SANIRAJAK/HALL BEACH
The children of Hall Beach had their new playground structure delivered to the community March 3, thanks to an "all-hands" effort by Joint Task Force North (JTFN) and 1 Canadian Air Division.
Three pallets of playground equipment were loaded at Trenton, then flown to Quebec City, where Operation Nunalivut troops and their kit were picked up, then finally arrived in Hall Beach.
The welcome committee consisted of Jennifer Currie - who has worked tirelessly to ensure a new playground would become a reality - her RCMP officer husband, deputy mayor
Jayko Simonie and interim senior administrative officer (SAO) Daryl Dibblee, as well as Capt. Tomasz Kalkowski with Operation Nunalivut 2017.
"I didn't release (the news) to the community because with so many things that have gone wrong already, I didn't want to say it's coming and then cancel," said Currie.
After the children learned their playground was unsafe in October 2015, they saw it demolished the following summer.
"The whole thing ... there's been a lot of ups and downs. Kimberley and I, we both didn't think it was going to happen. We were turned down for grants. We didn't qualify for so many grants that were available. It just kept getting denied," she said.
A $12,000 quote they'd been given to fly up the structure proved wrong, and the new quote was far beyond the budget.
"That was a big downer."
That's when Kalkowski became involved, through conversations with Currie and former SAO Kimberley Young.
"Thomas, who I'd been dealing with quite a bit, he's the one who submitted the application to have it transported up here," said Currie. "They were asking if there was anything they could do for the community - we thought we'd throw out the playground. We didn't actually think it would be feasible."
"Whenever we go into the communities and have these exercises like Op Nunalivut, the military likes to do something to give back to the community for hosting us, as a show of appreciation for everything because we do realize we are in people's backyards," said Maj. Steve Thompson, with Canadian Aerospace Operation Centre Detachment Joint Task Force North based in Yellowknife.
Thompson explains that when Task Force Nunalivut commanding officer Lt.-Col. Eric Landry met with community leaders, the first order of business was talking about the playground.
"This was a complete team effort. Everyone from the planners here at JTFN all the way across to the Royal Canadian Air Force and our commander Maj.-Gen. Drouin."
It was just a complete team effort to get all the approvals in place so the community could get this new playground and the youth of Hall Beach would have something to look forward to this summer," he said.
Currie says the new playground will likely be installed in mid-July.
"Just to be sure the ground is ready. We have to fly somebody up from PlayWorks, the playground company, for the installation," she said.
The Government of Nunavut provided $92,000.
A GoFundMe campaign raised roughly $1500, which was used to buy an extra component for the structure.
"The GoFundMe money is specifically funding a rainbow twist climber."
The children, who also had programs cancelled last summer due to whooping cough spreading through the community, are aware.
"I'm really looking forward to having it go in this summer. I've had some people tell me that (the children) are very excited about it, and that's awesome to hear. Hopefully this summer will start off better for them."
