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Students donate survival shack

Kirsten Murphy
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Jun 18/01) - Nunavut Arctic College carpentry students donated a simple but sturdy one-room cabin to the Amarok Hunters and Trappers Organization.

The survival shack will be set up at Frobisher Farthest, a popular seal hunting spot 25 kilometres from Iqaluit, next month.

David Ell of the Amarok HTO suggested the donation.

"It's a dangerous area because of tides," Ell said.

Deputy mayor Simon Nattaq went through thin ice in the same area in February, Ell said.

As a result of the frostbite he suffered while walking to a distant cabin, Nattaq had to have both legs amputated below the knee.

Ell said a cabin like this might have prevented a near-fatal accident like that.

"It's shelter for hunters or tourists," Ell said.

Nunavut College instructor Lloyd Kendall said five Level-Two carpentry students diligently cut, hammered and moulded the 100-square foot roofed structure. The recently completed cabin remains outside the college's workshop. A bunk bed will still be added later this month. A barge is scheduled to transport the cabin next month.

"This is the first, there will probably be others," Kendall said.