TV star chosen to woo capital
Juno-winning artist Louis-Jean Cormier coming to Iqaluit
Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Monday, June 1, 2015
IQALUIT
Iqaluit now knows who it will be working to woo when the popular Quebec TV show La Petite Seduction visits Iqaluit this month.
Iqaluit's distinctive Four Corners intersection sign is in the background as Avery Keenainak, 15, of Pangnirtung plays the fiddle during a 2012 Students on Ice flash mob. A Quebec TV show is coming to the capital city later this month. - NNSL file photo |
Louis-Jean Cormier is a singer-songwriter who won the 2013 Juno for Francophone Album of the Year. His episode will be filmed June 24 to 29.
"He's been a singer and songwriter in a band called Karkwa," Carrefour Nunavut's communications director Francois Fortin told Iqaluit city council May 26. "He's been more and more known in Quebec in the last year. Also, he's been a judge on the TV show, La Voix."
La Petite Seduction airs on ICI Radio-Canada, and the episode is expected to boost awareness of Iqaluit as a place to fall in love with across French Canada.
"This show is really a big advertisement for the community," Fortin explained last month, noting about one million people watch the show each week.
"It breaks a lot of preconceived ideas about the place, so it's a great opportunity to make Iqaluit known better. Show the good side of Iqaluit."
Inuit culture will be a major part of the show, he said.
Five segments will be filmed, including a welcome from Mayor Mary Wilman and town tour, a land trip, a surprise, cultural activities, and a party.
The City of Iqaluit is a sponsor of the production, so Fortin approached council to support several initiatives to improve the marketability of the city.
Carrefour needs to do some fundraising ahead of the filming, and asked council to provide a bouncy castle for a June 7 afternoon fundraiser at the Arctic Winter Games Complex, either for free or for a reduced rate. The group is paying to rent the turf and the lobby. Renting both bouncy castles costs about $500, but the event is predicted to raise somewhere between $700 and $2,000.
"What people tell me is that if there's inflatable games, it brings a lot of families," Fortin said.
Deputy mayor Romeyn Stevenson remained consistent in his opposition to the city donating services, fearing other groups would come requesting support.
Councillor Stephen Mansell noted that the city had already committed to providing in-kind services, and moved to provide one bouncy castle, instead of the two normally rented for such events, if staff are available to operate them.
The motion passed, with Stevenson and councillor Joanasie Akumalik voting against it.
Fortin also asked for special leave to use the only limousine in town, which currently doesn't have a permit.
Councillors said Caribou Cabs would have to get the permit to make that happen.
Fortin also noted that the project wants to use the sign pointing at many different cities around the world, denoting their distance from Iqaluit.
The sign has all but disappeared, with only one name remaining, so the show wants to create a new version, and Fortin asked whether the city wants to keep the new sign.
Councillors were supportive of the idea of the sign.
"It's a tourist attraction," Akumalik said.
"I don't know where the names went," Stevenson added, noting Inuksuk High School students created the first one. "I certainly like the idea of fixing it and leaving it. People liked the old one and people would come and see it."
