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News Briefs: Monday, April 22, 2013
Liquor seizure in Tulita
RCMP in Tulita stopped a snowmobile on the Mackenzie River north of Tulita at 1:15 a.m. on April 19 and discovered a large quantity of liquor destined for the community.
Police seized 83 375-ml bottles of vodka, said RCMP media relations officer Cpl. Barry Ledoux.
Charges of unlawful possession under the Tulita Restricted Liquor Regulations are pending against two Tulita men, aged 26 and 45. Their identities are being withheld until formal charges are laid.
The men were intercepted after the RCMP was informed of the activity. Police are asking the public to contact the Tulita RCMP with any information concerning illegal liquor transportation.
- Sarah Ladik
Akaitcho to announce devolution position
Ndilo acting chief Roy Erasmus Sr. said April 18 that the Akaitcho chiefs would be meeting over this past weekend and plan to announce their official position on devolution on April 24.
The Akaitcho First Nation and Dehcho First Nation are the only two First Nations that have so far refused to sign on to the devolution agreement.
"It will be good to have control of Northern resources here in the North," Erasmus Sr. said.
- Sarah Ladik
College convocation this week in Fort Smith
Aurora College will begin its convocation season this week in Fort Smith.
The convocation at Thebacha Campus is set for April 26. Convocations will be held later at the Aurora College campuses in Yellowknife and Inuvik.
- Paul Bickford
Info on employment standards legislation
An information session will be held next week in Fort Smith on employment standards legislation.
The Department of Education, Culture and Employment will be presenting the information session from 10:30 a.m. to noon on April 29 at the Sweet Grass Building.
The session will answer questions on such issues as overtime pay, statutory holidays, vacation pay, termination pay and more.
- Paul Bickford
Carpentry course in Fort Resolution
Deninu Ku'e/Fort Resolution
Deninu Ku'e First Nation in Fort Resolution is offering a month-long carpentry trainee course.
The course - for four trainees aged 18 to 30 years - will begin on May 1 and run to June 3.
The participants, who will all be members of the First Nation, will gain work experience in the carpentry field to prepare them for possible career opportunities or to enter post-secondary education.
Chief Louis Balsillie said the trainees will be making about 160 garbage boxes, which will be placed around Fort Resolution.
Balsillie said that will help with the beautification of the community.
- Paul Bickford
Hockey tournament ends the season
Ulukhaktok/Holman
Following the end of the senior hockey season in Ulukhaktok in early April, the hamlet is holding a just-for-fun tournament for all ages.
Recreation co-ordinator Joanne Ogina said that more than 40 people, from age five to seniors, were signed up and had been divided into three teams. The teams have a mix of all ages and abilities. Ogina said she did her best to make them even in terms of skill-levels and experience. Games began on April 15 and wrapped up Saturday, April 20, with a hot dog lunch.
"Every year, we have to shorten the season," Ogina said. "We have natural ice and it melts earlier every year."
The hamlet has held the tournament for the last five years or so and it always follows the end of the senior hockey season.
"It's just a chance for everyone to get out and have fun before the ice melts," she said.
- Sarah Ladik
Community consulted on energy development
Aklavik
The National Energy Board held a meeting with community members in Aklavik on April 15.
The board is an independent watchdog the federal government set up in 1959 to monitor energy companies.
Only five residents attended the meeting, said Aklavik Hunters and Trappers committee's Michelle Gruben - one of the five - but there was a productive discussion nonetheless.
All energy companies must gain approval from the National Energy Board before they can proceed with operations, and the board tours affected communities to document their reaction and concerns.
According to Gruben, the board said that although it had no applications before it at the moment, they expected one from Imperial Oil within a year.
- Sarah Ladik
Union info course in Fort Smith
Thebacha/Fort Smith
The Union of Northern Workers (UNW) Local 2, in Fort Smith is presenting a course titled Understanding Your Collective Agreement for the union's members in the community.
The course will be presented on April 27 and 28.
The first day will be an introduction to the union.
The second day will be a review of the collective agreements with the GNWT, the Town of Fort Smith and the Fort Smith Housing Authority.
The workshop will be instructed by Chaka Rukobo, an education/service officer with the UNW in Yellowknife.
It will be open to members of the UNW's Local 2 and Local 12 in Fort Smith.
- Paul Bickford
Fruitman visits Tuk
Tuktoyaktuk
Bill Rutherford, better known as the Fruitman, visited Tuk on April 15.
Community corporation manager Noella Cockney said there were five or six trucks already waiting when Rutherford opened up his trailer for business.
"He's been doing this for years," she said. "It's always really good to see him in town."
Cockney said Rutherford tries to make at least five or six trips to the Delta communities in the winter, but stays in the Inuvik and Fort McPherson area during the summer. He drives down to British Columbia for fresh produce and trucks it north in a refrigerated trailer.
Rutherford's wares, however, aren't limited to fruits and vegetables. He also brings up big bags of flour and sugar, toilet paper and paper towel in bulk, and many other large-format comforts not available in remote communities.
