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Newsbriefs: Monday, August 21, 2017
Gwich'in to hold meeting
Fort McPherson
The Gwich'in Tribal Council 2017's annual general assembly in Fort McPherson Aug. 22 to 24.
The event brings Gwich'in designated organization representatives together to determine the state of the GTC and identify priorities going forward.
One subject likely to come up during the assembly is self-government. Earlier this summer, the Nihtat Gwich'in Council, which represents Gwich'in in Inuvik, indicated its desire to pursue its own self-government agreement separate from the GTC.
- Stewart Burnett
New beer garden policy
Inuvik
The Town of Inuvik will be watching how a beer garden at the Iron Horse Klub's demolition derby Aug. 26 goes.
When club president Melinda Gillis approached council about it earlier in summer, she asked if it would be possible to get clearance to hold beer gardens at all future events instead of having to reapply for one every year. Coun. Clarence Wood said at the Aug. 9 meeting that he would like to consider beer gardens on an annual basis rather than giving a blank approval.
- Stewart Burnett
IRC assessing gas viability in delta
Inuvik
The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation is soon to undertake a detailed study to determine natural gas economic feasibility, resource viability and regional market opportunities to develop economic models to ensure energy security and develop business, employment and investment opportunities in the Beaufort Delta.
The project will be conducted in two phases, with the first to assess resource viability and develop a local model for energy supply and distribution, focusing on Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Inuvik, Tsiigehtchic and Tuktoyaktuk, stated a news release. The second phase will look at a broader regional model including Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour and Ulukhaktok.
- Stewart Burnett
Booze bust at boundary
Acho Dene Koe/Fort Liard
Fort Liard RCMP set up a check stop at the B.C. boundary Aug. 11 and stopped about 20 vehicles.
They seized numerous bottles of liquor and cans of beer as well as a small quantity of marijuana, stated the Mounties in a news release.
RCMP believe the booze was destined for the communities of Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte.
Fort Liard is under an alcohol restriction while Nahanni Butte is under a full prohibition.
- John McFadden
Missing women's inquiry to visit Yellowknife
Somba K'e/Yellowknife
Staff from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls will visit Yellowknife to prepare families and survivors for a hearing in the fall.
From Aug. 29 to 31, members of the health, legal and community relations staff will make initial contact with family members and survivors, to register and prepare them for a hearing in November and ensure their needs associated with telling their stories are met.
The community visit is not open to the public, it is strictly for family members and survivors.
Tiar Wilson, communications advisor with the inquiry, stated in an email family and survivors can walk in without registering. However she encouraged people to reach out to the following individuals ahead of the visit:
Looee Okalik, Community Liaison Officer: 1 (613) 762-9983, or l.okalik@mmiwg-ffada.ca
Melissa Carlick, Community Liaison Officer: 1 (867) 333-0837, or m.carlick@mmiwg-ffada.ca
- Emelie Peacock
Increase in alcohol related offences
Behchoko/ Rae-Edzo
RCMP saw a total of 112 calls to service in the week of July 31 to Aug. 7, a time of year that coincided with the Tlicho Annual Gathering held in Behchoko this year between Aug. 1 and 3.
While there wasn't a large jump from last year in Liquor Act offences, calls relating to disturbances, mischief and public intoxication jumped close to double at 102 in 2017 from the 54 calls to service in 2016.
Tlicho communities rotate the annual gathering, which did not occur in Behchoko last year.
Behchoko saw its alcohol prohibition lifted in December 2016 after the community voted on the issue.
The three other Tlicho communities of Gameti, Wekweeti and Whati all still have prohibitions on alcohol.
Next year's annual gathering will be held in the dry community of Whati.
RCMP stated in an e-mail there were also five people facing charges of impaired driving.
Sixty-five people were detained during that week, mostly for alcohol-related offences.
- Michele Taylor
Recycle papers at youth centre
Radilih Koe'/Fort Good Hope
The Fort Good Hope youth centre will soon be open for after-school activities, said recreation co-ordinator Freda Kelly.
As of Aug. 21, younger children will be able to attend from about 4 until about 6 p.m. and older children and youth are invited from 7 to 10 p.m.
