http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ en janeg@nunatsiaq.com Copyright 2012 2012-02-21T22:29:03+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674peterson_tables_sensible_nunavut_budget_feb._22/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674peterson_tables_sensible_nunavut_budget_feb._22/ Updated 6:00 p.m., Feb. 22 Nunavut’s Finance Minister Keith Peterson tabled what he called a “cautious, sensible” budget in the Nunavut legislature Feb. 22, projecting a small surplus of $37.7 million for the 2012-13 fiscal year. (See document embedded below.) “I want to compliment our government departments. We set targets last summer for forced growth only. We have contained our expenditures. We live within our revenues on all fronts,” Peterson told reporters at the end of a budget NEWS 2012-02-22T19:11:32+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674gn_recommends_changes_to_streamline_NNI/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674gn_recommends_changes_to_streamline_NNI/ The Government of Nunavut has decided not to terminate the fuel contract awarded last September to Katudgevik Co-operatives Association Ltd. in Coral Harbour. That’s despite the successful appeal lodged by Sudliq Developments Ltd., which had held that contract for 25 years, with the Nunavummi Nangminiqaqtunik Ikajuuti appeals board against the GN decision. In its appeal, Louie Bruce’s 100-per-cent Inuit-owned company cited errors in the NNI process that’s supposed to respect Article 24 of the NEWS 2012-02-22T16:28:43+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nti_applauds_establishment_of_the_nunavut_marine_council/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nti_applauds_establishment_of_the_nunavut_marine_council/ Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. vice-president James Eetoolook praised Nunavut organizations for setting up a Nunavut Marine Council, as called for under Section 15.4.1 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. The council, with members from the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, the Nunavut Water Board, the Nunavut Planning Commission and the Nunavut Impact Review Board,  is intended to regulate Arctic marine development. “Marine areas in Nunavut are crucial to Nunavummiut and Canadians, and they have NEWS 2012-02-22T15:13:19+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674workplace_inclusiveness_nets_award_for_northwestel/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674workplace_inclusiveness_nets_award_for_northwestel/ For the second year in a row, Northwestel, Nunavut’s primary telecommunications provider, has been named one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for 2012, winning a competition, called “Canada’s Top 100 Employers.” Northwestel received that recognition for attracting a diverse range of people into its workforce and encouraging inclusiveness. “My supervisors and the other leaders within the company have really engaged and encouraged me to take opportunities and grow as an employee,” said NEWS 2012-02-22T14:24:51+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674questions_over_disputed_medevac_contract_surface_in_the_nunavut_legisl/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674questions_over_disputed_medevac_contract_surface_in_the_nunavut_legisl/ Months have passed since the medevac contract for Nunavut’s Kitikmeot region was handed out to Aqsaqniq Airways Ltd. and then challenged — unsuccessfully— by Adlair Aviation Ltd.. But the dispute over the award surfaced again Feb. 21 in the Nunavut legislature, when Tagak Curley, MLA for Rankin Inlet North, addressed questions about the awarding of the medevac contract to Lorne Kusugak, minister of Community and Government Services. Curley, who was health minister when the contract was handed NEWS 2012-02-22T14:04:17+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavik_students_want_less_paternalism_more_independence_study/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavik_students_want_less_paternalism_more_independence_study/ Nunavik students agree: the Kativik School Board’s post-secondary sponsorship program offers much-needed support for Nunavimmiut pursuing their studies in the South. But Nunavik’s post-secondary students also say the program could use some tweaks to better help them transition from north to south. As part of his research as a 2010 Jean Glassco fellow, Nunavik McGill law school graduate Joseph Flowers recently looked at the KSB’s student services in a report he prepared called “Pijunnanivunnut NEWS 2012-02-22T12:12:46+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_legal_services_board_fires_cambay_lawyer/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_legal_services_board_fires_cambay_lawyer/ CAMBRIDGE BAY — During the afternoon of Feb. 21, a worker was changing the locks on the outside doors of the Kitikmeot Law Centre building in Cambridge Bay. That move followed the Feb. 20 dismissal of Karen Wilford, the executive director and senior family counsel at the Kitikmeot Law Centre. Teena Hartman, executive director of Nunavut’s legal services board,  the body that operates the territory’s legal aid system, confirmed that “Karen isn’t with the legal services board” any NEWS 2012-02-21T22:14:31+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674kusugak_delays_nunavut_power_rate_hike_by_two_years/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674kusugak_delays_nunavut_power_rate_hike_by_two_years/ If you’re paying electrical bills in some Nunavut communities, you can take a deep breath: the Qulliq Energy Corp.‘s new, “rebalanced” rate scale for electricity will be delayed by two years and scaled in slowly, Lorne Kusugak, Nunavut’s minister of community and government services, said Feb. 21 during the opening session of the Nunavut legislature. Delaying the move towards territorial-wide rates gives customers time to adjust to the rate increase implemented in April 2011, when power rates NEWS 2012-02-21T21:40:55+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_team_nunavut_sports_new_gear/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_team_nunavut_sports_new_gear/ NEWS 2012-02-21T21:29:03+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674all_fossil_fuels_must_be_cut_to_avoid_global_warming_scientists_say/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674all_fossil_fuels_must_be_cut_to_avoid_global_warming_scientists_say/ MIKE DE SOUZA Postmedia News OTTAWA — Two Canadian climate change scientists from the University of Victoria say the public reaction to their recently published commentary has missed their key message: that all forms of fossil fuels, including the oilsands and coal, must be regulated for the world to avoid dangerous global warming. “Much of the way this has been reported is (through) a type of view that oilsands are good and coal is bad,” said climate scientist Neil Swart, who co-authored the NEWS 2012-02-21T21:19:43+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674kugluktuk_girl_dies_at_local_playground/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674kugluktuk_girl_dies_at_local_playground/ Nunavut police are reminding parents and children about playground safety after a six-year-old Kugluktuk girl died in a tragic accident Feb. 20. The young girl was at the local playground with another five-year-old friend around 4:30 that afternoon when a piece of her clothing caught on a bungee cord hook that had been left hanging on the