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News Briefs: Monday, October 10, 2011
Aboriginal business awards
The Northern Aboriginal Business Association will be holding its annual general meeting and business awards ceremony this week.
All members are welcome to attend the AGM, which takes place Tuesday evening in Yellowknife.
The business award winners will be announced at the NWT Business Conference on Thursday.
The two awards up for grabs include the aboriginal business of excellence award - open to all NWT businesses with more than 51 per cent ownership held by aboriginal individuals or organizations. Also up for the taking is the distinguished business leadership award, which is open to all Northern businesses that "show exemplary ethical standards, product/service quality, leadership and commitment to working within the NWT business community as a whole," according to the organization.
Hay River SAO hired
The Town of Hay River has found its new senior administrative officer (SAO), and it's the man who has been filling the position on an interim basis.
Michael Richardson has been contracted by town council to become SAO for a three-year term ending Oct. 18, 2014.
The new SAO still has to be officially appointed by the passage of a bylaw. Richardson has filled the position since former SAO Terry Molenkamp stepped down in April after 19 years with the town.
- Paul Bickford
Speeding in school zones
About 20 per cent of drivers in Hay River speed through school zones. That information is in a municipal enforcement report to Hay River town council from bylaw officer Dave Ryan. However, speeding in school zones is not Ryan's only concern about safety on the town's streets. He also noted about 40 per cent of people, including children, do not wear seatbelts while in vehicles.
- Paul Bickford
Arctic ozone hole
A huge hole in the ozone layer opened up over the Arctic last summer, a research paper in the journal Nature reported on Sunday, Oct. 2.
The hole - which measured two million square kms - opened up between February and March. As a result, Environment Canada issued a statement that UV levels were as much as 60 per cent higher than normal under the hole, which rotated over Northern Canada, Europe, Russia and Asia until fall, when air currents in the upper atmosphere mixed the ozone and closed the hold, the study says.
This study, published by a team of 29 international researchers, was put out at the same time as the Canadian government is scaling back its ozone monitoring network due to budget cuts.
- Laura Busch
Pipeline protest
Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus travelled to Ottawa to participate in the demonstrations against the Keystone XL pipeline project on Sept. 26 He then continued on to Washington, D.C., where he participated in the final hearings on the issue before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton makes the final decision on the project's fate.
The proposed pipeline would carry one million barrels of oil per day from the oil sands in northern Alberta to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.
"If this pipeline is approved, then it means they will expand the tar sands," said Erasmus, "and expansion means more tailings ponds and more use of water and we're feeling the effects. We need to do research, we need to study this, we need to understand it before we move any further to expansion."
- Laura Busch
A warm, safe place to play
Tuktoyaktuk
Kid's Club is being held Monday through Friday at Kitti Hall in Tuktoyaktuk from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. The goal is to provide children from kindergarten to Grade 4 with an indoor playground.
"We believe this will give the smaller kids a safe alternative for their after-school play," said Charo Lloret, recreation co-ordinator for the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk. "Winter is around the corner and it's just to provide the kids with a place where they can play and have some fun in a controlled environment in a warm place."
The program needs donations of toys, recreation equipment and money for healthy snacks.
- Laura Busch
Good news for traditional hunters
Paulatuk
Funding for the Community Harvesters' Assistance Program (CHAP) has doubled since last year in Paulatuk. This is good news for hunters, who are dealing with an unusually warm year. Caribou being harvested in the area are fairly lean, which could be due to the heat experienced in July that made the animals run more than usual, according to the Paulatuk Hunters and Trappers Committee.
"It's a big help for the community," said Dian Ruben, resource person for the Paulatuk HTC. "We're trying to assist as many people as we can to help them purchase harvesting equipment."
Through CHAP, the GNWT's Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment provides annual funding for traditional harvesters in the NWT.
- Laura Busch
Rogue bear makes it on the web
Behchoko/Rae-Edzo
Video footage of a bear trying to break into a Behchoko home Sunday, Sept. 25 has interested YouTube viewers. The three videos posted to the popular video-sharing website have received more than 4,500 views, or two-and-a-half times the population of the hamlet.
There were six people working on a window in the home, which belongs to Irene Lafferty. No one was injured, but the bear was apparently destroyed when it refused to leave the area.
- Laura Busch
Is your home ready for winter?
