Jazz Air not on strike

Residents of Yellowknife and the NWT do not have to worry about interruptions flying to and from Edmonton during the Air Canada strike, which started on Monday, according to Debra Williams, a regional manager of corporate communications for Jazz Air, which operates Air Canada flights out of Yellowknife.

"Jazz Air is affiliated with Air Canada, and has a capacity purchase agreement with them, but we are not on strike. The Air Canada labour dispute is not our issue, so everything is still running according to plan," she said.

- Sarah Ferguson

Police nab arson suspect

The Yellowknife RCMP have charged a 29-year-old man with mischief and arson after an incident at the Dorset Apartment Building on Saturday morning.

The RCMP responded to a call at around 10 a.m. on June 11 that a man had attempted to start a fire outside the building, according to an RCMP press release sent out June 13. The man was arrested about 30 minutes later.

He is scheduled to appear in territorial court on July 12.

- Terrence McEachern

Man spotted with gun on Frame Lake Trail

The Yellowknife RCMP are seeking the public's assistance after a complaint was received on Monday of a man carrying a handgun on the McMahon Frame Lake Trail.

Sgt. Bruce McGregor said the complaint was received at around 4:50 p.m.

Five officers and the police dog were deployed to the scene but were unable to locate the suspect. McGregor said the man was described as an aboriginal male with a black baseball cap, a hooded shirt and blue jeans.

- Terrence McEachern

Book launch

A new children's book, Nighty-Night: A Bedtime Song For Babies, written by Fort Smith author Richard Van Camp is being launched tonight at the Yellowknife Book Cellar from 7 to 8 p.m.

The 16-page book is a follow-up to his best-selling board book, Welcome Song For Baby: A Lullaby For Newborns.

In his new book, Van Camp pairs soothing words with photos of toddlers and children with their parents.

- Nicole Veerman

Last of the kayaks

Chesterfield Inlet - Students at Victor Sammurtok School in Chesterfield Inlet finished the final portion of the kayakbuilding program started by teacher Glen Brocklebank earlier this month.

Brocklebank has accepted a position with Nunavut Arctic College in Chester, which begins the next school year.

For more on the kayak program, please see the June 22 edition of Kivalliq News.

DARE program

Rankin Inlet - A group of Grade 5 students at Simon Alaittuq School in Rankin Inlet received their certificates after completing the RCMPdelivered Drug Awareness Resistance Education (DARE) program this past week.

Spring challenge

Kivalliq - The Kivalliq Physical Education Panel held its first annual Spring into Action School Daily Physical Activity (DPA) Challenge this past month.

The first theme was speed stacking, with each school in the Kivalliq being supplied with 15 sets of speed stacks, a timing mat and activity spots to use throughout the year and augment their DPA program.

The purpose of the Spring into Action School DPA Challenge is to get schools active with the speed stacks and to have some fun in the process.

Speed stacking is a sport challenging participants to stack cups in a pattern and then take them down in the fastest time.

In the Stack Attack Challenge, kindergarten to Grade 6 students did a 333 event, while Grade 7 to 12 students competed in the 363 event.

The winner of the 363 Trophy for best time in the Kivalliq for the 363 Stack Challenge is Randel Qiyuk of Maani Ulujuk Ilinniarvik in Rankin Inlet with a time of 5.05 seconds.

Congratulations also go out to Maurice Angotinguar of Leo Ussak Elementary School in Rankin for winning the 333 Stack Challenge with a time of 3.75 seconds.

Finally, a nod to the community of Baker Lake for winning the participation award with 70 per cent of Baker students taking the challenge, and to Rankin schools for winning the skill (speed) challenge with an average time of 6.3 seconds.

Mining competition

Nunavut/Baker Lake - All three Canadian territories sent teams to the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut's 54th annual Mine Rescue Competition in Yellowknife this past weekend.

It was the first time in history all three territories were represented at the event.

Taking part in the competition were teams from BHP Billiton, Ekati Rio Tinto, Diavik Diamond Mine De Beers Canada, Snap Lake Capstone Mining Corp., Minto Mine and AgnicoEagle Ltd.'s Meadowbank.

The competition featured a written test, practical bench/field test, firefighting, underground obstacle, smoke, rope rescue, first aid and surface obstacle recovery.