Water advisory still in effect

A boil water advisory in Hay River was still in effect as of June 3 - more than two weeks after it was issued on May 19. The advisory was issued by the chief environmental health officer with the Department of Health and Social Services due to muddy water caused by the Hay River's spring breakup.

- Paul Bickford

District commander elected

Tracy Cross Gauthier of Hay River has been elected district commander of District 7 of the Royal Canadian Legion's Alberta/NWT Command.

Cross Gauthier was elected to a two-year term at the district's annual rally in Hay River late last month.

District 7 includes the NWT's five Legion branches in Hay River, Yellowknife, Inuvik, Fort Smith and Norman Wells.

Cross Gauthier is the former president of the Legion's Branch 250 in Hay River.

She led the branch for almost five years until resigning as president in February.

- Paul Bickford

Buckle up for safety

Only 38 per cent of children and adults in communities outside Yellowknife - the lowest rate in the country - use a seatbelt, according to Transport Canada.

As part of national Safe Kids Week last week, the GNWT is reminding drivers and passengers that seatbelts are needed every time you drive.

"Safety equipment such as car seats and booster seats are proven to save lives and reduce injuries - but we must make the conscious choice to use them," Michael Miltenberger, minister of health and social services, stated in a press release Thursday.

- Nathalie Heiberg-Harrison

Wildfires still a threat

This week's weather forecast of rain and snow may have reduced the risk of fire in several areas of the NWT, but when it comes to the summer risk for wildfires, the territory is not out of the woods yet, says Judy McLinton, GNWT public affairs and communications officer for Environment and Natural Resources.

"Once it warms up again, the risk of fire will once again be very high," she said.

Aside from a small fire located 10 kilometres outside of Norman Wells, which was reported and contained as of Friday, there have been no major fires reported in the NWT.

McLinton added, 43 NWT fire personnel are still helping to fight wildfires in Alberta. McLinton does not have an estimated time when the fire crews will return home.

- Sarah Ferguson

Spring Hunt successful

Paulatuk

Gilbert Thrasher Jr. at the hamlet office in Paulatuk said local residents were very happy with the results of the community's seasonal goose hunt, which was completed at the end of May.

"Everyone did pretty well," he said.

The Paulatuk hunt follows the migration of Canada geese, snow geese and blue geese from the south to their homes in the North where they build nests and lay their eggs.

Thrasher also reports the people of Paulatuk have switched their pursuits from hunting to fishing this week.

"People are still out of town, and there is some pretty good fishing for Arctic char and trout going on right now, as well as camping on the land. Everyone is happy to be outside and the weather is beautiful," he said.

- Sarah Ferguson

High school graduation

Deline

Deline is proud to announce that nine high school students in the area will be graduating from Ehtseo Ayah School on June 17.

"There will be a grad ceremony and a nice dinner for the students and their families, and the entire community will be part of the celebration," said Janine Dillon from the Deline First Nation band office.

Dillon said Deline was quiet last week, as many residents were still out ice fishing.

"There is still a lot of ice left on the water right now - a lot more than usual," Dillon said.

- Sarah Ferguson

Goose hunt continues

Ikaahuk/Sachs Harbour

Kowesa Etitiq, senior administrative officer-in-training for Sachs Harbour says the hamlet resembled a "ghost town" this past week, as the community continues its annual goose hunt.

"The entire town is gone. People are still out on the land hunting geese and more are still coming in," Etitiq said.

"There are at least two million geese out there."

Etitiq said, besides hunting, many residents are also out picking eggs from nearby nesting grounds.

"The egg-picking has also been very successful," he said.

Etitiq said that this week, it was announced that the National Energy Board plans to visit Sachs Harbour in July to discuss resource development opportunities with residents of the community.

- Sarah Ferguson

Fishing derby wraps up

Tuktoyaktuk

Tuktoyaktuk's annual Kitti Hall fishing derby wrapped up this week, and several large lake trout have been brought into the weigh in station, said Rebecca Pokiak, the hamlet recreation co-ordinator.

"There have been a couple of nice-sized ones," she said.

The derby wrapped up Friday with the closing of the weigh-in station with celebrations continuing to Sunday.

"We decided to move the official wrap-up to June 5, the same day that the Inuvialuit celebrations are taking place, because we thought the derby would fit well with those," Pokiak said.

Inuvialuit celebrations in Tuktoyaktuk included a goose cookout and muktuk soup.

Participants in the derby have been out on the water since the beginning of May hoping to win a prize in the smallest and heaviest fish categories. Pokiak says the derby had new categories this spring.

"We have split the categories by age this year - one for 16 years and over and one for 15 years and younger - so the kids in the community have a chance to compete," she said.