One of the first activities will be to create paper mache decorations for Halloween and Kelly said participants are encouraged to bring old newspapers to the centre.
Anyone looking to participate in crafts are encouraged to wear old clothing, she advised.
Kelly is also organizing a teen dance to celebrate the beginning of the school year. The dance is expected to take place on Aug. 25 or 26.
- Kassina Ryder
End of summer party in Tulita
Tulita/Fort Norman
Children and youth in Tulita celebrated the final days of summer with the recreation department's year-end party on Aug. 11, said recreation co-ordinator Kelsey Dayler.
Day camp participants were invited to the pool for a pizza party and games before a carnival was held at the arena in the evening.
Around 45 children and youth attended the carnival, which included bean bag toss and mini putt.
Winning games earned tickets that were later traded in for prizes.
- Kassina Ryder
Annual Canoe Daze kick off
Tsiigehtchic/Arctic Red River
Tsiigehtchic's annual Canoe Daze celebration is on.
The weekend will be full of canoe challenges, with men's and women's races, doubles events, mixed competitions, team triathlons and strongman and strongwoman challenges.
A talent show and another old-time dance will break up the athletics Saturday night. Closing ceremonies will take place Sunday, Aug. 20 at 7 p.m.
- Stewart Burnett
Scholarship deadline approaching fast
Deline/Fort Franklin
The deadline for the Deline Got'ine Government Scholarship and Bursary is Aug. 25, information from the Deline Got'ine Government said.
The financial awards are given annually to students enrolled as a beneficiary in the Sahtu Comprehensive Agreement with the Deline Got'ine Government who are accepted as a full-time student in an accredited university, college or in a certificate diploma program. Students must also have a 70 per cent average or equivalent.
Applications must also include a cover letter, a letter from acceptance from the school, a transcript that shows the grades from a previous school and a letter of reference from someone other than family members.
- Kassina Ryder
Turning the page
Hay River
The Hay River Literacy Society has agreed on its leadership for the coming year.
And the new executive is very much like that of the past 12 months following the group's annual general meeting on Aug. 10.
Marissa Oteiza is returning for her second year as president.
Rosie Wallington is also back as vice-president and Paul Grant is once again treasurer.
The only new person on the executive is Louis-Nicolas Golbec as secretary.
The society has two directors - Marilyn Barnes and newcomer Anne Walsh.
The elections at the AGM were conducted by consensus as people volunteered to remain in their existing roles and others offered to fill positions.
Six people - the executive members and the two directors - attended the AGM.
Oteiza said six to eight people participate in the society.
"It's been successful as a small group, but we're open to having new members," she said.
Anyone interested in becoming involved in the Hay River Literacy Society can talk to Oteiza at NWT Centennial Library, where she works as a program librarian.
Oteiza explained the purpose of the Hay River Literacy Society is to promote literacy in the community through programs to get people reading, especially children and youth.
Some programs are also designed to introduce literacy to infants by having parents read to their young children.
- Paul Bickford
Tlicho All Season Road discussed in Behchoko
Behchoko/Rae-Edzo
The Mackenzie Valley Review Board held technical sessions to discuss the Tlicho All Season Road last week, stated information from the board.
Sessions were divided into different topics to discuss the road's potential impacts on a variety of subjects. The first session began on Aug. 15 to discuss wildlife and was followed by a session to discuss birds, fish and water on Aug. 16. The final day was dedicated to impacts on community, economy and culture on Aug. 17.
The sessions were held at the Ko Gocho Centre in Behchoko and were scheduled to run each day from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
- Kassina Ryder
Inuvik group seeks to revive family events
Inuvik
"That's what we hear a lot - 'Man, there used to be this!'" said Jackie Challis, member of the newly formed Inuvik Community Events Society, which seeks to host and support family-friendly events in town.
People seem to miss events that bring youth and elders together for non-alcoholic fun during the dark winter, she said.
"I think that tradition is really strong still, especially in the other communities," said Challis. "In Inuvik, it tends to ebb and flow because of volunteers."
