Tristin Hopper, Samia Madwar, Tim Edwards, Herb Mathisen, Elaine Anselmi and Jacob Boon — a roster that reflects both the magazine's continuity and the small, close-knit world of northern journalism. At those awards, Up Here won the coveted Magazine of the Year award, given to the magazine that most consistently engages, surprises and serves the needs of its readers. A four-member jury selected it from three finalists, the others being Maisonneuve and Report on Business. The judges praised the magazine's personality and editorial hand, noting the degree of difficulty in finding the human and other resources to publish, print and distribute from the North, and calling the magazine distinctive, fresh and unpredictable, with engaging and accessible content crossing disciplinary and geographical boundaries. More than 750 guests attended the gala at the Carlu in Toronto, where LaVigne accepted the award.

Individual honours followed the masthead as well. LaVigne received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Western Magazine Awards in 2004; that same year, then-editor Aaron Spitzer won a Western Magazine Award for best article for his story "The Shadow in the Valley," and in 2002 former editor Cooper Langford won the Western Magazine Profile Award for "The Fast Runner." For many years Up Here was offered as an in-flight magazine on Canadian North, the airline serving Canada's North — an arrangement that produced the most expensive issue in the magazine's history. The July/August 2006 cover story on naked hiking showed a naked hiker from behind, with type covering the sensitive area; after a passenger complained, the magazine spent $5,000 on short notice to produce an alternate airline cover depicting a fish, to keep its promise of seat-pocket distribution to advertisers. In 2012 the magazine was publishing eight times a year. More recently the title changed hands twice: in April 2024 it was purchased by Whitehorse-based North of Ordinary Media, and in December 2024 by long-standing employees Sherry Rioux and Brianna Freitag — returning it to NWT-based ownership, with the new owners reiterating their commitment to stories from all three territories.

Content

Up Here's editorial mix reflects the breadth of northern life. Typical coverage includes profiles of northerners, investigations of political and social issues, natural history and science writing, Indigenous culture and history, adventure and travel narratives, and explorations of the North's mythology and folklore. The business coverage absorbed from Up Here Business added reporting on resource industries, northern entrepreneurship and economic development.

The magazine's creative non-fiction approach favours narrative storytelling over news-digest formats, with photography playing a central role in conveying the scale and character of northern landscapes. Its distinctiveness — the quality the National Magazine Awards judges singled out — comes from covering a region most Canadian media treats as remote, with the intimacy of a local publication and the craft of a national one.

Coverage & Audience

Up Here covers the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Nunavik, serving northerners themselves alongside southern Canadians fascinated by the Arctic and subarctic. Its geographic remit is defined broadly: the territories north of the 60th parallel, plus Arctic and remote areas of the provinces such as Churchill, Manitoba, Atlin in British Columbia, Nunavik in northern Quebec and Nunatsiavut in northern Labrador. The publishers put readership at about 100,000 readers per issue — a remarkable figure for a regional title, reflecting both its in-flight distribution and its appeal to southern Canadians. Its audience includes people who live in the North and want to see their home reflected with sophistication, and southern readers drawn to the region's landscapes, cultures and stories.

The magazine's national awards have given it a profile beyond its circulation, making it an ambassador for northern journalism. Its success demonstrated that a magazine published in Yellowknife could compete with — and beat — the best-funded titles in Toronto and Montreal on editorial quality.

Ownership

Up Here is published by Up Here Publishing Ltd., the Yellowknife-based company led by publisher Marion LaVigne. The company's history in northern publishing extends through its earlier business titles, Far North Oil and Gas and Canadian Diamonds, which were merged into Up Here Business before that title was itself folded into Up Here in 2015.

Digital Presence

The magazine's website, uphere.ca, extends its northern storytelling online, offering a digital window into current and past coverage for readers across the country and beyond. Like many regional magazines, its web presence supplements the print edition, giving southern audiences access to northern journalism they would otherwise miss. The National Magazine Awards Foundation has featured the title as an award-winning magazine, encouraging readers to support Canadian magazines by subscribing — a reminder that titles like Up Here depend on readers who value journalism from places the national media too often overlooks.