Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Apr 12/99) - It was the moment Nunavut residents had anxiously waited for -- the unveiling of the territory's new patriotic symbols.

And with the assistance of Nunavut's Junior Rangers and Air Cadets to unfold and display the designs, the world's curiosity about the flag and the coat-of-arms was finally sated April 1.

Featuring yellow and white as a background, the new flag is dominated by a centred, red inukshuk with a blue star in the top right-hand corner.

Meeka Kilabuk, the chair of the Nunavut Implementation Commission's symbols committee, which worked on the concept of the designs for the better part of four years, explained the symbolism of the new flag.

"It's the colour of the Arctic poppy. Yellow also expresses friendliness and the welcoming of the people and bright and happiness."

She noted that white and red represented the colours of the Canadian flag, but that the white also drew attention to the snow which blankets most of Nunavut year-round.

"The inukshuk is shaped like a cross to reflect the cross and the right side of it was designed to point to the Northern Star which has guided us," said Kilabuk.

The coat-of-arms shows the caribou and the narwhal facing one another across a crown and Kilabuk said that they were specifically drawn by Inuit artist Andrew Qappik in an effort to adequately reflect the realistic shape of the animals.

With his drawings chosen from the more than 800 entries that were received during a contest, Qappik said he still hadn't really digested the fact that he worked on the territorial symbols.

"At first, it was really like 'wow' because I was surprised. It was really something," said Qappik, from his hometown of Pangnirtung.

"I submitted a flag and a coat-of-arms to see if they would accept them. It was an honour for a little guy like me up here," he said.

More used to printmaking than heraldic art, he explained that he was glad to be joined in his efforts by government artists Cathy Bursey-Sabourin and Fraser Herald.

"The artists there have known the art of making symbols for provinces and nations. Heraldry has its own language. Every little detail has a language of what every province represents and is proud of," said Qappik.