Coral Harbour (Nov 22/06) - A large crowd came out for an evening of fun, games and big prizes in Coral Harbour earlier this month to recognize a local company's run of success.

The event was held to celebrate Sudliq Development Ltd.'s 20th anniversary of doing business in Coral.

The company was founded by its president, Louie Bruce, in 1986.

Sudliq Developments Ltd. operates fuel services in Coral through a government contract, and also has heavy equipment to do house pads, roads and various other construction projects.

Among its past accomplishments, the company has successfully dredged the harbour, done water reservoirs and constructed the Kerchoffer Bridge, the longest in Nunavut.

Company spokesperson Dino Bruce says Sudliq also offers snow removal and sealift services, as well as selling oil products and renting office space.

He says the company has six full-time employees and, during construction season, can hire as many as 20 additional seasonal workers.

"We try to have an annual night of games and prizes as our way of saying thanks to the community for all its support during the past year, or, in this case, the past 20 years," says Bruce.

"It's a chance to give a little something back to the community, which companies really don't do enough of anymore.

"We were told we had a better turnout than last year's Christmas Games, so it was nice to have that many people attend our event."

Sudliq is a true Coral success story, run by beneficiaries of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement who hire Inuit from their own community.

Dino says one of the highlights of the night for his family was to present Patterk Netser with a flat-screen TV.

The gift was in appreciation for his work in helping to run the company for about 15 years before moving on to different things.

"We wanted to give Pat a little token of our appreciation for all he did for us during that time.

"Clara Ell made a special cake to mark the occasion, and we had a new ATV as our top prize.

"It was pretty exciting because the dice games for the ATV lasted about an hour, with the eventual winner being the first to roll 20 doubles.

"When the action ended, we presented Ruth Eetuk with her new ATV."