Stephanie McDonald
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 5, 2007
IQALUIT - Akulliq MLA Steve Mapsalak, recognized four individuals from Repulse Bay for their quick thinking actions two weeks ago.
A couple from the community fell through the ice while on a snowmobile ride, and was able to get out and walk back to town. Mapsalak attributed their survival to the caribou fur they wore.
Tony and Sarah Ulikattaq found the couple and Luuti Paskuali and George Putulik took them home and gave them dry clothes. The couple was medevacked out for treatment.
Tired of Tylenol
Kivalliq nurses are prescribing Tylenol for all ills, Tagak Curley said in the House last Monday.
He said that his constituents are tired of receiving poor medical service. Curley said that nurses were prescribing Tylenol to women in labour, for broken bones and for those with cancer.
Curley said that he is so fed up with being prescribed Tylenol that if his family requires "proper" medical care he would consider taking them south for treatment.
Bright lights in Pond Inlet
Streetlights in Pond Inlet were lit from April to August this year despite the long summer days of sun, at a cost of $10,000 a month.
Minister of Energy Ed Picco said that pole lights across the territory have a sensor that switches the light on when it becomes dusk and turns the light off at daybreak.
According to Picco the lights in Pond Inlet were malfunctioning and the sensors have now been replaced, rectifying the situation.
Kitikmeot feels cut off
Kitikmeot residents are feeling alienated from the seat of government power in Iqaluit, MLA for Cambridge Bay Keith Peterson said.
Before the division of the NWT, it took only 90 minutes for Kitikmeot residents to fly to Yellowknife, and it now takes two days for them to travel to Iqaluit. He said that the Kitikmeot communities are still feeling the rub of not being chosen as one of the satellite campuses for the Clyde River-based cultural school.
Peterson said he hoped the next assembly would address the issues of Kitikmeot representation in the House and on cabinet.
Mining industry booms
The mining industry invested $196 million in the territory in 2006 and that figure is expected to be over $230 million for 2007, Minister of Economic Development and Transportation David Simailak reported.
Mineral exploration and mining production is providing Nunavummiut with jobs and economic opportunities, he said. With an increasing number of internationally-renowned mining companies making acquisitions in the territory, the profile of Nunavut's mining industry is rising, Simailak said.
Busted-up school needs attention
Following on the heels of requests for improvements at schools in Qikiqtarjuaq and Arctic Bay two weeks ago, the house heard last week of repairs needed at the Kugluktuk high school.
MLA Joe Allen Evyagotailak tabled pictures of boarded-up windows, holes in the walls, and a cracked floor at the school.
He asked how it's possible for the future leaders of the territory to grow and develop in such poor conditions.
Caribou strategy in the works
Minister of Environment Patterk Netser announced that his department is drafting a Caribou Management Strategy for Nunavut.
Netser promised a plan that would conserve the caribou populations for future generations while not interfering with the territory's economy.
The Nunavut Wildlife Board and Nunavut Tunngavik are involved in creating the strategy and there will be community consultations when the first draft has been written.
Netser anticipates that the strategy will be completed in a year.
