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Chosen for the frozen torch relay
Resolute man to run with the Olympic torch in Alert

Erika Sherk
Northern News Services
Published Sunday, October 18, 2009

NUNAVUT - Despite growing up north of the Arctic Circle, Inoot Manik has still managed to move closer to the pole for work.

NNSL photo/graphic

Left, Patrick Manik and Inoot Manik, in Canadian Ranger uniforms, stand with CFS Alert troops. - photo courtesy of Max McCormick

The 18-year-old from Resolute is a year and a half into an apprenticeship at CFS Alert – the northernmost settlement in the world. He's a bit of a star there, say his apprenticeship co-ordinators, and on Nov. 8, his star will shine a little brighter when he'll join the team running the Olympic torch at the base.

"He's an exceptional young man," said Lawrence Fogwill, project manager with Nuna Burnside Engineering and Environmental Ltd, the company facilitating the apprenticeship program. "He was appointed supervisor for all the Northern staff up there and he's only 18."

Manik found out he would carry the torch during a recent visit home to Resolute Bay, he said.

"That was a surprise for me," he said. "It was really exciting and scary when I heard about it … I get to run with the Olympic torch in my hand."

The young Inuk was chosen right after high school for an apprenticeship spot at Alert, through a program co-ordinated in partnership by Nuna Burnside and Canadian Base Operators.

There are now four young Inuit from Resolute Bay, Arctic Bay and Grise Fiord in the midst of their apprenticeships at Alert.

The only hitch was, "all four of us wanted to be heavy-duty mechanics," Manik said. They all fit, though, he said, and the four spend their days working in the base shop, learning under the practised eye of experienced mechanics.

Manik arrived at Alert, located on the tip of Ellesmere Island, on July 7, 2008.

It took some adjusting for the then-17-year-old to get used to life on the military base, he said.

"Everything was so different, even the food here is different," he said.

The apprentices work a three months in, one month out schedule, so he gets to visit home a few times a year. He's got about three and a half years to go to his journeyman status.

It helps that he has Patrick Manik, a good (but unrelated) friend from home working alongside him.

"After I talked to him, he wanted to sign up. I helped him with his paperwork and he got here," Manik said.

It's a good opportunity for him and his buddies from small Arctic communities, Manik said.

"You get paid for something you like to do."

If he had stayed home, he has no idea what he'd be doing today, Manik said.

The supervisors at Nuna Burnside have high hopes for Manik, said Fogwill.

"All the young people we've brought on so far are outstanding folks, they've done really well but Inoot really stands out," he said.

It adds to the base to have the young Inuit men around, said commanding officer Maj. Sylvain Giguere.

On a recent trip onto the land, "Inoot and Patrick were showing me different flowers and making me taste how sweet it was.

I've never met any Inuit before in my life so little things like that make me appreciate the diversity of the entire population in the country."

On Nov. 8 the Olympic torch will arrive at the base in a 737 airplane. The run will be divided into three segments, according to Giguere. Manik will run the one km stretch with the "Frozen Chosen" team – the nickname for Alert personnel.

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