Jodi Day-MacLeod, another member of the group, said the idea started with a desire to revive the New Year's old-time dance.
From there, a core group of eight community members have been meeting and it has spiralled into forming a society.
The group's first priority is hosting a traditional old-time family dance this New Year's, complete with a feast and jigging for everyone from youth to elders.
The society will be seeking as much business sponsorship as it can find and assess where it's at Oct. 1, which will determine how much more fundraising the group needs to do to pull off the dance members want.
Beyond the New Year's dance, the society hopes to host and revive family events throughout the year, such as the much-missed Delta Days.
She said the group's intention is not to step on any toes, but to assist wherever possible to increase the number of family events in the community.
The group meets irregularly but is always seeking volunteers and ideas.
- Stewart Burnett
Workshop on air monitoring sensors
Hay River
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources and SensorUp will be hosting a one-day workshop on how people can create their own sensors to monitor air quality in their own homes.
The workshop is set for 7 to 9 p.m. on Aug. 30 at the Aurora College Community Learning Centre.
It is part of a community-based air sensor technology research project by the GNWT and SensorUp.
- Paul Bickford
Trans Canada Trail celebration
Hay River
A celebration of the Trans Canada Trail will take place in Hay River. The town's recreation and community services department will be hosting a bike and barbecue at 1 p.m. on Aug. 26 at the Trans Canada Trail marker across the Mackenzie Highway from the airport.
- Paul Bickford
Good news finally sprouts at greenhouse
Inuvik
It's been a summer of good news and bad news for the Inuvik Community Greenhouse, which has been bouncing between highs of community support to lows of repeated break-and-enters.
Last week, that trend looked to continue, as at the same time the greenhouse was celebrating winning $5,000 in an online contest hosted by the Tangerine financial company.
"We're so excited," said Solotki. "We have to work really hard for every penny that we get. This one was almost completely done by our followers on social media."
Co-ordinator Emily Mann said the money will go to a number of activities, but the facility will especially be looking at enhancing its composting program.
"We want to be able to create a pickup service where we drive to people's homes in Inuvik and pick up their compost for them to encourage them to compost more," said Mann.
"Maybe people want to compost but they don't know where to bring it. If we are able to pick it up for them, that means more food will be composted and less will go to the landfill."
Mann and Solotki thanked the voters for helping the greenhouse win the contest.
"From years of learning to stretch a dollar as far as we can, we should be able to do some really great programming there thanks to the Tangerine funding," said Solotki.
- Stewart Burnett
Back to school
Nunavut
Some students are already back at school, while others are still getting ready, as Nunavut's staggered school calendar sees some schools starting in August.
Schools in Arviat, Baker Lake, Gjoa Haven and Kugluktuk started school Aug. 11.
By the end of August, all but nine of the territory's 44 schools will be in session.
The late starters include mostly Iqaluit schools, as well as Nanook School in Apex, the schools in Pangnirtung, and Kugaaruk Ilihakvik.
- Michele LeTourneau
Drum Dancers performing at Canadian National Exhibition
Toronto
Six members of the Inuksuk Drum Dancers, based at Iqaluit's Inuksuk High School, are representing Nunavut at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto Aug. 18 to 24.
The international stage coordinator contacted troupe director Mary Piercey-Lewis over a year ago.
"She found our web page and, of course, on that page I have videos and pictures of the kids singing at different festivals," said Piercey-Lewis.
"Normally I apply for grants to get out and mentioned it costs a lot of money to get out of here, so if you want us to come, we can't pay anything."
The exhibition would normally pays fees to performers but, as a school group, Inuksuk Drummer Dancer can't accept fees. The exhibition covered travel and accommodation costs.
"We're staying at the Westin in downtown Toronto, which is quite nice," said Piercey-Lewis.
"We do two shows a day, 1:30 and 4:30 for the full week. What's really neat is another youth group from Manitoba, the Asham Stompers, we'll be performing with them. When we get down there, Thursday is the rehearsal day, so we'll be rehearsing with them all day long. We'll be doing a collaborative number."
Asham Stompers is a jig and square dance troupe whose mission is to help recapture and preserve the history of the Metis people through the traditional dancing of the Red River jig.