- Sarah Ladik
Kiddie Carnival touches down in Fort McPherson
Tetlit'Zheh/Fort McPherson
While the adults were enjoying their own carnival last week in Fort McPherson, the children were equally occupied.
Norma Snowshoe, Leadership Resiliency Program senior adviser, and Jayda Andre organized a Kiddie Carnival to keep the youngsters entertained throughout on April 11 and 12.
"It was really great to see all the kids getting out there, doing the activities and enjoying the warm weather," Snowshoe said.
Games included snowshoe and gunny-sack races, egg tossing, and bubble-gum- and biscuit-chewing competitions, and festivities ended with a talent show on Friday evening.
Donavyn Greenland and Micheala Koe, both in Grade 1, were crowned prince and princess of the carnival.
- Sarah Ladik
Nurse to hike volcano in Iceland
Thebacha/Fort Smith
Leah MacDonald, a Fort Smith nurse, will be participating in the Reykjavik Marathon in Iceland later this summer to raise money for the Canadian Diabetes Association.
MacDonald will be in the marathon's Conquer the Crater - a one-day, 24-km hike on a volcano.
She is the only resident of the NWT among the 96 Canadians registered as part of Team Diabetes, a fundraising initiative by the Canadian Diabetes Association.
The Reykjavik Marathon will take place on Aug. 23.
MacDonald's goal is to raise $6,100 for diabetes research and support for patients, and to help seek a cure for the disease.
"I'm getting a lot of support and encouragement," she said. "It's really awesome to see."
Overall, it is expected that Team Diabetes involvement in the Reykjavik Marathon will help raise a minimum of $585,600 for the Canadian Diabetes Association.
- Paul Bickford
Third teacher charged for sex crimes
Qikiqtarjuaq/Broughton Island
Police have charged a teacher at Inuksuit School in Qikiqtarjuaq with two counts of sexual interference with a minor and one count of sexual assault.
Following a complaint from a student, Qikiqtarjuaq RCMP conducted an investigation and charged the teacher April 15, who, according to a RCMP release, has not been identified "to protect the identities of those victimized."
The teacher was released by a justice of the peace with conditions not to have contact with anyone under the age of 16.
The charges mark the third such incident in Nunavut within the last month. A Kimmirut teacher was charged with what was described as an "historical" sexual assault on April 8, including one count of sexual assault and one count of sexual exploitation. On March 27 an Iqaluit teacher was charged with three counts of sexual interference.
- Peter Worden
Fire leaves one person dead
Ikaluktutiak/Cambridge Bay
One woman is dead and three people have been treated for smoke inhalation after an April 17 fire in Cambridge Bay.
Fire chief Keith Morrison said the department got the call at about 10:43 p.m. on April 17, arriving within seven or eight minutes to the single-family dwelling.
"The fire had been extinguished by the occupants of the house," said Morrison.
Four adults were inside but one was deceased, he added. The other treated for smoke inhalation at the health centre but one was medevaced to Yellowknife, said Morrison. The cause of the fire is under investigation. The woman is not being named while the police notify next of kin.
- Jeanne Gagnon
Supreme Court to hear Bishop case on Oct. 18
Nunavut
The Supreme Court of Canada has tentatively scheduled to hear the case of a 2007 Cambridge Bay triple-slaying, in the community on Oct. 18.
The Nunavut Court of Appeal ruled in late January a new trial should be held for Chris Bishop, who had been convicted of three counts of murder and two of attempted murder in 2010.
- Jeanne Gagnon
20th anniversary of land claim
Iqaluit
Premier Eva Aariak and ministers marked the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (NLCA) in at a ceremonial cabinet meeting inside an iglu behind the legislative assembly building April 11 in Iqaluit.
The NLCA, first signed in 1993 between Inuit and the Canadian Government was the basis for creating the new territory of Nunavut and "an event that forever changed the people of a new territory and Canada's place in the Arctic," Aariak said in Inuktitut to a crowd outside the iglu.
"The next step in building Nunavut will involve taking back control over our lands, waters and resources under devolution," she said.
- Peter Worden
Person in custody after fire
Iqaluit
Police have one person in custody for questioning after a suspicious fire last Thursday afternoon in Iqaluit.
RCMP members and two fire trucks responded to the fire that broke out shortly after 2 p.m. in house 224. Flames were visible inside the house and firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze. Police and the Fire Marshall's Office are now investigating the fire they've deemed suspicious. No injuries were reported.
- Peter Wordem
Visiting scientists
Qausuittuq/Resolute
Two University of Ottawa students are scheduled to visit Qarmartalik School in April 18 and 19 to introduce kids to science.
Principal Vince Pickett said the students in Resolute should enjoy the scientists' visit.
"It is a very important component of the education process and the more they get to like science, the better students will be," he said. "They will be in the classrooms working with students and the science teachers, doing a lot of practical hands-on activities."