Lli Goline/Norman Wells
The Arctic Energy Alliance (AEA) was in Norman Wells last week for an Energy Conservation Fair. Events included a chili night on Thursday accompanied by a mini trade fair hosted by the AEA, the Town of Norman Wells, the Department of Public Works and Services, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the NWT Housing Corporation and the Northwest Territories Power Corporation. On Friday, the Pembina Institute led school-aged youths in energy-related activities. Saturday's trade show featured four workshops put on by the AEA about safe and efficient wood heating, the energy efficiency incentive program and Energy Star, winterizing and air sealing your home and heating with pellets.
As well, Steve Outlet, a program co-ordinator with AEA, spent time visiting residents in the community to offer advice on how to make their homes more energy efficient for the coming winter months.
"Furnace maintenance and boiler maintenance is a very important one no matter where you live," Outlet said when asked what easy measures could be taken by anyone to improve their home's efficiency. "I mean, lots of people, they don't realize how much difference just a layer of plastic on their windows makes."
The AEA provides free counselling to all NWT residents who have questions about how to improve the energy efficiency of their homes or about different incentive programs.
- Laura Busch
Family Violence Awareness Week
Tuktoyaktuk
This week is Family Violence Awareness Week across the territory. In Tuktoyaktuk, there was an elders' luncheon on Tuesday. Last Friday, where the event was marked a week early, there was be a Take Back the Night walk from the point to Kitti Hall. There is also a poster contest underway all week for children and youth to submit posters that are being hung on the walls of Kitti Hall.
Events are also taking place in Hay River, Yellowknife, Aklavik, Fort Simpson and Fort Good Hope.
- Laura Busch
Program gives travel opportunities to Northern Youth
NWT
Northern Youth Abroad is now accepting applications for its 2012 program.
The program gives youth in Nunavut and the NWT the opportunity to travel - either within Canada or abroad - in order to experience other cultures and gain high school credits.
Selected participants will be notified in December and begin to complete activities in January, such as fundraising $700, which is the only money required to participate. Travel takes place in late-June to August. First-time participants travel in pairs to different host communities throughout Canada while alumni of the program travel internationally.
"The original goal was to provide and opportunity to travel outside of their home communities and gain self-confidence in who they were and where they were from," said Rebecca Bisson, program director for Northern Youth Abroad, "to get some experience being independent so that if they were to travel to post-secondary, they would have some of the life skills that would make that easier."
Applications for participants in the NWT are due Nov. 4 and can be found and submitted online.
- Laura Busch
Different kind of book launch
Hay River
The public library in Hay River will be hosting a different kind of book launch on Oct. 14.
The launch will be for the book 'Justice Miscarried: Inside Wrongful Convictions in Canada' by Fort Smith writer Helena Katz.
Christine Gyapay, head librarian at the NWT Centennial Library, said Katz will set up a game where a script based on a real trial is read, with one person playing the prosecutor and another person playing the defendant.
"The audience is the jury," Gyapay said. "They have to come to the verdict."
They can then compare their decision to what happened in the real trial.
The book launch will begin at 7 p.m. on Oct. 14
- Paul Bickford
Date set for Fort Smith AGM
Thebacha/Fort Smith
A date has been set for the Town of Fort Smith's second annual general meeting.
It will be held on Oct. 25.
The AGM was originally set for Oct. 3, but was delayed when the town did not receive its audited financial statement in time.
Along with a look at the financial situation of the town, there will be a review of an annual report on town operations and a question and answer session in which residents can raise concerns they may have.
Mayor Janie Hobart noted about 25 people attended the town's first AGM last October.
Hobart is hoping for an even larger turnout of residents on Oct. 25.
- Paul Bickford
Flag football tournament
Hay River
The Town of Hay River and the Hay River Community Youth Centre are throwing a fun flag football tournament.
The event will be held on Oct. 15 beginning at 1 p.m. on the field at Diamond Jenness Secondary School, or in the school's gym in case of inclement weather.
Teams will consist of five players.
There will be snacks and prizes for competitors. Interested persons can register for the tournament or get more information at the Don Stewart Recreation Centre.
- Paul Bickford
NWT SPCA seeks donations
NWT
The NWT SPCA has launched its fundraiser "all in a day's work" as a follow-up to last year's Aviva Community Fund Challenge.
The fundraiser runs from Oct. 4 to Dec. 24 and aims to help the SPCA raise some of the $30,000 still needed to complete its new shelter in Yellowknife. It asks that participants donate one day's salary to the cause.
