Landslides in fine-grained permafrost soils have been paid much less attention compared to those in temperate regions. The lack of attention paid to those landslides can be attributed to their remote locations and relatively lower social and economic impacts. With recently increased interest and activities in the northern regions, especially from the energy sector, there is an increased need for better understanding of landslides in such regions. This paper describes some geotechnical field observations from a number of landslide sites recently visited in northern Canada. Evidence collected from the landslide sites provides valuable information for understanding the failure mechanisms and for further investigations. The information described includes: locations and orientations of the landslides, the slope and slide geometries, typical surface and subsurface material conditions, landslide flow phenomena, evidence of active layers (soils subject to annual freeze-thaw cycles), rate of head scarp surface ablation, and conditions of surface vegetation. Possible mechanisms triggering the landslides are discussed based on the evidence observed in the field. Landslide processes and stabilizing mechanisms are also discussed. Extreme weather conditions may have played a major role in one region with few or no trees, while forest fire may have been a dominant factor in another region with dense trees. The inherent characteristics of the slopes are also critical to the slope stability, for example, slope angle, thickness and strength of the active layer, soil moisture and ice contents, the insulating effect of the surface organic mat, and the reinforcing effect of roots. While changes in thermal regime are critical to slope stability in permafrost, the shear strength of the active layer can be a major contributor to slope stability under given thermal conditions. The paper discusses several aspects that are worth attention for further studies.