Prime Minister Stephen Harper continues his annual trip to the Far North on Wednesday, though he says his usual sense of joy is missing after a tragic plane crash has left Nunavut in mourning.

Harper was due to commence his annual Arctic trip on Monday, but delayed his plans by a day after a weekend plane crash in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, killed 12 people and injured three others.

The crash killed the four-person crew on board the First Air flight, as well as a young girl, a couple who were due to be married and a New Brunswick construction worker who had never been on a plane before because he was too scared to fly. A scientist and three other passengers were also among the dead.

Harper said Canadians across the country were thinking about the people in Resolute Bay and the loved ones they lost in the crash.

"Though Resolute Bay appears on the map to be a very long distance away from many Canadians, the reality is that the families here are in the thoughts and prayers of millions of Canadians from coast to coast to coast," Harper said Tuesday, when visiting Resolute Bay.

Today, the prime minister is visiting a Nunavut gold mine in the town of Baker Lake.

CTV's Danielle Hamamdjian said Wednesday's trip to the only gold mine in Nunavut is an opportunity for the prime minister to see a business that is undergoing rapid growth and bringing new opportunities for people living in the region.

"Three years ago, there was nothing here. And now there are 1,000 employees in this mine site and they come for shifts of 14 days and they come from all over the area," Hamamdjian told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday morning.

"And they come here, they work and then they are chartered back to their cities and so this is an example of a success story."

With files from The Canadian Press