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Wednesday, July 16, 2014
City air quality put at high risk
Environment Canada reported on Tuesday that Yellowknife's air quality was a high health risk. According to the Air Quality Health Index, - a scale from one to 10, where air pollution poses a risk to one's health - the city scored a nine. According to the federal government, the rating jumped from a low-risk two earlier in the day. With such a high rating, people with extensive coughs and throat irritation should avoid "strenuous activities outdoors."
Citizens with heart and lung problems are especially advised to take precautions, according to the index website.
- Simon Whitehouse
Employment rate stable in NWT
Statistics Canada has released its latest employment numbers for the NWT.
The agency said that in June, an estimated 21,500 people were employed in the NWT, an employment rate of 67.6 per cent.
Nationally, Canada's employment rate for June was at 61.9 per cent, up 0.7 per cent from the month before.
The territory's unemployment rate for June has been pegged at 9.6 per cent, the highest since 2001.
During the past three months, Statistics Canada said the employment rate has remained stable in contrast to the seasonal peak observed in the past.
- John McFadden
In search of a name
The YWCA is looking for a permanent name for the Betty House transitional home for women and children.
The association's website has details on a new contest to give the facility a name. People can nominate a woman from any community in the NWT, alive or deceased. The nominee must have made, or is making, a significant contribution to the well-being of Northern women.
Details are available on the YWCA's NWT branch website. Nominations must be received by Aug 15.
- John McFadden
Books needed for drive
Need to get rid of some books? Michael Corbett, executive director of the NWT Literary Council, said the council is looking for recent best-sellers and classics to replenish its stocks.
The drive will continue for the next few weeks. The best place to drop books off is the NWT Literary Council's office at 5122 48 Street.
- Cody Punter
Grizzly sighting outside Rankin Inlet
Rankin Inlet
A post on the Rankin Inlet News Facebook group last week reporting a grizzly bear encounter had some residents concerned. The bear approached a hunter, who wished to remain unnamed, while he was cleaning a caribou carcass. The bear took the man's caribou meat and ran away.
Deputy Mayor Sam Tutanuak said on July 10 that the bear was estimated to be about 17 km away from the community.
NTI holding elections for vice-president
Kivalliq
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. will hold elections for a new vice president this coming winter. The organization announced last week that the two vice-president positions normally held in the past could see themselves combined into a single position.
The nominations period will run in mid-October, the press release stated, saying nominees must be 16 years of age, Canadian, have a criminal records check completed and be enrolled under the Nunavut Land Claims agreement.
The position will be full time and along with acting as vice-president the holder of the position will also chair the Inuit Social and Cultural Development Advisory committee and the Inuit Wildlife and Environment Advisory Committee.
Team Nunavut prepares for North American competition
Kivalliq
A total of 71 athletes, managers, coaches, cultural performers and mission staff will make up Team Nunavut as they head to the North American Indigenous Games later this month.
The games will be held in Regina from July 20 to 27.
Team Nunavut, including athletes from four Kivalliq communities, will compete in basketball, volleyball and badminton with both male and female teams, made up of athletes in both the under-16 and under-19 category for badminton, and under-19 category for basketball and volleyball.
Athletes and teams from 21 different regions in North America will be competing in 14 different sports. Teams come from across Canada, and from eight regions in the United States, with each region being comprised of three to five states, according to the NAIG website.
Good luck, Team Nunavut!
KIA renames office building after Louis Pilakapsi
Rankin Inlet
Local organizations in Rankin Inlet have decided to name their building in the memory of Louis Pilakapsi, known by some as the godfather of Nunavut.
During Nunavut Day celebrations in Rankin Inlet, David Ningeongan, president of the Kivalliq Inuit Association, announced that the office building which houses the KIA, Sakku Investments and the Sakku Drugs Pharmacy will be renamed after Pilakapsi.
Lisa Oolooyuk, communications and community program officer with the KIA, said the decision was an easy one for the board of directors.
"It was very clear from the discussion that everyone agreed," she said July 11. "It's an honour for us to remember him this way."
Pilakapsi was heavily involved in Nunavut politics and the formation of the territory, as well as countless Kivalliq associations like the KIA, the Canadian Rangers, the Kivalliq Wildlife Federation and many others.
He died tragically, along with his crewmates as their ship, the lobster boat Avataq, sunk outside of Arviat in August 2000.
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