Iqaluit (May 17/06) - If you lose power in your hamlet, the Power Team will arrive to turn the lights back on. Albert Netser - originally from Coral Harbour - and Neco Towtongie - who hails from Rankin Inlet - are the two men who arrive to save the day.

Neco Towtongie (left) and Albert Netser have their trade tickets. After four years of training, these boys from the Kivalliq are journeymen linesmen, and travel the territory fixing power problems. - Kent Driscoll/NNSL photo

While using their own skill to accomplish their goals, they are a bit like a superhero duo. They travel in the dead of night to remote communities and help solve problems. They may not be Super Shamu, but they will keep you from freezing on a cold winter night.

Netser and Towtongie just finished a four-year training program, and are the first graduates of the Qulliq Energy Corporations' beneficiary training program.

Now they travel the territory, battling the conditions and fixing power lines. Both men enjoy being an example to the Inuk kids in the communities they visit.

"You notice a reaction right away from the kids," Towtongie said.

"They laugh and say 'It's OK, it's an Inuk', then they follow us around," Netser laughed.

In the four years since they began their training - now both are certified journeymen linespeople - they have seen most of Nunavut. They have worked in 21 of the 25 communities.

Both were a part of the "bootcamp" Qulliq held to pick their new linesmen. They travelled to Manitoba several times to learn their trade and followed it up with on the job training back in Nunavut. Leaving for training was the hardest part for Netser.

"When I first got the job, I left the day after my son Manuel was born. We bought a video camera, but I missed the first three months of his life," Netser said.

"A lot of times, we travel, and we do miss our family. It is something we can't really get used to," Towtongie said.

All that travel has led to some interesting flights for the duo. How do you land when the lights are already out?

"In Grise Fiord, the whole town was out of power. We hitched a ride with a soccer team and they had to put flares on the runway. It wasn't too much fun landing," Netser said.

Both men love the outdoors, and it was a major reason for becoming linemen. When you are on top of a ladder in the cold, your love of the outdoors can come into question.

"We were in Arctic Bay to hook up a new hotel, that was a big job. They said that it was the coldest day of the year. Luckily, we're Inuks. We're used to the cold. We can't stand the smell of cities," Towtongie said.

"The worst part is putting on rubber gloves in the winter," Netser said.

These two are the example to the next "bootcamp" of linemen. Three more linesmen - one from each region - have been selected. Qulliq has 51.8 per cent of their positions filled by beneficiaries.

The next time your community loses power, turn your eyes to the skies. The Power Team may arrive to save the day.