Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 26, 2007

BROUGHTON ISLAND - A Qikiqtarjuaq nurse dined at the prime minister's house in Ottawa last week after winning a national photography contest.

Joanne Dignard, nurse-in-charge at the Qikiqtarjuaq health centre, plays the fiddle in this prize-winning photo. Dignard, who previously worked in Arctic Bay for more than a decade, won a trip to dine at the prime minister's residence in Ottawa last week in a Canadian Nurses Association photo contest. - photo courtesy of the Canadian Nurses Association

Joanne Dignard, who spent over a decade working in Arctic Bay prior to moving to Qikiqtarjuaq in June, initially entered the Canadian Nursing Association's photography contest with an eye on one of the smaller prizes.

"I was just hoping to win one of the iPods as a gift for the community's Christmas games," she said with a laugh.

Instead, her entry, which shows her playing the fiddle against Qikiqtarjuaq's dramatic landscape, was chosen among the top six submitted by nurses from across the country.

She wanted the shot to highlight her love for the North, with a tip to her own heritage too, she said.

"I'm Acadian, so I included the fiddle as well," said Dignard, who is originally from New Brunswick.

After narrowly making her flight in the midst of last week's weather, she arrived in Ottawa on Nov. 19.

The six winning nurses were greeted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's wife, Laureen, and treated to a lunch at 24 Sussex Dr.

"I got a little shopping in too," Dignard said.

Dignard is currently the nurse-in-charge at Qikiqtarjuaq's health centre.

She first moved to the North in 1992, and spent time in Iglulik and Cape Dorset before moving on to Arctic Bay.

"The experience you get, the people you meet ... everyone is so friendly and you make so many friendships," she said.

She also recently kickstarted a babysitting skills program for hamlet youth, which she had previously hosted in Arctic Bay.

And when she has some free time on her hands?

"I love being on the land. I walked to Pond Inlet from Arctic Bay one year," she said.

An avid hockey player, she played on a women's team in Cape Dorset, and the men's team in Arctic Bay.

"Here (in Qikiqtarjuaq) I might play on the men's, if they'll let me," she chuckled.