playground equipment. When the child was unable to free herself, the five-year-old ran to get the victim’s mother. The six-year-old was taken to local NEWS 2012-02-21T19:39:21+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674taloyoak_mourns_victims_of_fatal_house_fire/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674taloyoak_mourns_victims_of_fatal_house_fire/ The community of Taloyoak is mourning the loss of three residents, all of whom died Feb. 2 in a house fire, at a funeral held Feb. 21. The RCMP has identified the fire victims as Sarah Aiyout, 24 and her sons Victor Jr., 4 and Jordee, 2. Aiyout was pregnant with her third child when she died. At about 7:00 p.m. Feb. 2, Taloyoak RCMP and firefighters responded to a call about a fire in a four-plex apartment building. The occupants of the three other units were safely evacuated, but emergency NEWS 2012-02-21T19:21:13+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_the_early_birdie_catches_the_worm/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_the_early_birdie_catches_the_worm/ NEWS 2012-02-21T16:30:43+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674bill_c-10_do_gns_minister_deputy_minister_know_what_theyre_talking_abo/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674bill_c-10_do_gns_minister_deputy_minister_know_what_theyre_talking_abo/ I’ve noticed that both the minister and acting deputy minister of justice have been quite vocal on the national stage in their opposition to Bill C-10, the proposed federal legislation that will introduce mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes. While their desire to speak publicly on criminal law policy initiatives is laudable, it would be helpful to intelligent voters in this territory and in Canada if they could offer some assurance that they actually know what they are talking LETTERS 2012-02-21T17:06:03+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674kangirsuk_votes_to_allow_prospecting_on_category_1_lands/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674kangirsuk_votes_to_allow_prospecting_on_category_1_lands/ Ready or not, Nunavimmiut: here they come. Thousands of mining companies have staked claims to explore the region’s riches in nickel, uranium and rare earth minerals. And dozens of companies are actively exploring, as the residents of Kangirsuk have discovered. Kangirsuk’s Saputik Landholding Corporation hosted a referendum Feb. 15 to ask local beneficiaries if they agreed to allow Quebec-based mining exploration company Virginia Mines to continue to prospect on Category 1 lands, set aside NEWS 2012-02-21T15:50:17+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_canada_goose_fights_fakes/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_canada_goose_fights_fakes/ NEWS 2012-02-21T12:53:57+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_nirb_okays_road_to_meliadine/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_nirb_okays_road_to_meliadine/ NEWS 2012-02-21T12:44:14+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674agnico-eagle_can_move_ahead_on_all-weather_road_to_meliadine_nirb/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674agnico-eagle_can_move_ahead_on_all-weather_road_to_meliadine_nirb/ Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. announced Feb. 21 the Nunavut Impact Review Board has granted the company permission to build an essential element of the Meliadine gold project: a 24-kilometre, $21-million, all-weather road from Rankin Inlet to Meliadine. “The NIRB decision is a major milestone in the development of the Meliadine project as this will allow us to move to year-round operations. We hope to begin construction later in March,” Sean Boyd, Agnico-Eagle’s president and chief executive NEWS 2012-02-21T12:35:25+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674on_eve_of_budget_gn-union_wage_talks_head_nowhere/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674on_eve_of_budget_gn-union_wage_talks_head_nowhere/ With territorial budget day fast approaching, the Government of Nunavut’s unionized workers took to the sidewalks and driveways around the Nunavut legislative building Feb. 20 to complain their wage-benefit talks, now two years old, are heading nowhere. “Whether you’re a nurse, whether you work in a school, whether you work in one of the offices around here, you provide valuable public services and you deserve to be paid a fair wage,” said Geoff Ryan, Nunavut vice-president of the Northern NEWS 2012-02-21T10:52:31+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_develops_new_choices_for_learning_teaching/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_develops_new_choices_for_learning_teaching/ Developing a made-in-Nunavut approach to education has been a long time coming. And today the curriculum used in provinces like Alberta and Manitoba remains the standard in Nunavut. But now that may be changing, with the new “multi-options” curriculum, unveiled during the recent teachers’ conference in Iqaluit. “We are building something that starts with Nunavut, so that the kids can see themselves, but they will also learn what they need to know about being a Canadian… and about being a NEWS 2012-02-21T10:42:36+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674police_make_second_hall_beach_drug_bust_arrests_this_year/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674police_make_second_hall_beach_drug_bust_arrests_this_year/ Police in Hall Beach say they’ve made their second marijuana seizure in the community this year. A search of a Hall Beach resident Feb. 16 turned up about 200 grams of marijuana and a small quantity of hashish. The RCMP says the amount of marijuana seized would yield almost 400 marijuana cigarettes, which sell for about $30 each in the community of 550 people. Police also seized $990 along with “items related to the distribution and sale of marijuana.” RCMP arrested and charged a NEWS 2012-02-20T19:48:57+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_nunavut_government_workers_press_their_case/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_nunavut_government_workers_press_their_case/ NEWS 2012-02-20T17:51:50+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674northern_legislators_cite_serious_concerns_over_nutrition_north/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674northern_legislators_cite_serious_concerns_over_nutrition_north/ Northern legislators have launched a pan-Arctic effort to let the federal government know what they think about its Nutrition North Canada Program. Legislators representing northern constituencies in five provinces and territories have sent a jointly-penned letter to the federal ministers of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, and Health, warning that the new program is failing to make food more accessible in isolated communities. The letter cites some “serious concerns” about the NEWS 2012-02-20T16:20:37+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_assembly_re-convenes_this_week_in_iqaluit/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_assembly_re-convenes_this_week_in_iqaluit/ The Legislative Assembly of Nunavut’s winter session gets underway Feb. 21 in Iqaluit. And the main agenda item for MLAs after their first day will be a review of the territorial budget. The legislature meets Feb. 21 as part of its session to review the territorial budget. Finance Minister Keith Peterson will then give the budget address Feb. 22 at 1:35 p.m., following lunch-hour lock-ups for media