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Monday, January 26, 2015
Status of Women Council Campaign School in session
An equality-minded territorial group wants to see more women elected to the 18th Legislative Assembly.
In hopes of inspiring females to throw their hats into the ring, the Status of Women Council of the NWT is hosting Campaign School Feb. 6 and 7.
The class is open to women considering a run, as well as members of their campaign teams, for this year's territorial election.
Organizers aim to give guidance to those who come out by providing necessary information on elections and campaigning.
Space is still available for the Campaign School and registration information can be found on the Status of Women Council's website.
-Elaine Anselmi
Illicit drugs seized
A police search of a Con Road apartment has led to a drug seizure and five arrests.
Yellowknife RCMP found phones, scales, packaging, documents, cash, 50 grams of crack cocaine, 10 grams of marijuana, steroids and a number of unidentified pills, according to a news release.
Pending charges include trafficking a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking, breach of court ordered conditions and possession of the proceeds of crime.
This search, conducted Jan. 22, is the third police have executed within a week in the territory.
-Evan Kiyoshi French
Museum unveils Northern Homeland
Northern Life Museum & Cultural Centre in Fort Smith is has opened the doors to a new exhibit.
Northern Homeland, a display which features a series of photographs and never before seen artifacts, opened Jan. 22 and will run until Feb. 19.
It is being presented in partnership with the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife.
- Paul Bickford
Traditional games upcoming
Athletes from across the territory are being invited to travel to Yellowknife to compete in the 2015 Traditional Games Championships at the end of February at William McDonald Middle School in Yellowknife.
To participate, a school must send a contingent of four boys and four girls and all athletes must be between 10 and 12 years old.
- Sarah Ladik
Community to pitch celebration tent
Ulukhaktok/Holman
Ulukhaktok residents joined together Jan. 20 and 22 to prepare caribou skin.
The hides will be turned into a tent, which will sit outside the Ulukhaktok Community Corporation building in spring. Residents will use it for events such as Aboriginal Day and Inuvialuit Day.
- Miranda Scotland
Youth traditional sewing workshop to run in Ulukhaktok
Ulukhaktok/Holman
Ulukhaktok youth are invited to sew slippers, kamiks, hats and linings during an upcoming traditional sewing workshop.
Donna Akhiatak, Brighter Futures Ikayukti worker, is organizing the event, which will run Jan. 24 and 31 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Kayutak Centre. The workshop is open to children aged six to 18, said Akhiatak. Two instructors will teach the class.
"They'll be making any winter clothing," said Akhiatak, adding the youth can choose their own project. "They'll learn how to trace the patterns, how to cut out the material, how to sew together the material and how to make linings."
- Miranda Scotland
Preventing crime in Aklavik
Aklavik
The Aklavik Justice Committee is running a number of crime prevention activities for the community this month.
The committee held a community flea market Jan. 17 at the complex. Vendors sold chilli, donuts, clothes and other items. About 50 residents stopped by to shop, according to justice co-ordinator Janeta Pascal.
Last week, residents were invited to play hockey at an outdoor rink constructed by RCMP officers outside their headquarters. The game kicked off at 7 p.m. and community members were split into two teams. Pascal said they're hoping to make it a regular, monthly event.
The committee also plans to hold a youth movie night Jan. 25 in the hamlet chambers.
AA meetings run Tuesday or Friday at 7 p.m. in the hamlet chambers. Pascal said attendance numbers have dropped over last couple months but she's keeping it going in case anyone needs a meeting.
- Miranda Scotland
Your crown awaits
Tsiigehtchic/Arctic Red River
Tsiigehtchic youth are vying to be named prince or princess of the Mackenzie Jamboree.
To take the title, the contestants aged 15 and under have to fundraise the most money.
The winner takes home a Polaris Outlaw 50cc four-wheeler, said recreation committee member Mariah Blake.
There will also be prizes for second and third place but they have not yet been determined.
The contestants must raise a minimum of $5,000 to be eligible for the prizes. They have until the start of the carnival, April 24, to fundraise.
Last year, four adults competed to be king and queen and together brought in a total of $68,000.
The funds go toward purchasing the prizes handed out at the jamboree.
The last day to sign up is Jan. 23.
- Miranda Scotland
Coffee house Friday
Liidlii Kue/Fort Simpson
Open Sky Creative Society hosted another coffee house at the rec centre Jan. 16 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
There will be a curling bonspiel from Jan. 30 to Feb. 1 at the curling rink in the rec centre.
- Shane Magee
Open houses and public lectures on river research
South Slave
The Slave River and Delta Partnership will hold open houses and public lectures on its research this week in Fort Smith and Fort Resolution.
Open houses are set for Jan. 26 in Fort Smith at Roaring Rapids Hall and for Jan. 28 and 29 in Fort Resolution at Antoine Beaulieu Memorial Hall.
Presentations and updates will be provided by the Slave River and Delta Partnership, the Delta Dialogue Network, the Slave Watershed Environmental Effects Program (SWEEP) and others.
Community residents and organizations have been invited to express what the Slave River and its delta mean to them through writing or various art forms, such as photography, music or drawing. Submissions will be showcased at the open houses.