- Sarah Ferguson

Treaty Day

Tulita

The hamlet of Tulita celebrated Treaty Day on May 31.

Everyone in the community was invited to take part in the event, said Brad Carlson, senior administrative officer for Tulita.

The Tulita celebration featured a variety of activities, Carlson said. Those who attended the celebration received their annual treaty pay of $5. Treaty Day is also a well-known social gathering, and a chance for friends to get together and visit.

- Sarah Ferguson

Bird watching in Hay River

Hay River

The Hay River Nature Club is inviting community residents to go bird watching on June 18.

Interested people should gather at 10 a.m. at the NWT Centennial Library.

From there, the birdwatchers will depart for some local birding hotspots.

The tour will be led by Adam Hill, the program librarian, and Bruce Green, who has been a birdwatcher for many years.

People are encouraged to bring binoculars and cameras, and provide their own transportation.

The Hay River Nature Club is an initiative of the library.

- Paul Bickford

Highway enforcement blitz

Hay River

The RCMP's G Division Traffic Services executed a planned enforcement blitz on Highway 1 from May 23 to 27.

The blitz involved RCMP members from detachments in Hay River, Fort Providence and High Level, Alta., along with G Division's Police Dog Services.

Over the four-day operation, about 520 vehicles on the highway were checked.

As a result, there were:

- 23 written warnings under the NWT Motor Vehicles Act;

- 41 charges under the NWT Motor Vehicles Act and the territorial Liquor Act;

- four 24-hour driver licence suspensions;

- five Criminal Code charges;

- 11 charges under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act;

- seizure of about 105 grams of marijuana;

- seizure of about 47 dozen beer and 25 litres of unlawfully-imported liquor;

- and seizure of a large amount of cash related to proceeds of crime.

Under the territorial Liquor Act, only 24 beer or 1.5 litres of wine or 1.14 litres of spirits may be legally imported into the NWT without a permit.

All people charged with criminal code offences in the enforcement action were released with court appearances scheduled for Aug. 2 in Hay River Territorial Court.

- Paul Bickford

New water-delivery contract

Hay River

The Town of Hay River has finally signed a new deal - after several months of council debate about the length of the agreement - with the contractor delivering trucked water to certain areas of the community.

The town approved a one-year contract with Keith's Water Service at a special meeting of council on May 27.

The contract terminates on Dec. 31 of this year.

Council settled on a one-year contract as opposed to a multi-year contract so it could undertake a public consultation on improving the efficiency and affordability of the service.

Councillors have previously indicated they are pleased with the service provided by Keith's Water Service, but had heard from residents that they had ideas for improvements.

For example, the Hay River Corridor Ratepayers' Association made a presentation to council on May 16 suggesting that a change in the frequency of delivery could save tens of thousands of dollars.

The previous contract expired at the beginning of this year.

According to a town news release, a contract with a five-year term will be negotiated to begin on Jan. 1, 2012, and expire on Dec. 31, 2017.

- Paul Bickford

Nunavut post offices to remain open despite strike

Nunavut's four post offices will remain open during the Canada Post strike that started June 3, said a Crown corporation spokeswoman.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers and its 48,000 members has started rotating strikes with a 24-hour work stoppage in Winnipeg on June 3 and a 48-hour one in Hamilton on June 4 and 5.

Anick Losier said none of the 15 postal workers in the territory are part of CUPW, but instead are members of the Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association. She added the post offices in Nunavut will remain open but any mail travelling through one of the centres affected by the rotating strike will delayed.

"The rest of Canada, the mail will move as normal," she said. "If there were mail that was moving through Winnipeg to go to Nunavut, that might be delayed. If they (customers) are affected, it would be by one day."

- Jeanne Gagnon

Throne speech has little for Nunavut

A pledge to expand basic adult education programming, to enhance digital infrastructure, tax cuts to benefit all Canadians and the deployment of clean energy technology are some of the Throne Speech highlights affecting Nunavut residents.

Governor General David Johnston delivered the speech in the House of Commons on June 3, opening the first session of the 41st parliament.

The 16-page document states the federal government has made Canada's North "a cornerstone of its agenda."

National Inuit Leader Mary Simon described in a press release the speech as "a strong statement in support of the Arctic and aboriginal peoples."

"The support to improve Canada's digital infrastructure is vital for the Arctic. Connectivity speeds in our 53 Inuit communities are not at the same high speed as they are in southern Canada," stated Simon in a press release.

"There were many references made to Canada's natural environment. However, I did not hear anything about the issue of our time - climate change - and how adaptation measures are needed nor for Inuit communities in the Arctic."

- Jeanne Gagnon

Three-day spring science camp

Iglulik

Two women from Actua, a national charity that provides hands-on science and technology experiments, were at Ataguttaaluk Elementary School from May 24 to 26 to do activities with students of every grade except kindergarten, said principal Jeela Allurut.