and other groups. Nunavummiut can expect an update on the territory’s suicide strategy in the NEWS 2012-02-20T15:29:37+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674bring_on_the_immigrants/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674bring_on_the_immigrants/ The Government of Nunavut is to be commended for its decision to continue seeking international recruits to fill numerous vacant positions within the Department of Health and Social Services. The need for such measures is indisputable. The GN’s latest employment report, done by the Department of Human Resources in March 2011, shows that 33 per cent of all jobs at the health and social services department — one in three — sat vacant. Of 918 jobs in that department, only 612 were filled, while EDITORIAL 2012-02-20T16:07:44+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674baffinland_hands_nirb_its_final_eis/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674baffinland_hands_nirb_its_final_eis/ CAMBRIDGE BAY — On Feb. 13, Erik Madsen of Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. personally delivered boxes loaded with his company’s huge final environmental impact statement for the Mary River iron mine project to the Nunavut Impact Review Board office in Cambridge Bay. The final EIS contains responses to the 356 points, part of the pre-hearing decision’s “commitment list,” that the company had to address in its final environmental impact statement. It’s not a completely new EIS, but rather NEWS 2012-02-20T13:43:19+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674shear_diamonds_gets_its_water_license_renewal/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674shear_diamonds_gets_its_water_license_renewal/ Shear Diamonds Ltd. announced Feb. 16 that the minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development had approved an eight-year water license for Nunavut’s Jericho diamond mine. “The Jericho mine’s previous water license was for six years, and it is Shear’s understanding that the granting of this eight-year water license is the longest in Nunavut’s history,” said a company news release. Julie Lassonde, Shear’s chief executive officer, said the news would be “instrumental in Shear’s next NEWS 2012-02-20T10:39:16+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674arctic_diving_training_a_bit_of_a_mind_mess/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674arctic_diving_training_a_bit_of_a_mind_mess/ ELISE STOLTE Postmedia News YELLOWKNIFE — Diving into the darkness under one metre of ice is a lesson in panic. One out of 10 experienced divers get to the Canadian North and can’t hack it. They come back to the surface, take off their mask and say never again, said Sgt. Scott Campbell, who is supervising the Canadian Forces dive team. “You can imagine, it’s a bit of a mind mess,” he said, standing near the two-metre hole cut with chainsaws through the ice of Long Lake near NEWS 2012-02-20T09:30:04+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_edos_meet_in_cambay/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_edos_meet_in_cambay/ NEWS 2012-02-19T22:32:53+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_ns_students_go_head_to_head/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_ns_students_go_head_to_head/ NEWS 2012-02-19T14:20:58+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674cambay_women_learn_to_cut_stitch_and_share/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674cambay_women_learn_to_cut_stitch_and_share/ CAMBRIDGE BAY — When Annie Neglak of Cambridge was a young girl growing up in Bathurst Inlet, her mother sewed parkas, boots, mitts and other essential items of clothing for the family. But, in 1959, at the age when Neglak would have started practicing and perfecting her sewing skills, she was whisked off to the residential school in Inuvik. Neglak, now 65, says it’s never too late for Inuit women like her to regain the skills they lost. But she had to relearn sewing as an adult. For years, FEATURES 2012-02-19T14:17:49+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674talking_dictionary_could_help_dying_languages_survive/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674talking_dictionary_could_help_dying_languages_survive/ MARGARET MUNRO Postmedia News VANCOUVER — Bud Lane III is believed to be one of the last few people on the planet fluent in the aboriginal language Siletz-Dee-ni. His language, spoken by a small aboriginal community in Oregon, is teetering on the brink of extinction. But it has now been immortalized in Lane’s soothing voice in a “talking dictionary” — one of eight unveiled here Friday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Lane, who spoke to the NEWS 2012-02-19T14:06:28+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674charest_plans_to_give_away_power_to_mining_companies_PQ/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674charest_plans_to_give_away_power_to_mining_companies_PQ/ Quebec’s power corporation, Hydro-Quebec, has made “secret contracts”  to offer cheap electricity to a major Chinese-owned mining company that wants to set up shop in Nunavik, suggests a story in the Feb. 18 edition of the Quebec newspaper Le Devoir. This week the Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois said in the National Assembly that the proposed iron mine by Adriana Resources, located to south of Kuujjuaq, was getting a deal from Hydro-Quebec. Adriana would pay a rate of only 3.6 cents per NEWS 2012-02-18T18:24:10+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_cambay_women_sew_sealskin_in_nac_workshop/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_cambay_women_sew_sealskin_in_nac_workshop/ NEWS 2012-02-18T14:40:27+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674scientists_and_journalists_call_on_harper_to_end_gag_order/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674scientists_and_journalists_call_on_harper_to_end_gag_order/ DOUGLAS QUAN Postmedia News VANCOUVER — Groups representing scientists and science writers sent an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday calling on his government to stop ``muzzling’’ federal researchers. Attendees at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference heard numerous examples of alleged government interference and reporters being denied timely access to scientists. Such control is sinking morale among scientists and denying the public NEWS 2012-02-18T10:40:27+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674big_task_half-empty_toolbox/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674big_task_half-empty_toolbox/ It’s natural that as he starts his new job as president of Makivik Corp., Jobie Tukkiapik will do so upon a wave of high expectations. For Nunavik, it’s a big change. Tukkiapik’s predecessor, Pita Aatami, has served as head of the organization since October of 1998, when he was appointed to replace Zebedee Nungak, who was removed from office by Makivik’s board. Aatami brought badly needed stability and proved himself to be a shrewd business manager and negotiator. But his weak political EDITORIAL 2012-02-17T22:37:57+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674taissumani_feb._17/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674taissumani_feb._17/ In 1931 the Hudson’s Bay Co. published a curious book. Written by George Binney, it was called “The Eskimo Book of Knowledge.” It was published for Labrador Inuit in English and in the Labrador dialect. Its Inuttut title was “Aglait Ilisimatiksat