Governor General pays a visit
Visit to community of Arviat will long be remembered
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
ARVIAT
Gov. Gen. David Johnston paid a memorable visit to Arviat this past week as part of a scheduled eight-community tour across the North.
Gov. Gen. David Johnston presents Shelby Angalik of John Arnalukjuak High School with the Governor General's Medal (bronze) for Academic Achievement in Arviat on May 5. - photo courtesy of Caroline Angalik |
Johnston and his wife, Sharon, made stops in Arviat, Coral Harbour, Rankin Inlet and Cape Dorset, as well as Nunavik communities Salluit and Kuujjuaraapik and Churchill, Man.
A scheduled stop in Chesterfield Inlet was cancelled due to a sudden death in the community.
The stop in Arviat was the crown jewel of the Kivalliq visits, with the Governor General meeting up with Nunavut Commissioner Nellie Taptaqut Kusugak and spending time with local hamlet officials.
Johnston also spent a great deal of time with residents of the community, especially youth.
He appeared at John Arnalukjuak High School (JAHS) to speak to students and staff members about bullying and suicide, as well as sitting in on a special one-scene performance by the school's drama club.
Johnston also presented the Governor General's (bronze) Medal for Academic Achievement to Shelby Angalik, which was a rare and special moment for the Grade 12 student.
Drama club director and JAHS teacher Gord Billard said the Governor General paid a visit to the Arviat Wellness Centre before showing up at the high school at about 11 a.m. on May 5.
He said Johnston was entertained by the students and staff until noon, and then he proceeded to have lunch with a group of people.
"He spent about a good two hours with us at the school," said Billard.
"There were about 35 people invited to have lunch with he and his wife, and he sat down with me, Nellie Kusugak and a couple of students at our little table.
"He talked mostly to the students at our table - Justin Kuksuk is a big hockey player, so he chatted a lot with him about hockey, and he talked to Hattie Pameolik about her plans to become a police officer when she graduates - and he was very interested in their thoughts and opinions."
Billard had a group of students waiting for Johnston's arrival at the JAHS theatre, who were scheduled to perform a short scene from their upcoming play, Night, by Christopher Morris.
He said after Johnston met the student actors, he spoke to him briefly about the JAHS anti-bullying program and showed him a video done with the Arviat Film Society in conjunction with the Embrace Life Council.
"After the nine-minute-long video, I talked to him about the drama program here for the past 15 years.
"I told him about the issue plays we've performed here during the past few years, and then I gave him a preamble on the play we're working on right now to set up the scene we did.
"We decided to stay away from the heavier scenes and did a lighthearted scene from the story where two Inuit girls meet a girl from the south."
Billard said the scene reminded him of a story he had read about Gov. Gen. Johnston, when he and his wife visited Naujaat in 2011.
He said they happened to be in Naujaat for the Terry Fox Run, and, in Johnston's new book, The Idea of Canada, there's a letter he wrote to a little boy in Naujaat.
"This 10-year-old boy walked up to Gov. Gen. Johnston during the Terry Fox Run, kind of poked him, and asked him who he was, what's his name and what does he do?
"The boy had no idea who he was talking to.
"In the book, Johnston talks about how cute it was and how he answered the boy by telling him he was the Governor General of Canada but then realized, after walking away, he didn't really tell him who he was.
"From there he goes on to talk about how he's a Scottish-Irish Canadian, a teacher, lawyer, student athlete, father and grandfather."
Billard said Johnston elaborated on the story of the 10-year-old boy when he spoke to the student body as a whole.
He said it was funny to see the Governor General run into medal recipient Shelby Angalik almost everywhere he went.
"Shelby was at the Wellness Centre, she was in the play, and she was also part of the lunch-serving crew, so he could see she was really involved with just about everything that goes on here.
"So it was kind of neat that he got to present her with the medal, after seeing her involved with so much throughout the day.
"I would never have thought that, during my time in the North, I'd get to have lunch and a conversation with the Governor General of Canada, and have the chance to show off my students work to him.
"Gov. Gen. Johnston is as nice and down to Earth as you could imagine and I felt, after just two or three minutes with him, that he could have been my uncle come to visit because he was that kind and personable to every person he spoke to."