- Jeanne Gagnon
Environmental monitoring program
Kugluktuk/Coppermine
A number of Kugluktuk residents will get an opportunity to learn about monitoring risks and mitigation measures as part of a course Nunavut Arctic College is offering for the first time in the community.
The environmental monitor training program will be offered from April 22 to May 24.
"I would think it would be quite popular because it has core skills that might be needed for any mining company or environmentally-related company. We think it's a good time of year to run the program before the research season begins," said Mary Ellen Thomas, senior research officer at the Nunavut Research Institute.
- Jeanne Gagnon
New name for art room
Kinngait/Cape Dorset
Peter Pitseolak School in Cape Dorset will be busy in the next few weeks.
The high school will officially dedicate its art room to the late Kenojuak Ashevak, a renowned Inuit artist who died Jan. 8, said principal Mike Soares.
The dedication will be formally made before the end of the school year.
"Her family has given us permission to name our art room the Kenojuak Ashevak Art Room," he said.
Soares is also spearheading an effort to revamp the school's art curriculum.
In a presentation made last summer, Soares noted the school's art program was in a "state of neglect" in 2010-2011.
"During the previous years, art teaching assignments were a weak link in the delivery of the curriculum," he wrote.
The school was not reflective of Cape Dorset's art scene, he added.
"Peter Pitseolak School's art program should be more culturally reflective and supportive of the art that has made Cape Dorset known around the world," wrote Soares.
High school teachers lacked arts training, he said. So during the 2011-12 school year, teachers and students spent time at the West Baffin Eskimo Co-op. Soares said things are moving along, albeit slowly.
"We're pretty enthused about bringing change to things," he said.
- Jeanne Gagnon
A first for Nunavut Law Foundation
Nunavut/Chesterfield Inlet
Mandy Sammurtok has been appointed to a twoyear term as chairperson of the Nunavut Law Foundation. This marks the first time an Inuk has held the position.
The announcement was made by the Nunavut Law Foundation this past week.
Sammurtok, originally from Chesterfield Inlet, received her law degree from the University of Manitoba in 2007 and was called to the Manitoba bar in 2008.
She has been practising criminal law at Maliiganik Tukiisiniakvik in Iqaluit since passing the Nunavut bar in 2009.
- Darrell Greer
Square dance showdown
Uqsuqtuuq/Gjoa Haven
There will be a lot of music and dancing in Gjoa Haven as the community is hosting the Square Dance Showdown from April 19 to 21.
Participants from Taloyoak, Kugluktuk, Baker Lake, Kugaaruk, Rankin Inlet and Gjoa Haven are expected to attend the event in the gym of the Quqshuun Ilihakvik, said Elizabeth Anavilok, the hamlet's acting recreation co-ordinator.
"I am pretty sure it's going to be really popular over the weekend," she said.
- Jeanne Gagnon
Science is fun
Ikpiarjuk/Arctic Bay
For the third time now Inuujaq School students from kindergarten through Grade 12 welcomed travelling educators from Elephant Thoughts, an educational charity from Collingwood, Ont., who were offering hands-on science workshops.
The Elephant Thoughts instructors held lessons on a variety of topics from biodiversity to electricity, light and sound, forces and motion and heat.
"Students learned the properties of light and sound while playing laser tag in the gym," said principal Dr. Abdus Salam, who first brought the Elephant Thoughts team to the school in 2008. "They also were able to test Newton's laws of motion while crashing into each other in inflatable balls called Body Zorbs."
- Peter Worden
School out, game on
Kangiqtugaapik/Clyde River
School was closed last week in Clyde River as teachers held annual meetings, which meant it was game on for Archie Aipellee, who runs the hamlet's recreation activities.
"Every afternoon I let the kids play soccer and soccer-baseball. There was lots of turnout," said Aipellee, who ramps up sports and activities for children.
Aipellee also held a teen dance one night at the community hall, an ice sculpture building contest and a picnic for the community two kilometres away from the hamlet.
"It was busy for me for a couple of weeks," he said. "It was worth it. It was nice weather all week."
- Peter Worden
Perfect attendance in Arctic Bay
Ikpiarjuk/Arctic Bay
As part of Inuujaq School's positive schooling policy, principal Dr. Abdus Salam said he was proud to honour 13 students with perfect school attendance at a ceremony in the school gymnasium.
Teacher Abbigail Ulikatar handed out certificates to Kayla Aola, Martin Barnabas, Maryann Arnauyumayuq, Martha Kadloo, Joey Issigaitok, Andy Hughes, Felix Enoogoo, Suzanne Barnabas, Romeo Qavavauq, Sheila Shappa, Kayleen Utak and Jessie Jr. Shooyook.
"We generally give gift certificates to the first, second, and third-highest attending classes for a month to have a pizza party to give encouragement to the class," said Salam.
This month, Inuujaq's kindergarten class, with an 88 per cent attendance rate, took the cake (or pizza) with an $80 gift certificate. The Grade 5 class received a $70 gift certificate and the Grade 3 class got a $60 gift certificate.
- Peter Worden
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