Getting the money into a destination country is only the first part of capital flight, the other half is making reasonably good and relatively liquid investment

Getting the money into a destination country is only the first part of capital flight, the other half is making reasonably good and relatively liquid investments with it. Therefore, housing in Yellowknife is probably out. Generally speaking, the goods in which one invests in as capital flight tend to be either a good investment (big city real estate), or easily concealed and transported (jewelry, precious metals). And if the English-speaking westernized kids and grandkids can get things like tuition and medical care out of it, that's certainly a nice bonus. I lived for many years in a city that saw a truly massive influx of investments driven almost entirely by capital flight, predominantly from Iran and China, and those buyers were all too happy to buy a house, never move into it, eventually send their kids over for an education, bring the kids back home, sell the housing in US Dollars and keep those funds there. (Or, rent it out and deposit the funds into a US account.) It's also worth noting that seasoning requirements for funds contributed to a mortgage don't apply when the purchase happens in cash. The people who play at the level required to make capital flight worthwhile aren't near the center of the bell curve. Immigration ≠ capital flight.