Piercey-Lewis took 30 students to Ottawa for Canada 150, "so that was a bit more stressful."
The six performers are Tooma Laisa, Leanna Wilson, Rachel Michael, Natalie Maerzluft, Catherine Suclan and Angela Austria.
On their off time in the evenings, the group will take in some Broadway musicals.
- Michele LeTourneau
Crushing scrap metal
Kinngait/Cape Dorset
Old abandoned vehicles and other scrap metal are being compacted in Cape Dorset, creating work for six community members.
"This is a new project we started this summer," said John Hussey, Cape Dorset's senior administrative officer. "They're putting vehicles up on the stand, taking all the fluids out of them and then putting them in the crusher and crushing them."
There's a huge stockpile of metal from the vehicles collecting at the landfill, in addition to a large volume of recovered metal from Peter Pitseolak High School, which was destroyed by fire in September 2015.
The employees were trained recently in first aid, transportation of dangerous goods and various other workplace safety courses. Their work at the crushing site will be seasonal, shutting down in October and starting up again next spring, Hussey noted.
The large crusher and baler machines, property of Community and Government Services (CGS), were brought in by sea-lift last summer.
There may be enough volume of crushed and baled metal to ship it out by barge next summer, Hussey said. If it doesn't amount to a full barge load by then, it will probably wait until the following year, he added.
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the Qikiqtani Inuit Association and CGS are partners in the project, Hussey said.
- Derek Neary
Nunavut firefighters most sportsmanlike
Tobique First Nation, NB
A team of seven Nunavut firefighters took the award for the Most Sportsmanlike Team for the 10th year out of 12 years attending the National Aboriginal Firefighter Competition Aug. 12.
The competition took place at the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick.
Overall, the team came in seventh out of eight teams.
Government of Nunavut fire specialist training officer Frederick Morrison, who accompanied the team and trained the firefighters who came from all over the territory, was proud of his team's efforts.
"The Nunavut team only practices two-and-a-half days as a team, where most other teams practice for a full year in advance," he explained.
Firefighters Steven Iqalukjuak of Clyde River, Mark Tigumiar and Sandy Natseck of Naujaat, team coach Atsaina Eeyeevadlok of Kimmirut, team captain Justin Morgan of Hall Beach, Andrew Jr. Iqalukjuak of Clyde River and Glen Sutherland of Kugaaruk represented Nunavut.
"They were exposed to additional training sessions while at the competition. They were able to interact with Aboriginal firefighters from across Canada, sharing their stories and seeing how other fire departments operate," said Morrison.
- Michele LeTourneau
Helping char through the creek
Kugluktuk
The Kugluktuk Hunters' and Trappers' Organization assisted in clearing a nearby creek - known locally as Nulahugyuk - of some rocks in late July to make it easier for char to go upstream to spawn, said Amanda Dumond, the HTO's manager and secretary.
"Char's been a big concern in the community in the last couple of years because the harvest has been very low," Dumond said.
Further fish and water sampling, in partnership with Golder Associates Ltd. and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, will be taking place over the coming weeks, she said.
"We're hoping these studies will help us determine why (the char have been in decline)," Dumond said.
Some of the upcoming assessments will include the Rae and Richardson rivers and will also focus on whitefish, she added.
- Derek Neary
Community freezer on the way
Taloyoak
When the sea-lift cargo ship arrives in a few weeks, one of the items it will be carrying is a community freezer, a luxury Taloyoak hasn't enjoyed in close to 10 years.
"It creates a lot of problems for hunters because most people only have only so much space in their freezers," said Marzena Banks, Taloyoak's economic development officer, about the lack of a collective storage space. "Between September when the caribou (hunt) ends and when the (seasonal) freeze comes, what do you do with the meat? That was always a point that everybody says, 'We don't have a place to keep our meat.'"
The 4.8-metre long, 7.3-metre wide and 2.1-metre high freezer, coming from Montreal, has been paid for by the territorial and federal governments, said Banks, who was instrumental in drafting the proposal for the new community freezer.
- Derek Neary
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