All systems went
Nunavut celebrates a relatively glitch-free New Year

Maria Canton
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Jan 10/00) - It was a case of no news being good news.

With the exception of a minor problem in Pond Inlet, Nunavut sailed into the millennium without a hitch.

All the computer-driven systems that people rely on -- telephones and automatic banking -- survived the much- anticipated, but relatively uneventful, rollover into the year 2000.

The Y2K bug didn't affect Nunavut for a variety of reasons, said Mike Ferris, deputy minister of Community Government and Transportation and co-ordinator for the government's efforts in preventing mayhem from breaking out at midnight on Jan. 1, 2000.

"We had a minor problem in Pond Inlet related to the fact that the Y2K upgrade didn't get updated in time and the one system stopped printing the proper date, but it's already fixed," he said.

"We spent considerably less because we are just setting up our systems and most of them are new with software that was already compliant."

Ferris says about 25 people were on watch in each community during each shift leading up to and beyond the new year.

Telephones

NorthwesTel began preparing for the year 2000 in 1997 and as a result, the phones in Nunavut were in working order before midnight, at midnight and well after midnight.

"Everything went absolutely perfectly. We thought there would be minor problems, but nothing so far," said Mark Needham, director of NorthwesTel's Y2000 project.

"In 1998 we started working on the problem full time. We looked at all of our internal systems, our suppliers systems and networks and then determined the risks, if they were Y2K ready or Y2K compliant."

Needham estimates that NorthwesTel spent about $1 million to ensure the transition was smooth.

Hamlets

Kugluktuk Mayor Joanne Taptuna says the community delayed their first-ever fireworks display until a half-hour after midnight, just to be sure nothing was going to happen.

"We had no problems and no calls from anyone in the community that anything had happened," said Taptuna.

"We did a lot of work and preparations, but that helped in making sure nothing went wrong."

About six people from the hamlet office and 10 from the housing authority were on call at midnight, but once it was clear that everything was fine, residents gathered near the former Northern Store to watch the sky light up with the flash of fireworks.

Banking

Several people in the territory withdrew cash before New Year's Day in case of problems, but it was unnecessary. No Y2K problems were reported by the banks.

That was due to an early start on the preparations, says Iqaluit's Bank of Montreal manager Ellen Bennett.

"We had no problems whatsoever. The bank started getting ready five years ago and we had also been educating our customers."

There were no problems withdrawing cash at co-ops or Northern Stores in the communities.

Although all systems sailed smoothly into 2000, those in the know warn there may be problems looming near the end of February because the month has 29 day.

Most major companies say they will be on alert until that day passes.