KIMMIRUT/LAKE HARBOUR
It may not have seemed like much at the time, just simple hospitality, but the way three young Kimmirummiut welcomed a pair of southern visitors triggered an avalanche of thanks.

Kimmirut Qaqqalik School students Simata Aqpik, left, T.J. Kolola and Nushuta Padluq were on hand in January to receive a delivery of computers donated as a result of the way the boys treated a pair of southern visitors in July 2013. - photo courtesy of Billy Akavak

Simata Aqpik, 10, T.J. Kolola, 11, and Nushuta Padluq, 14, are getting credit for welcoming tourists Blake Holton and Jay Sherwin of Port Hope, Ont., after they returned from a two-week walk along the Soper River.

Since the July 2013 encounter, Holton has organized donations of computers and printers, plus ink refills, for Kimmirut's Qaqqalik School, a May 26 aerial tour on a Canadian Forces Hercules aircraft for students at Iqaluit's Inuksuk High School, and a literal tonne of winter clothing to be distributed to families in Iqalut, Pond Inlet, Arctic Bay and Hall Beach this week.

"They were the kindest, nicest, friendliest, smartest kids I've ever met," Holton said.

"They took us under their wing, took us on a tour of the town, showed us the highlights, where we could get a pop. There was no real place for us to stay that night, so they talked with some friends and we ended up staying at a family home with a bacon-and-egg breakfast the next morning.

"It was really spectacular and I've never been treated that way before."

Holton wanted to thank his new friends, and called Qaqqalik School principal Ron Pate. One of the kids had spoken of the school's need for computers, Pate said. In response, Holton put the word out to local Rotary clubs and friends, and gathered enough for 10 laptops - one for each classroom - and three colour printers. They arrived in the late fall.

"They've made a big impact," Pate said. "They're state of the art, and we were so thankful for them. It was quite the gift to the school."

With the price of shipping pegged at $1,000, he called Capt. Claude Courcelles at CFB Trenton and asked if he had a way to get the computers to Nunavut. A plan to bring them up last fall failed, so they paid the shipping. But months later, Courcelles called back to say a Hercules was heading up for a training mission this month, and there was space if he had anything to take up.

The call got Holton's mind turning, and he recalled a conversation with Kolola.

"I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. 'A Hercules pilot,'" Holton recalled. "So I mentioned to Capt. Courcelles that I didn't have anything to ship up, but asked if once he was up there whether he could take some kids for a ride. He was gung-ho."

Due to the logistics and cost (they would have had to pay full fare because none are registered with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.), this plan, too, was aborted, so Holton reached out to Inuksuk High School in Iqaluit to offer some students the experience. On May 26, guidance counsellors and 10 students are going to get a tour of the Hercules, a briefing on search-and-rescue procedures, and a flight over the city and Baffin Island. They will fly past Qaqqalik School in Kimmirut in the afternoon.

"It's second-best," Pate said of how his three students feel about only being able to watch the plane go past, "but they understand the logistics and cost of things. It was the best we could do on the spur of the moment. We just didn't have enough time. They're okay with it."

In the meantime, Holton decided that if there was space on the plane, he would find something to ship. Since March, he has worked with Courcelles and community groups to assemble - from Port Hope and Trenton - a pile of new and nearly-new winter clothing estimated to weigh between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds.

"It's not something we do all the time, but we're happy to do it," Courcelles said. "Because we're a search-and-rescue unit, we don't usually carry cargo. It's just a coincidence that we have space in the Hercules. All the stars aligned and we made it happen. If you calculate all this, (the clothes are worth) a big amount of money."

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