QAMANITTUAQ/BAKER LAKE
Baker Lake Hamlet Day festivities were under a shadow last week as community members learned two travellers to the community from Rankin Inlet were overdue.
On May 6, two men left Rankin Inlet headed to Baker Lake by snowmobile. Late the next evening, the two were reported overdue to Baker Lake RCMP and local search-and-rescue.
According to police, searchers located one man in good health on May 8 but were still looking for the second, an elderly man in his 70s, who had become separated from his companion, police said. Mayor Joe Aupaluktuq said his understanding is that one of the men fell off the snowmobile the two were travelling on without the other noticing. Nunavut News/North was unable to find out further details by press time.
By the afternoon of May 11 the search was ongoing and involved the co-ordinated volunteer efforts of four communities - Baker Lake, Chesterfield Inlet, Whale Cove and Rankin Inlet - a helicopter, and some financial support from the local mining industry for aviation fuel.
Richard Aksawnee, chair of the search-and-rescue organization, said the volunteers were headquartered at the local arena.
"It's busy little place," he said, explaining how the arena is doubling as Hamlet Day host and search-and-rescue communication HQ.
On Friday, Aupaluktuq said the search-and-rescue team had spotted some tracks but he had also heard conflicting reports. A second base camp was set up on the other side of the lake.
With donations from mining companies Agnico-Eagle and Areva, Baker Lake's Hamlet Day festivities, which ran from May 6 to 11, went ahead with a big feast and lots of prizes. The atmosphere may have been dampened with peoples' thoughts being elsewhere, but Hamlet Day had to go on, said Aupaluktuq.
"We had the feast and the games and everyone's concerned but we're trying to keep each other busy," he said. "On the advice of two elders, they said keep the games going to keep people occupied and where they can talk to each other."
Aupaluktuq said he believes both the festival and search will ultimately
prove successful.
"I have a lot of faith in both the recreation department and the search-and-rescue. I fully support both," he said, adding that the town was treated to a 15-and-under jigging contest. "It was nice to watch them. It was like an ice-breaker. People are concerned but trying to play games at the same time."