Inungnut Ilingajut.” Binney had travelled for each of the previous five summers to Labrador, Hudson Bay and Baffin Island, in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Co. At Churchill, as he watched the construction of the Hudson Bay Railway, he realised TAISSUMANI 2012-02-17T22:21:02+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavuts_disabilities_society_wants_input/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavuts_disabilities_society_wants_input/ The Nunavummi Disabilities Makinnasuaqtiit Society will host an upcoming workshop to help identify the needs of Nunavummiut living with disabilities. The March 28 workshop in Iqaluit is open to anyone who is either impacted by a disability or interested in accessibility issues. “We need these discussions to happen,” said Noah Papatsie, one of the society’s board members. “Living with a disability is tough right now in Nunavut. Services aren’t coordinated – there’s no one place to NEWS 2012-02-17T20:52:28+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavuk_health_board_reviews_report_on_alleged_misuse_of_funds/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavuk_health_board_reviews_report_on_alleged_misuse_of_funds/ The Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services’s board of directors says it is reviewing a report looking into alleged misuse of its finances. The executive director of the NRBHSS, Jeannie May, and Alasie Arngak, the now-outgoing chairperson of its board of directors, may face disciplinary action after evidence of credit card misuse came to light during a 2011 review of the health board’s finances. Members of the health board decided last December to have an independent third party NEWS 2012-02-17T19:11:51+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_youth_tell_us_why_language_rights_are_important_to_you/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_youth_tell_us_why_language_rights_are_important_to_you/ Nunavut’s Office of the Languages Commissioner wants youth to speak loudly – on video. That’s why the Languages Commissioner has launched a video contest to hear what Nunavummiut youth think about language rights. The contest is open to youth aged eight to 21. Any individual or group of up to three people can create a video no longer than 60 seconds in length showing why language rights are important to them. “Film your thoughts and ideas about your language rights on video, and win a NEWS 2012-02-17T18:57:53+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_youth_court_sentences_anal_rapist_to_13_months_custody/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_youth_court_sentences_anal_rapist_to_13_months_custody/ An Iqaluit girl convicted of using a broken broomstick in the 2009 anal rape of an Iqaluit man will serve 13 months in custody, plus an additional 45 days for four breaches of undertakings she committed as an adult, Justice Robert Kilpatrick ruled in a Youth Justice Court of Nunavut decision released Feb. 16. The girl, 17 at the time, participated with two Iqaluit men in a brutal round of unrestrained violence at Iqaluit housing unit 309C in May 2009 that left a 29-year-old Iqaluit man beaten NEWS 2012-02-17T19:50:59+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_tourism_conference_to_offer_the_real_deal/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_tourism_conference_to_offer_the_real_deal/ Plans for Nunavut’s first major tourism conference, scheduled to kick off March 19 at the Frobisher Inn, are shaping up in the territory’s capital. Nunavut Tourism is partnering with CanNord to host the week-long conference on the theme “more than meets the eye.” And to showcase the full potential of Nunavut’s product, organizers are planning local tours for participants to see exactly what the territory has to offer. As part of the conference, delegates can take part in Experience Iqaluit NEWS 2012-02-17T18:44:54+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_supporting_cambays_women_in_action/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_supporting_cambays_women_in_action/ NEWS 2012-02-17T18:15:47+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674inuit_hunters_welcome_scrapped_gun_registry/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674inuit_hunters_welcome_scrapped_gun_registry/ Hunters in Nunavik and Nunavut are cheering the end of the federal long-gun registry, which was passed in the House of Commons earlier this week. Members of Parliament passed the controversial Bill C-19 Feb. 15 in the House of Commons, with 159 in favour and 130 opposed. Once the bill is approved in the Senate, gun owners across Canada will no longer have to register their non-restrictive firearms. Paulusie Novalinga, the president of Nunavik’s Anguvigaq Hunters and Trappers Organization, NEWS 2012-02-17T16:41:08+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674chars_looks_to_2012_federal_budget_for_construction_money/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674chars_looks_to_2012_federal_budget_for_construction_money/ CAMBRIDGE BAY — Uncertainty over how much money the federal government will set aside for the future Canadian High Arctic Station could see the promised facility shrink. The design proposals for the Canadian High Arctic Research in Cambridge Bay are in. But it’s still not certain yet how much money the 2012 budget, expected in the last week of March, will earmark for the estimated $81-million construction cost and operating budget for CHARS, which is supposed to open in 2017. That’s the NEWS 2012-02-17T16:05:04+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_learning_how_to_sew_in_cambay/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_learning_how_to_sew_in_cambay/ NEWS 2012-02-17T15:16:39+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_iqaluit_armed_standoff_peacefully_resolved/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_iqaluit_armed_standoff_peacefully_resolved/ NEWS 2012-02-17T14:57:42+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674cambridge_bay_commercial_muskox_hunt_gets_underway/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674cambridge_bay_commercial_muskox_hunt_gets_underway/ CAMBRIDGE BAY — When Cambridge Bay’s commercial muskox hunt opens Feb. 17, hunters are set to leave on their snowmobiles at dawn for Anderson Bay about 40 kilometres from the community. That’s where hunters have already spotted muskox. And if the hunters are lucky, by mid-morning the first of the 200 or so muskox that Kitikmeot Foods Ltd. hopes to harvest in 2012 should arrive back in town. Getting the huge “omingmaks” back quickly is no easy feat. Muskox haulers like Leonard Wingnek says NEWS 2012-02-17T11:54:37+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_music-teaching_workshop_hits_all_the_right_notes/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_music-teaching_workshop_hits_all_the_right_notes/ When schools need to cut costs, arts programs are usually the first to go. That’s why Lori Anne Dolloff, a professor of music education at the University of Toronto, is working with teachers and community groups to make sure they can keep the music alive. Over the past two weeks, Dolloff has been in Iqaluit where she’s worked with local choral groups and conducted workshops with teachers at this week’s pan-Nunavut teachers conference. “I love coming to Iqaluit because I always learn new NEWS 