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News Briefs: Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Investigation ongoing
The investigation into the shooting of Karen Lander by Yellowknife RCMP last March is still ongoing, according to the Medicine Hat Police Service which has been tasked with the investigation.
"We're waiting on the toxicology and coroner reports to come back," said Sgt. Jason Graham.
Results are expected to be released to the Lander family and the Yellowknife RCMP in the coming months, Graham said. Lander was shot and killed in an armed stand-off with police. An external investigation was initiated to look into the events leading up to the shooting.
- Sara Wilson
Medevac flights cleared
Medevac flights from the North will still be able to land on the second runway at Edmonton's City Centre Airport after it discontinues scheduled flights beginning Friday.
According to the City of Edmonton, the second runway will remain open for medevac flights until city council sets an official date to close the downtown airport.
The new landing location at Edmonton International Airport in Leduc will add an extra 30 to 40 minutes of travel time for patients coming from Stanton Territorial Hospital.
- Sara Wilson
Sentencing Friday
Robert Livingstone, convicted of possessing more than 2.9 kilograms of marijuana and 268 grams of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking, will be sentenced on Friday in NWT Supreme Court.
In court Monday, prosecutor Angie Paquin read the agreed statement of facts that on June 27, 2010, members of the Yellowknife RCMP intercepted a black Ford F-150 Livingstone was driving from British Columbia to Yellowknife, and after searching it, found the drugs concealed in plastic bags.
The drugs had an estimated street value of $90,000, according to RCMP. Justice Louise Charbonneau will sentence Livingstone on Friday morning.
- Katherine Hudson
Grad ceremony
Sir John Franklin High School is holding its annual graduation ceremony on Thursday to commemorate the achievements of 123 students. Students completed their exams on Wednesday and will attend their final assembly on Thursday.
- Myles Dolphin
Airport improvements
Kivalliq
The Kivalliq has seen a number of improvements at community airports that will continue this summer.
The airport equipment garages constructed at Repulse Bay and Whale Cove this past year will be finished this summer at a combined cost of about $1 million, while Chesterfield Inlet received an upgrade to its airfield lighting and will see improvements done to its terminal building.
Rankin Inlet will see $27 million worth of improvements at its airport this summer, with the majority going to improve the tarmac and terminal building.
Baker Lake will receive $6 million in airport improvements, while Arviat is receiving a new plow truck and maintenance vehicle.
Solid showing
Baker Lake/Yellowknife
The Agnico-Eagle team from the Meadowbank gold mine near Baker Lake put in a solid showing at the 55th Mine Rescue Competition in Yellowknife earlier this month.
The Meadowbank squad took top spot in the individual task of firefighting at the event.
The team from BHP Billiton (Ekati Diamond Mine) won the overall surface competition, while Rio Tinto (Diavik Diamond Mine) took top spot overall in the underground competition.
Health funding announced
Nunavut
Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced the feds have earmarked $25 million to be spent during the next 10 years to research aboriginal health problems.
Aglukkaq made the announcement in Iqaluit this past week. The research will focus on suicide, tuberculosis, oral health and obesity.
Aboriginal groups, researchers and health officials will meet this coming October to discuss how the money, funded under the new Pathways to Health Equity for Aboriginal Peoples, will be allocated.
Dean's list
Baker Lake/Vancouver
Kyle McLean of Baker Lake was placed on the Dean's List at Capilano University in Vancouver, B.C., earlier this month.
Students named to the Dean's List must maintain a grade point average of 3.67 or better in a full program of studies.
The designation will be recorded on McLean's transcript as a permanent record of his accomplishment.
McLean, who took kindergarten to Grade 9 in Baker, enrolled in Capilano's motion picture production program in 2010 after graduating from Oak Park High School in Winnipeg, Man.
Turbine woes
Rankin Inlet
The blades let go from the 12yearold wind turbine in Rankin Inlet earlier this month.
The Qulliq Energy Corp. has announced the cause of the blade failure is unknown and no plans are currently in the works to repair the turbine.
The windmill was the latest in a series of pilot projects began in the 1990s that all met with failure.
Expressing concern
Baker Lake
The Hamlet of Baker Lake has written to the Nunavut government, the Kivalliq Inuit Association, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. to express its shock and concern over the early closing of the Meadowbank gold mine.
Hamlet council stated the closure will have a devastating effect on the community, pushing its unemployment rate to 80 per cent.
The Baker council said a plan of action must be addressed and formalized now so a comprehensive course of action is in place before the mine closes in 2017.
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