"That's just one day of work, that in turn will translate into thousands of nights of shelter for future abandoned animals looking for a home, and thousands of opportunities for new families to be formed through future adoptions," reads the NWT SPCA's Facebook page of the event.
- Laura Busch
Students return after fuel leak
Panniqtuuq/Pangnirtung
Students returned to Alookie School in Pangnirtung Oct. 3 after having more than a week off due to a fuel leak in the furnace.
The problem started Sept. 21 when the furnace failed to light on its own, and the fuel kept pouring in to the furnace and onto the floor.
"The DEA decided to close the school because people were having a reaction to the smell," principal Mary Etuangat said.
Teachers and students tried to return on Sept. 23 and 26, but the situation was not good enough to return, she said.
Eight teaching days were lost due to the closure. The cause is unknown, but a power outage the previous day before the league may have played a role.
- Casey Lessard
Successful hunt
Salliq/Coral Harbour
The community of Coral Harbour was in full-celebration mode this past month after a team of hunters landed a bowhead whale.
The 16-metre whale was caught near the eastern tip of Southampton Island.
The successful catch followed two previous unsuccessful attempts by the Coral hunters. Maktaaq was distributed to all in the community who wanted some, and a giant community feast was held on Sept. 26.
- Darrell Greer
In search of narwhal
Qikiqtarjuaq/Broughton Island
Hunters spent part of the week in Muktuk Fiord after narwhal were spotted there the weekend of Oct. 1.
"We usually get narwhal at this time of year," economic development officer Leelee Kakkee said. "Even in the harbour sometimes."
Muktuk Fiord is about 45 minutes by boat from Qikiqtarjuaq, Kakkee said.
- Casey Lessard
Furnace problems close school for half day
Kinngait/Cape Dorset
Ongoing furnace problems have closed Sam Pudlat School during the morning of Oct. 3, and the principal said he is concerned as no one knows why the boilers shut off on their own.
David Webber said people in the community can get the boilers started again but they don't know how to fix the problem.
"We've opened it this afternoon (Oct. 3) because the furnaces are going again but our furnaces have shut off five days in a row, so we're having major problems with our boilers," he said.
"Some rooms this morning were nine degrees; we just couldn't have people come in and sit in that temperature so we had to close school this morning."
The school has had ongoing problems with both its boilers for about a month, an issue Webber wants resolved before the cold weather sets in. He understands a furnace expert is coming in the next couple of weeks.
"We're concerned since this is an ongoing maintenance problem. If the cause is not corrected, we could be into quite serious problems when the weather gets cold," he said. "We will be into missing time (if it is not fixed) because if those furnaces don't come on for a couple of hours, the building quickly cools off. And a building this size, once it does cool off, it takes several hours to get it back up to temperature."
- Jeanne Gagnon
Shipping cans
Kangiqliniq/Rankin Inlet
An initiative has been launched that will see 17 containers full of cans and bottles shipped to a southern recycling facility from Rankin Inlet.
Rankin ran one of the most successful recycling programs in Nunavut for a number of years, but did not have the needed funding to ship the containers south.
The new initiative is being led by Arctic Co-operatives, which will use the money from its 10-cent charge on plastic bags in the community to pay for the transportation.
Arctic Co-operatives is the majority owner of Nunavut Sealink and Supply, which will ship the containers.
It is estimated there are more than three million cans and bottles waiting to head south.
- Darrell Greer
Sole cruise ship lands
Ausuittuq/Grise Fiord
Tourists on the only cruise ship to visit Grise Fiord this year were welcomed with open arms Sept. 8, visit organizer and Arctic College instructor Jimmie Qaapik said.
Ten Grise Fiord residents were brought aboard the Clipper Adventurer for breakfast with the ship's 98 clients. In return, the visitors were treated to a walking tour, visiting the Arctic Exile monument erected last year, the co-op, the health centre and the community centre. There, they watched a cultural show and qulliq lighting, as well as a traditional Inuit fashion show involving children and adults.
Most of the tourists were from North America, Qaapik said, but some were from Australia and Europe.
All received a certificate recognizing their visit to the far North.
- Casey Lessard
Student visit
Kugluktuk/Coppermine
About nine Schools on Board participants were set to visit Kugluktuk High School the first week of October to talk about their 10-day experience aboard the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Amundsen.
Principal Gary Kennedy said one of the students is KHS Grade 11 student Kendra Bolt.