2012-02-17T11:44:08+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674feds_braced_for_lawsuit_demanding_official_status_for_aboriginal_langu/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674feds_braced_for_lawsuit_demanding_official_status_for_aboriginal_langu/ RANDY BOSWELL Postmedia News The Canadian government is braced for a possible lawsuit aimed at forcing it to give “certain aboriginal languages” the same official status as English and French, according to an access-to-information document obtained by Postmedia News. The July 2010 briefing note to Heritage Minister James Moore, who also oversees the country’s Official Languages Act, indicates that “the Assembly of First Nations is considering taking the government of Canada to court” to NEWS 2012-02-17T10:41:14+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_cambays_muskox_hunters_set_to_head_out/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_cambays_muskox_hunters_set_to_head_out/ NEWS 2012-02-16T23:21:21+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_cambay_remembers_the_late_bishop_sperry/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_cambay_remembers_the_late_bishop_sperry/ NEWS 2012-02-16T19:02:18+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674summit_to_look_at_new_regional_television_network_in_nunavut/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674summit_to_look_at_new_regional_television_network_in_nunavut/ The Inuit Broadcasting Corporation and Nunavut’s Ajjiit Media Association will team up to host the territory’s first-ever television summit in Iqaluit next month. The two organizations hope the three-day summit will attract new ideas and support to create Nunavut’s first regional television network, as a way to boost the Inuktitut-language content available to Nunavut viewers. “There’s been frustration that there’s not enough Inuktitut programming on air, and what’s there is scattered,” said NEWS 2012-02-16T18:11:20+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674who_killed_the_golden_goose/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674who_killed_the_golden_goose/ CAMBRIDGE BAY — Two weeks after Newmont Mining Corp. announced it will walk away from its Hope Bay gold mine project near Nunavut’s Cambridge Bay and put it into mothballs, local leaders, workers at the project and business people are grappling with a grim fact: Newmont won’t change its mind any time soon. But many Kitikmeot residents still don’t understand why, as one observer said, “the golden goose was killed before it even laid an egg.” For the Kitikmeot Corp. — the business arm of the NEWS 2012-02-16T16:39:51+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674agnico-eagle_reports_601.4_million_loss_in_fourth_quarter_of_2011/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674agnico-eagle_reports_601.4_million_loss_in_fourth_quarter_of_2011/ Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd., owner of the Meadowbank gold mine and Meliadine gold project in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut, reported a loss of $601.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, the company said Feb. 15 in a news release. “There is no question 2011 was very difficult,” Sean Boyd, the company’s president and chief executive officer said in a teleconference Feb. 16. For the full year, Agnico-Eagle produced a net loss of $568.9 million in 2011, the company said in its financial NEWS 2012-02-16T16:44:44+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674canada_joins_efforts_to_reduce_short-lived_climate_pollutants/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674canada_joins_efforts_to_reduce_short-lived_climate_pollutants/ SHELDON ALBERTS Postmedia News WASHINGTON — Canada is joining a United States-led coalition aimed at reducing “short-lived” climate pollutants, with the Harper government committing $3 million to kick-start global talks about the problem. Environment Minister Peter Kent joined Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington on Thursday to announce the modest international effort, which at present includes only the U.S., Canada, Bangladesh, Mexico, Sweden and Ghana. The focus is on reducing NEWS 2012-02-16T15:37:21+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nti_dfo_to_take_part_in_community_consultations_on_narwhal_harvest/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nti_dfo_to_take_part_in_community_consultations_on_narwhal_harvest/ Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. will take part in community consultations on a draft Integrated Fisheries Management Plan to determine how narwhal are harvested in Nunavut, the organization said in a Feb. 15 news release. The consultation team, set to start visits to Nunavut communities in March, will look at total allowable harvest levels for narwhal. As for the draft plan, this stems from three meetings held in 2011 with co-management partners as part of alternative resolution to the legal action NEWS 2012-02-16T15:03:33+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674court_hears_ntis_lawsuit_against_the_crown/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674court_hears_ntis_lawsuit_against_the_crown/ The Nunavut Court of Justice heard legal arguments Feb. 13 and Feb. 14 in the Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. lawsuit against the federal government, when NTI lawyers sought a partial summary ruling on an allegation that the federal government failed to create a general monitoring plan for the environment, as required by Article 12 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. That’s one of a long list of allegations contained in a $1 billion lawsuit that NTI filed in December of 2006 claiming the federal NEWS 2012-02-16T14:07:02+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_agnico-eagle_takes_a_hit/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_agnico-eagle_takes_a_hit/ NEWS 2012-02-16T12:41:35+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674wanted_international_health_professionals_for_nunavut/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674wanted_international_health_professionals_for_nunavut/ In a matter of months, a new midwife will begin her new job at Rankin Inlet’s birthing centre. In a territory that boasts the highest birth rate in the country, the newly-filled position will provide some relief to local prenatal care. But Nunavut’s health officials hope that the midwife position will be the first of many internationally-trained workers to help fill vacancies in the territory’s health care system. Rankin’s new midwife, a Canadian woman who studied midwifery abroad, will be NEWS 2012-02-16T12:07:32+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674bill_to_kill_gun_registry_sails_through_house_of_commons/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674bill_to_kill_gun_registry_sails_through_house_of_commons/ JEFF DAVIS Postmedia News OTTAWA — The Harper government’s controversial bill to end the long-gun registry passed the House of Commons Wednesday, marking the end of a long political battle over one of the most controversial law enforcement measures in recent memory. “Today’s vote marks an important achievement, as we fulfil the promise we made to Canadians to eliminate the long-gun registry once and for all,” said Public Safety Minister Vic Toews. Almost all opposition MPs voted against the NEWS 2012-02-16T09:52:53+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674alcohol_drugs_continue_to_feed_crime_in_iqaluit_rcmp/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674alcohol_drugs_continue_to_feed_crime_in_iqaluit_rcmp/ Alcohol and drugs continue to be the major contributing factor for crime in Iqaluit and calls for police services increased in 2011, Staff Sgt. Roger Tournier said in his year-end report to Iqaluit city council Feb. 14. The RCMP in Iqaluit received slightly more calls in 2011 than in 2010, a trend seen over the past several years, Tournier said. His report noted that calls to the detachment were up slightly during 2011, but part of this increase is attributed to more requests for criminal NEWS 2012-02-15T21:29:16+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674baffin_business_community_to_lose_a_leader/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674baffin_business_community_to_lose_a_leader/ The Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce will soon be looking for a new executive director. That’s because Hal Timar, the chamber’s long-time top staffer, announced this week that he’ll be leaving his position – and the territory. Timar’s decision to leave comes only a week after the chamber wrapped up its third – and most successful – edition of the Northern Lights business and cultural showcase in Ottawa, which attracted a record-number of participants this year. “We’re really proud of NEWS 2012-02-15T19:00:26+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_nunavuts_poster_girl/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_nunavuts_poster_girl/ NEWS 2012-02-15T18:14:05+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674tories_gun_enthusiasts_set_to_celebrate_registrys_demise/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674tories_gun_enthusiasts_set_to_celebrate_registrys_demise/ JEFF DAVIS Postmedia News OTTAWA — The Conservative government says its MPs will celebrate after a historic vote to end the long-gun registry Wednesday evening, despite vehement opposition to the move in Quebec and much of urban Canada. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews told reporters Wednesday, hours before the vote, that the government’s actions are long overdue. “It does nothing to help put an end to gun crimes, nor has it saved one Canadian life,” he said. “It criminalizes hard-working NEWS 2012-02-15T18:03:46+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photos_and_theyre_off/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photos_and_theyre_off/ NEWS 2012-02-15T17:25:35+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674arctic_canada_songbirds_migration_to_africa_one_of_the_longest_in_the_/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674arctic_canada_songbirds_migration_to_africa_one_of_the_longest_in_the_/ HEATHER YUNDT Postmedia News A small songbird from the Canadian Arctic and Alaska is migrating thousands of kilometres each year to Africa, new research shows — making one of the longest seasonal journeys of any such bird in the world. A study published in the journal Biology Letters on Wednesday found that the 25-gram northern wheatear follows two routes to Africa. One population in Alaska flies about 14,500 kilometres west each year to winter in East Africa. Another population in the NEWS 2012-02-15T17:01:05+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_teachers_encouraged_to_close_the_gap_between_two_worlds_aariak/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_teachers_encouraged_to_close_the_gap_between_two_worlds_aariak/ Nunavut Premier and Education Minister Eva Aariak says the territory’s teachers can help their students succeed by bridging the gap between traditional and modern Inuit society. Aariak spoke Feb. 14 to the Piliriqatigiinniq Teacher’s Conference, which has drawn more than 500 Nunavut teachers to the territory’s capital this week. “Your challenge is not to push Nunavut’s students up to a certain level, or to fix something that is broken,” Aariak told the conference. “Your challenge is to close NEWS 2012-02-15T16:32:46+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674plan_nord_poses_questions_about_land_ownership/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674plan_nord_poses_questions_about_land_ownership/ Quebec’s Plan Nord has a “gaping hole” in it, says Harry Tulugak — and that is Nunavik’s inability to gain the riches the plan promises to generate over the next quarter century. Tulugak, a former negotiator to the Nunavik Regional Government, spoke to a conference hosted at Montreal’s McGill University Feb. 11. The conference, titled “Plan Nord: Perspectives, Challenges and Promises for Northern Indigenous Communities”, featured a number of Northern Quebec aboriginal leaders and NEWS 2012-02-15T15:40:17+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674emerging_economies_slam_canada_over_kyoto_withdrawal/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674emerging_economies_slam_canada_over_kyoto_withdrawal/ MIKE DE SOUZA Postmedia News The world’s largest emerging economies are singling out Canada for its “casual” approach to fighting climate change, saying it raises serious doubts about the Canadian government’s credibility. In a joint statement, the so-called BASIC countries of Brazil, South Africa, India and China, said they were disappointed about Canada’s decision to abandon the Kyoto Protocol, the world’s only legally binding treaty on global warming. The federal government’s decision NEWS 2012-02-15T14:26:46+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674cambay_rcmp_seize_weed_crack_cocaine/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674cambay_rcmp_seize_weed_crack_cocaine/ CAMBRIDGE BAY — Police in Cambridge Bay netted marijuana and a substance that resembled crack cocaine on Feb. 13, just as the annual Kitikmeot Trade Show got underway in the community. A 31-year-old woman and a 42-year-old man, both residents of Cambridge Bay, were found to be in possession of 98 grams of marijuana, the RCMP said in a Feb. 14 news release. The man was also found to be in possession of one gram of “what appeared to be crack cocaine,” the news release said. Police arrested NEWS 2012-02-15T11:04:26+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_cambay_throatsingers_wow_the_crowd/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_cambay_throatsingers_wow_the_crowd/ NEWS 2012-02-15T05:07:19+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674iqaluit_man_21_faces_15_sex_charges_involving_children_and_youth/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674iqaluit_man_21_faces_15_sex_charges_involving_children_and_youth/ A 21-year Iqaluit man appeared in court Feb. 14 to face 15 charges alleging sex offences against children and youth, including procuring, the Iqaluit RCMP said in a news release. The complainants range in age from 10 to 14, the RCMP said. The RCMP also said they “respect that disclosure of specifics to the public can only take place in a court of law” and that they will be “considerate” about releasing any information that may identify young complainants. They also said the case is still NEWS 2012-02-14T23:11:50+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674ottawa_dollars_add_pep_to_nunavut_school_internet_links/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674ottawa_dollars_add_pep_to_nunavut_school_internet_links/ Nunavut students who use the Internet to learn are now getting better connections, thanks to $2.1 million in federal government spending announced Feb. 14. The money comes from a $21.6 million federal fund first announced in 2008. “The Government of Canada has consistently supported improved broadband