Kent Driscoll
Northern News Services
Wednesday, March 05, 2007

IQALUIT - They say the territory is off to a good start, but the people behind the Great Canadian Shoreline Clean-up are asking Nunavummiut to get their hands dirty.

"Nunavut is so important to us when it comes to shoreline litter. It is where litter from the rest of the country ends up," said Kellie Benz, a spokesperson for the annual clean-up of waterfront sites across the nation.

Last year, five Nunavut communities officially took part in the clean-up: Cape Dorset, Gjoa Haven, Iglulik, Pond Inlet and Taloyoak. Many other communities run their own clean-up, but are not registered with the national group. Benz wants to see that change.

In 2005, Baker Lake registered for the clean-up and collected 200 bags of garbage.

Iqaluit students have been cleaning with the help of Nunavut Tourism.

In 2006, there were 966 separate clean-ups throughout Canada, and they removed 82,627 kilograms of litter.

In Cape Dorset, it is the kids at the school who do the heavy lifting.

"Last year, we had 60 kids and got around 150 bags of litter. We will definitely do it again next year. I've been here for four years and we do it every year," said school teacher Chris Jenkins.

The group likes to advertise some of the stranger items that have been collected over their 12 years of cleaning shores. The list includes a living room set, a toilet seat nailed to a lawn chair, a cache of Celine Dion albums and a late 1800s wagon cart.

"We didn't find anything that weird, but lots of cigarette butts" said Jenkins.

Last year, 214,229 individual butts were picked up from Canadian shores.

If you sign up for the clean-up at the Vancouver Aquarium's website, your community will receive a clean-up package, and the support of the national campaign.

The clean-ups happen in the third week of September, and you only have to be 18-years-old to be the official clean-up co-ordinator.