"They're coming back and doing a presentation to students and the staff about their experience," he said.
Schools on Board is an ArcticNet outreach program that conducts Arctic research from the CGGS Amundsen. High school students and teachers participate in research activities with the scientists onboard the icebreaker.
- Jeanne Gagnon
About $800 raised during Terry Fox Run
Sanirajak/Hall Beach
The high winds and the cold did not stop about 200 people, including Arnaqjuaq School students, from participating in the Terry Fox Run on Sept. 30 in Hall Beach.
Principal Michael Westley said about $800 was raised during the event, which included an approximately three-kilometre walk/run, a presentation about Terry Fox as well as juice and cookies at the end.
"The students were delighted with the event," he said.
"It probably has been one of the highlights of the year so far. They are very enthusiastic about being physically active."
- Jeanne Gagnon
Trying to stop bullying
Kangiqliniq/Rankin Inlet
Teachers at Maani Ulujuk Ilinniarvik (MUI) are hoping to begin teaching their students the necessary skills to deal with bullies this school semester.
Every junior high teacher at the school is taking training this week through the Canadian Red Cross program, RespectED, from Oct. 4-6.
It is hoped the teachers will gain the knowledge to teach their students the skills they need to increase
their self-respect and stand up to bullies.
A parent meeting is slated for tonight, Oct. 5, at MUI beginning at 7 p.m.
The Red Cross instructor will be present to meet with the parents and discuss the program.
Fishing boats take shelter
Qikiqtarjuaq/Broughton Island
Four offshore fishing boats had to take shelter in Qikiqtarjuaq Oct. 1 when wind and waves were too strong in the Davis Strait.
"It was windy," said economic development officer Leelee Kakkee. "Waves were bad, and wind was likely about 50 km/h."
The boats were halibut and turbot vessels, Kakkee said.
"Usually we don't get that many boats in one day," he noted.
- Casey Lessard
Phone book recycling brings schools money
Five schools in Iqaluit earned a total of $3,000 for school programs last month by collecting more than 2,000 old phone books for recycling.
NorthwesTel ran the program, offering $750 for schools that collected an average of two directories per student, and $500 for those that collected 1.25 per student. Nanook School in Apex and Ecole des Trois-Soleils each earned $750, and Inuksuk High School, Joamie Ilinniarvik School and Nakasuk School each earned $500.
Nanook parents found enough phone books to share the wealth with other schools.
"It made sense to share our collection and ensure a positive impact on as many students as possible," Nanook principal Mathew Knickelbein said in a release.
Since 2002, NorthwesTel has collected and recycled more than 119,000 phone books from the North.
- Casey Lessard
Crash victim worked at Qulliq Energy
A man who died in a Northwest Territories plane crash has worked at Qulliq Energy.
NWT Power Corp. employee Tim Harris, 54, perished after an Air Tindi Cessna 208B crashed about 40 km west of Lutsel K'e around noon on Oct. 4. The scheduled flight was en route to the community on the south shore of Great Slave Lake from Yellowknife.
Harris was the director of operations in Iqaluit for Qulliq Energy Corporation from September 2009 to early August 2010.
- Jeanne Gagnon
Elders warned about compensation scam
Nunavut
Qikiqtani Inuit Association is warning of a scam that aims to get financial information from people, especially elders affected by a mass slaughter of sled dogs by RCMP in the 1950s.
A man speaking Inuktitut is calling elders in the region, the QIA said in a release, and claiming that the elder will be receiving compensation.
To process the payment, the man says, he asks people for personal information. The QIA says this information could be used by the man to access loans and credit cards in the elder's name.
The QIA warns people not to give out such information, to ask for the caller's name, address and phone number, and to give that information to the RCMP.
Such crimes are "a violation of trust," QIA president Okalik Eegeesiak said in the release, "and a failure to uphold our Inuit value of respecting elders."
QIA has alerted RCMP to the scam.
- Casey Lessard
Suicide-awareness training videos
Nunavut
Nunavut-based and adapted video clips showing people in various settings responding to suicidal behaviour are currently in production by the GN.
An adapted version to the Nunavut context of the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, Uqaqatigiiluk! (Talk about it!) is in the final phase of development, stated Pam Coulter, director of communications for the Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs. This includes Inuktitut translation, new print materials as well as Nunavut-based and tailored audio-visual components of the program.