She added last year, they came later and offered summer science camps at the community hall.

"Students found it really important and we were really happy they could come even though it's a busy time of the year," she said. "We were really happy they could come and help us out with the classes because they did excellent learning activities, hands on activities with the students."

- Jeanne Gagnon

Waiting for funding

Kangiqtugaapik/Clyde River

The Ilisaqsivik Society is waiting to find out what funds and where they will be coming from so they can run their programs.

"We're in a bit of a lull after the fiscal year end," said Jakob Gearheard, executive director for the society.

Once the results of the funding requests come in, he said projects will start up again.

Gearheard added on a positive note, he is in the process of hiring people to work on a contractual basis.

- Emily Ridlington

Youth keep busy in Arviat

Arviat

It was a busy month of May for numerous youth in the community of Arviat.

Students at John Arnalukjuak High School (JAHS) teamedup with their counterparts in Lloydminster, Alta. and Sask., to conduct a highly successful exchange program, while JAHS student Vayda Kaviok left for Quebec City this past Monday to compete in the National Skills Canada Competition.

Finally, students in the JAHS Drama Club began their production of The Bright Blue Mailbox Suicide Note earlier this week.

A special VIP performance was held May 30 before the show started up for the schools and general public the following night.

- Darrell Greer

Six graduate in Dorset

Kinngait/Cape Dorset

Six Grade 12 students at Peter Pitseolak School graduated last month.

Principal Cecil Meade said the number of graduates is about the same as in previous years.

"They're excited about graduating but also, you know, probably a little apprehensive, I would think," he said. "Some of them might be because now they're out of school and they're trying to decide what they are going to be doing with their futures."

- Jeanne Gagnon

Southern science experiments come North

Panniqtuuq/Pangnirtung

Students at Alookie School and Attagoyuk School were excited for the science workshops that came to both schools last week.

"It's always fun," said Cathy Lee, co-principal at Attagoyuk.

She said folks from Actua would be doing experiments for students in kindergarten right through to Grade 12. The group was in Pangnirtung June 1 to 3. It is one of 450 communities the groups visits across Canada to connect young Canadians with science and technology.

- Emily Ridlington

Co-op gives back to members

Kangiqliniq/Rankin Inlet

Kissarvik Co-op Association held its annual general meeting in Rankin Inlet this past month.

Store manager Walter Morey said the Co-op declared a patronage dividend of $550,000 for the past fiscal year, which allowed it to do a $150,000 share repurchase.

He said that money went back into member accounts to be used on store purchases.

"The share repurchase is divided among the members based on how much money they spent with the store, including cable payments," said Morey.

Morey said with no deficit to hinder its operations, the Co-op was able to do a much larger distribution this year.

He said the Rankin Co-op is getting healthy and he's seeing increased member ownership in the co-operative.

"We're increasing the portion of the Co-op our members actually own, and that enables us to look at other projects that might come our way," he said.

He said there was a slate of seven candidates going into the AGM for three positions. Two directors, Lynn Rudd and Wesley Inukshuk, were re-elected to the board, and Alex Sammurtok joined the board.

- Darrell Greer

Students fish for char and trout

Sanirajak/Hall Beach

Trying their luck catching Arctic char and trout, elementary students at Arnaqjuaq School went fishing at Hall Lake on May 27, said the principal.

Dave Debrecen added the high school students were set to go out on June 3.

"They were really excited. I don't think it was all that great. There were a few little ones caught but it was just an outing for them to get out and see it," he said.

- Jeanne Gagnon

Residents share opinions

Sanikiluaq

Residents who went to the Liquor Task Force meeting spoke their minds on May

17.

"It went well," said Muhamud Hassan, Sanikiliuaq's senior administrative officer.

The representatives with the task force met with council, did a presentation and then had a public meeting.

"Issues and concerns were raised," Hassan said.

He said the hamlet plans to put forward a written submission to the board.

The task force's visit to the community was similar to those it has been making to all the communities in the territory.

- Emily Ridlington

Hamlet Day celebrations and Spring Games

Taloyoak/Spence Bay

Hamlet Day celebrations and Spring Games attracted hundreds of residents late last month.

Rosie Tucktoo, Taloyoak's recreation co-ordinator, said on May 24, Hamlet Day, about 250 people attended activities on the sea ice, such as relay games and short snowmobile races with jerry cans.

From May 25 to 28, Taloyoak held its annual Spring Games with games on the sea ice and a fishing derby, she added

Tucktoo said people had fun and the turnout was good.

"A couple of days it was windy, but they were still playing," she said.

- Jeanne Gagnon