The goal of the Slave River and Delta Partnership is to ensure communities have the opportunity to be involved in research, monitoring and planning initiatives, as well as to support and co-ordinate community-based research and monitoring programs.
The partnership is made up of community groups, federal and territorial government agencies, aboriginal governments, non-governmental groups and academic institutions.
- Paul Bickford
Fabric painting and quilting workshop set
Thebacha/Fort Smith
A fabric painting and quilting workshop will be held in Fort Smith on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.
The workshop will be instructed by Calgary's Ana Buzzalino, an internationally-renowned quilt artist.
Participants will learn the basics of painting on fabric - including shading, highlighting and blending - and the techniques of free-motion quilting. The workshop will take place at Aurora College, and is being presented by a Fort Smith group called High TEA, which stands for To Enhance the Arts.
In addition, a trunk show of Buzzalino's work will be held in the foyer of Aurora College on Jan. 30. The show is free and open to the public.
The workshop and trunk show are supported by the NWT Arts Council, Northwestern Air, and Northern Life Museum & Cultural Centre.
- Paul Bickford
Annual winter festival planned in Fort Smith
Thebacha/Fort Smith
Wood Buffalo Frolics - the annual winter festival in Fort Smith - has been set for March 12 to 15.
The festival is being presented by the Town of Fort Smith.
The town has begun planning for Wood Buffalo Frolics and is seeking community groups that are interested in running an event at the festival.
- Paul Bickford
Workers get suicide intervention training
Panniqtuuq/Pangnirtung
Suicide is a difficult topic to discuss, but nine residents of Pangnirtung successfully completed the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) workshop earlier this month.
"It's a rough course to get attendance for because it deals with a problem that's so stigmatized by society," said economic development officer Jesse Jacobs. "It's hard to have an open and frank conversation about it."
And one element of the course can dredge up difficult memories.
"We talk about how suicide has affected us personally," said Jacobs, whose aboriginal relative attended residential school. "Suicide has affected my family quite deeply, so I can understand where that mentality (of not wanting to talk about it) comes from."
For him, though, attending was worthwhile.
"I felt it did a world of good," he said.
Those attending the workshop, run by Living Works at Nunavut Arctic College's campus, included hamlet staff and social workers.
- Casey Lessard
Hunting gear lost
Salliq/Coral Harbour
The snowmobiles, qamutiik, small boat and related equipment of a group of eight hunters rescued from the sea ice near Coral Harbour earlier this month was lost when the ice floe they were trapped on broke apart earlier this month.
The group of Elijah Shapangak, Charlie Shapangak, Mark Pootoolik, Bobby Saviakjuk, Tapia Saviakjuk, John Eetuk, Noah Kadlak and John Nakoolak were forced to spend two days stranded after the ice they were on broke away and cast them adrift on Jan. 9.
The Nunavut Emergency Measures Organization contacted the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Trenton, Ont., for help on Jan. 10, as the floe began drifting beyond the reach of the Coral Harbour Search and Rescue organization's reach.
A CC-130 Hercules from 17 Wing in Winnipeg, Man., arrived during the evening of Jan. 10 to drop radios, survival equipment, rations, water and life rafts to the hunters.
The men were about 55 km south of Coral, and about 27 km from the nearest shoreline, when they were rescued on Jan. 11 by a helicopter from 14 Wing Greenwood, N.S., and airlifted home to safety.
All eight of the men are reported to be doing well, health wise.
- Darrell Greer
Bear harvest resumes
Qikiqtarjuaq/Broughton Island
Qikiqtarjuaq's Nattivak Hunters' and Trappers' Association is releasing 17 polar bear tags for residents.
The tags will allow for 12 male bears and 5 female bears to be harvested, chairman Harry Alookie stated in a release. Females with cubs are off limits, according to HTO rules.
Harvesters must be 16 or older, registered with the HTO, and maintaining their livelihood by providing country food to their families. Due to the housing shortage in the hamlet, the rules allow up to two people per household to harvest one bear each.
The HTO also told its membership that it would abide by the moratorium on hunting Baffin Island caribou.
- Casey Lessard
Hockey gear arrives
Igluligaarjuk/Chesterfield Inlet
Young hockey players in the community of Chesterfield Inlet were beaming from ear-to-ear when Calm Air delivered a shipment of quality used hockey equipment to the hamlet earlier this month.
The gear was collected and donated by retired RCMP officer Barry Hickman through his Northern Dreams - A Smile One Skate At A Time program.
The program has also seen equipment shipped to Arviat, Baker Lake and Sanikiluaq.
An additional six pallets of gear is waiting to be shipped to Whale Cove as soon as the work on the local arena is completed.
- Darrell Greer
Sun provides show on return
Ikpiarjuk/Arctic Bay
The sun will return to Arctic Bay in early February, but it gives the hamlet's residents a show when it returns.
"It's actually cool," said economic development officer Clare Kines. "For four or five days, you can watch it progress down King George Mountain, every day getting closer and closer to the shore."
The hamlet doesn't have a big celebration, but Kines says the sun's return is a big deal to residents.
- Casey Lessard
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