service in communities all across Canada and nowhere is connectivity more important than across the North,” Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq, minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development NEWS 2012-02-14T20:18:25+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674rankins_population_down_mayor_isnt_convinced/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674rankins_population_down_mayor_isnt_convinced/ Rankin Inlet Mayor Pujjuut Kusugak isn’t worried about new census statistics that suggest his community’s population is on the decrease. Rankin’s population, which made it the territory’s second largest populated community in 2006 with 2,358 residents, dropped by four per cent (or about 100 residents) to 2,266, according to Statistics Canada’s 2011 census data released last week. That means neighbouring Arviat, which grew by 12 per cent to reach 2,318 residents in 2011, surpasses Rankin as NEWS 2012-02-14T18:07:52+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674new_safe_sex_campaign_aims_to_lower_nunaviks_alarming_sti_rates/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674new_safe_sex_campaign_aims_to_lower_nunaviks_alarming_sti_rates/ Nunavik’s department of public health calls sexually-transmitted infection rates across the region “alarming.” And that’s why health officials plan to launch a sexual health campaign this week, targeted at young people across the region. The campaign, which promotes safe sex, is centred around a new logo developed by staff at the Nunavik department of public health, who worked with youth across Nunavik to come up with the new look. The logo features a young man and woman dressed in NEWS 2012-02-14T15:07:10+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_suzuki_speaks_to_iqaluit_teachers_conference/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_suzuki_speaks_to_iqaluit_teachers_conference/ NEWS 2012-02-14T14:23:48+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674we_mourn_the_loss_of_bob_williamson_and_john_sperry_nti/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674we_mourn_the_loss_of_bob_williamson_and_john_sperry_nti/ (updated 10:15 a.m.) After Bob Williamson and Jack Sperry, both in their 80s and with long histories in the North, died this past weekend, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. President Cathy Towtongie sent out a news release on Feb. 13 expressing NTI’s condolences to the Williamson and Sperry families. “Our thoughts and prayers are with both families at this very sad time,” said Towtongie. “Nunavut just lost two legendary men who played critical roles in the development of Nunavut in their unique ways. NEWS 2012-02-14T13:15:32+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_feb._14_means_valentines_day_for_cambay_kids/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_feb._14_means_valentines_day_for_cambay_kids/ NEWS 2012-02-14T12:32:30+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_teachers_gather_in_iqaluit_to_share_and_learn/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_teachers_gather_in_iqaluit_to_share_and_learn/ Teachers from across Nunavut flocked into Iqaluit Feb.13 to talk shop and share experiences with one another at the week-long Piliriqatigiinniq Teacher’s Conference. More than 600 educators from across the territory are expected to participate in the conference, which has closed schools Nunavut-wide for the next five days. “Every year teachers have five professional development days built into the school calendar, usually in a block,” Robin Langill, president of the Nunavut Teacher’s NEWS 2012-02-14T12:25:50+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674russia_canada_neighbours_seabed_territorial_push_could_bring_borders_t/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674russia_canada_neighbours_seabed_territorial_push_could_bring_borders_t/ RANDY BOSWELL Postmedia News Two Canadian legal scholars have published a study showing how the push by northern nations for extended seabed territory in the Arctic Ocean could soon find Canada negotiating a maritime boundary with a new next-door neighbour: Russia. Most of Canada’s borderlands and boundary waters separate this country from the United States, including Alaska in the northwest corner of the continent. Canada also has maritime boundaries with Denmark (between Ellesmere Island NEWS 2012-02-14T10:22:10+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674u.s._atmospheric_scientists_raise_alarm_over_environment_canada_cuts/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674u.s._atmospheric_scientists_raise_alarm_over_environment_canada_cuts/ MARGARET MUNRO Postmedia News U.S. scientists are raising the alarm about Environment Canada saying cuts in the department could go far beyond ozone monitoring. Programs tracking pollution wafting into Canada from Asia, Europe and the U.S. are also being hit, they say. And it’s an “open question” if Canada will be able to fulfil its obligations under several international agreements if more cuts go ahead, five leading atmospheric scientists write in the newsletter of the American Geophysical NEWS 2012-02-14T09:42:57+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_newmont_sets_the_record_straight/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_newmont_sets_the_record_straight/ NEWS 2012-02-14T03:48:06+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_kitikmeot_trade_show_gets_underway/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_kitikmeot_trade_show_gets_underway/ NEWS 2012-02-13T23:50:54+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674hamlet_of_clyde_river_expands_recreation_department/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674hamlet_of_clyde_river_expands_recreation_department/ The hamlet of Clyde River has created new positions within its recreation department to better serve the community’s youth. Just this week, the hamlet appointed a new director of recreation and community services, Nina Qillaq. Qillaq, who used to work as the hamlet’s lands administrative officer, say she hopes to use her new role to secure more funding to pay for programming and new sporting equipment. “We don’t really have resources to participate in events like the Arctic Winter Games or NEWS 2012-02-13T20:43:58+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674hope_bays_golden_ring_eludes_kitikmeot_inuit_assoc/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674hope_bays_golden_ring_eludes_kitikmeot_inuit_assoc/ CAMBRIDGE BAY — Jan. 31 was not an easy day for Kitikmeot Inuit Association President Charlie Evalik. That’s when Evalik received a telephone call from Jim Spenceley, president of Newmont Mining Corp.