Iqaluit benefits from Greenland 'twin'
Maria Canton
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (Dec 11/00) - Twinning with a Greenland town is paying off in valuable information for Iqaluit.
Two town councillors recently visited Sisimiut for the opening of a garbage incinerator. It was also a chance to pay a social call.
The invitation to attend the start-up of the $6 million incinerator came at an opportune time. Iqaluit plans to build an incinerator in 2001. Keith Irving and Kirt Ejeesiak were given some specifications on what could replace Iqaluit's open burn landfill.
"If (the incinerator) is strategically located, the waste heat can be used to heat homes, offsetting the cost of fuel," said Irving.
That's what happens in Sisimiut.
All of Greenland's communities have smaller incinerators rather than landfills or open-burn dumps.
Learning from successful projects in the circumpolar community is one of the benefits of being twinned.
Iqaluit and Sisimiut were declared twin towns in September 1987. Of similar size with a population of about 5,500, Sisimiut is located 100 km north of the Arctic Circle on the west coast.
"A lot of similarities exist between Iqaluit and Sisimiut -- the size, the cultural mosaic, the environment," said Irving. "I felt connected when I was there, you can hear the same rhythms. I felt very much at home."
The differences, says Irving, were obvious as well.
Because Sisimiut has an ice-free bay all year, the harbour bustles with activity generated from a successful fishing industry.
"And the influence of Europe is definitely there -- they clearly work hard at the aesthetics of their community."
Strict development control and distinct pitched-roof houses give the urban fabric of Sisimiut a more unified look than that of Iqaluit, he said.
Laust Loegstrup is an employee with the Municipality of Sisimiut and he says the connection ensures good relations between the two communities.
"The exchange of knowledge is one element that is valued in the relationship," said Loegstrup.
"They came to our incinerator opening and learned about possibly building one and we can learn from them to perhaps implement sewage treatment to treat our waste water like (Iqaluit) does."
Loegstrup says the relationship is also for the citizens.
Groups of elders from both communities have paid visits to each other and many other invitations have been extended and honoured over the years, including one by Iqaluit for the 10th anniversary celebrations in 1997.
