The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 6 letter word NOVIA SCOTIA
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
N
O
V
I
A
S
C
O
T
I
A
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "a North American location / a North American location" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case a north american location / a north american location = novia scotia.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.