The video clips, both in English and Inuktitut, to be used during the two-day training, show people in various settings responding to suicidal behaviour.
"The new materials, including the audio-visual components, will strengthen the delivery of the workshops both in English and Inuktitut," stated Coulter via e-mail.
Health Canada provided funding for the development of the Nunavut-adapted ASIST as part of the broader Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy and Action Plan. Inuit Communications Systems Limited has the contract to redo the videos.
Nunavut's Health and Social Services Department has scheduled 13 Uqaqatigiiluk! workshops throughout the territory starting in November.
- Jeanne Gagnon
Pond Inlet murder charge may be reduced
Mittimatalik/Pond Inlet
The Crown prosecutor's office is in discussions to avoid a trial in the case of Kenneth Arreak, who is accused of murdering his common-law wife Dec. 30, 2010.
The woman died after an assault that included several blows to her head. No weapon was used. The woman's name was not released out of respect for the family.
"There's a prospect of resolution," defence lawyer Andrew Mahar told the court Oct. 3 by telephone.
Both sides suggested the case should go to the circuit court in Pond Inlet to allow the community to get closure. Crown prosecutor Chris Punter told the court the circuit court judge may want to come prepared with "manslaughter sentencing" rules.
"We are both trying to do this out of respect for those in the community," Punter said, noting both the victim's and Arreak's families are prominent members of the community.
Judge Rene Foisy expressed apprehension about forcing a circuit judge to make a verbal decision about a murder case, but Mahar and Punter said they would be prepared to provide an agreed statement of
facts to avoid any problems.
The case will be heard at the Pond Inlet circuit court the week of Jan. 31, 2012.
- Casey Lessard
Few applications for Piqqusilirivvik
Kangiqtugaapik/Clyde River
Only seven potential students have expressed an interest in attending the new Piqqusilirivvik Inuit Cultural Learning Facility in Clyde River.
Facility director Johnathan Palluq told News/North last month that he hoped to enrol one student from each of Nunavut's communities; as of Oct. 5, only two communities are represented with one applicant from Hall Beach and the other six from Clyde River, Palluq said.
The building, which cost $23 million opened in May.
The original deadline for applications passed Sept. 28, but the centre will continue to accept applications until the program starts at the end of October. Only one space is reserved for a student from Clyde River, he said, and the others will only be enrolled if there is not enough demand from other communities.
Courses offered include traditional Inuit cultural techniques, such as language, survival skills, tool-making, and child-rearing.
The classes are tuition-free and were originally set to start in September, but were postponed due to delays getting needed learning supplies such as lumber, tools and equipment. A second start date for early October has passed and the program is now set to start, regardless of enrolment numbers Oct. 31, Palluq said.
- Casey Lessard
Nine women get $2,500 Nunasi scholarships
Nunavut
Nine female students will have their financial burdens lightened somewhat this year thanks to a $2,500 scholarship given to each by Nunasi Corporation and Nuna Logistics.
The scholarships were awarded after being graded for academic excellence and financial need. Most of the recipients have funding, communications and marketing director Franco Buscemi said, but the recipients have said the scholarships will help cover outstanding costs, such as books and child care.
The recipients are: Francine Doucet of Iqaluit, Genevieve Killulark of Baker Lake, Laura Merritt of Rankin Inlet, Mary Taukie of Cape Dorset, Nadia Sammurtok of Rankin Inlet/Baker Lake, Nicole Wilcox of Cambridge Bay, Norma Jean Dunning-Levesque of Whale Cove, Sarah Topilikon of Cambridge Bay, and Sharon Angnakak of Iqaluit.
Of the 42 scholarship applications submitted to Nunasi, only two came from men.
- Casey Lessard
Schell minister of human resources
Nunavut
Nunavut's newest member of cabinet, Fred Schell, received the human resources portfolio, Premier Eva Aariak announced on Oct. 5.
The Cape Dorset MLA will assume the responsibility of the department of human resources immediately. That department was previously under the responsibility of Arviat MLA Daniel Shewchuk, who retains his other portfolios including environment and minister responsible for Nunavut Arctic College.
"I would first like to congratulate Minister Schell on his election to executive council," stated Aariak in a press release. "This department (human resources) faces many unique challenges and opportunities and I am confident Minister Schell will work vigorously to move this important file forward."
Schell was sworn-in to cabinet on Sept. 30.
The Legislative Assembly will reconvene Oct. 18.
- Jeanne Gagnon
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