‘s Hope Bay Mining Ltd., telling him that the Hope Bay gold project would be put on “care and maintenance,” instead of steamrolling towards production. Newmont’s plans for the future had included additions to its 340-plus workforce at Doris North, another mining camp, and increased activity, NEWS 2012-02-13T20:03:53+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_kitikmeot_inuit_assoc._president_charlie_evalik_looks_to_the_fut/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_kitikmeot_inuit_assoc._president_charlie_evalik_looks_to_the_fut/ NEWS 2012-02-13T19:49:23+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674arctic_anthropologist_advocate_dead_at_80/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674arctic_anthropologist_advocate_dead_at_80/ Arctic anthropologist and Inuit advocate Robert Williamson died Feb. 12 at the age of 80. Williamson was born in Oxley, England in 1931 and emigrated to Canada in the early 1950s. His long-time relationship with the Inuit and the North first began in 1953, when Williamson lived for a time in Pangnirtung, where he learned Inuktitut and travelled through Cumberland Sound. That sparked a life-long interest in the North that took him to Carleton University to study anthropology and later to NEWS 2012-02-13T19:08:31+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_kitikmeot_trade_show_attracts_all_ages/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_kitikmeot_trade_show_attracts_all_ages/ NEWS 2012-02-13T18:25:24+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674kuujjuaq_conference_highlights_importance_of_traditional_economy/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674kuujjuaq_conference_highlights_importance_of_traditional_economy/ Communities across both Nunavut and Nunavik face a number of social and economic challenges. But a network of researchers from across Canada says the social economy – that is, how residents and local organizations interact with economic development – can offer tools to help these communities cope. “What we often forget is the traditional economy, which is very important to social well-being,” said Thierry Rodon, who holds Laval university’s research chair on northern development. Rodon is a NEWS 2012-02-13T17:47:43+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_greenland_mourns_three_who_died_feb._8_in_nutaarmiut/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_greenland_mourns_three_who_died_feb._8_in_nutaarmiut/ NEWS 2012-02-13T14:18:58+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674greenland_grieves_over_last_weeks_violent_family_tragedy_in_nutaarmiut/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674greenland_grieves_over_last_weeks_violent_family_tragedy_in_nutaarmiut/ Horror and shock over last week’s triple-murder on the northwestern coast of Greenland have thrown the entire island into deep mourning. All of Greenland’s red and white flags were lowered to half mast Feb. 9 and everyone on the island observed two minutes of silence. Then, this past weekend, mourners in Nuuk brought hundreds flowers to a local hall in memory of the eight-year-old girl and two women, 31 and 75, who were bludgeoned to death with a hammer by a family member Feb. 8 in the tiny NEWS 2012-02-13T13:40:15+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674german_servants_1883_arctic_journal_details_challenges_of_daily_living/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674german_servants_1883_arctic_journal_details_challenges_of_daily_living/ Sea ice by early September, frostbite in December, and a long, bitter winter marked by temperatures plummeting to -50 C and many deaths. Anyone who believes life was easy 130 years ago in the Eastern Arctic should read the journal of Wilhelm Weike. Weike, a mustached 23-year old handyman from Minden, Germany, accidentally found himself spending the year of 1883-84 among Inuit and wintering with whalers in the Cumberland Sound Written with a pen using frozen ink — first warmed over a flame or NEWS 2012-02-13T12:11:52+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674taissumani_feb._10_2011/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674taissumani_feb._10_2011/ Joseph Lofthouse had a problem. It was 1885. He was a missionary on the western coast of Hudson Bay and the only clergyman within five hundred miles. And he wanted to get married. More to the point – he needed to get married for his fiancée had arrived on the ship intending to marry him immediately. Yet who would perform the ceremony? Lofthouse had arrived in Hudson Bay as a single man and a missionary in 1882. In a letter back to his mission board, he had lamented the fact that he travelled TAISSUMANI 2012-02-13T01:01:08+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_the_voices_of_angels/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_the_voices_of_angels/ NEWS 2012-02-12T17:37:54+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674the_arctic_loses_a_friend/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674the_arctic_loses_a_friend/ John Reginald Sperry, a long-serving bishop of the Anglican Arctic diocese, died Feb. 11 in Hay River, Northwest Territories at 87. Sperry was born in Leicester, England, in 1924. He joined the Royal Navy in 1943 and served until 1946 on destroyers and escorts doing convoy duty. After completing his tour of duty, Sperry immigrated to Canada in 1950, serving parishes in Kugluktuk, then known as Coppermine, and Fort Smith. He served as diocesan bishop from 1973 to 1990 and is the author of NEWS 2012-02-12T11:44:36+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_nta_meets_in_iqaluit/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_nta_meets_in_iqaluit/ NEWS 2012-02-12T11:36:12+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674paleontologists_reveal_ancient_arctic_ecosystem_teeming_with_life/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674paleontologists_reveal_ancient_arctic_ecosystem_teeming_with_life/ RANDY BOSWELL Postmedia News Two Canadian scientists have completed a comprehensive portrait of the lush, rainforest-like ecosystem — populated by prehistoric creatures akin to alligators, hippos and flying lemurs — that prevailed some 40 million years ago in what is now Canada’s northernmost landmass: Ellesmere Island. The study of hundreds of fossilized species, published in the latest issue of the journal Geological Society of America Bulletin, paints a picture of the ancient Arctic that NEWS 2012-02-11T02:19:50+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674sharing_the_glories_of_the_northern_lights/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674sharing_the_glories_of_the_northern_lights/ The northern lights have long been a source of fascination and fear in the Arctic, inspiring tales about mystifying “flames” that swoop down to chop your head off or that they’re dancing maidens in the sky. For more than a decade, amateur photographer and aurora borealis hunter Gilles Boutin relentlessly pursued the ever-changing northern lights, photographing them in Nunavik and Nunavut. Boutin visited Iqaluit Feb. 9 to share his passion for the northern lights with Inuksuk High School NEWS 2012-02-10T19:02:22+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674ottawa_fashion_show_features_skins_and_fur_trims/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674ottawa_fashion_show_features_skins_and_fur_trims/ No one can accuse Inuit of being an unfashionable people. Especially following the 2012 Northern Lights business and cultural showcase hosted Feb. 1-4, where veteran designers and up-and-comers alike got a chance to show their creations to an Ottawa crowd. Every afternoon during the four-day event, crowds would fill the upper lobby of the Ottawa Convention Centre to see the latest designs from well-known northern names like Nunavik’s Vicki Okpik, Nunavut’s Meeka Kilabuk, Sherlyn Kadjuk, and NEWS 2012-02-10T15:36:59+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674cape_dorset_rations_water_after_pipe_freezes_up/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674cape_dorset_rations_water_after_pipe_freezes_up/ The Hamlet of Cape Dorset continues to ask residents to conserve water, in the wake of two frozen water pipes that have severely hampered municipal water deliveries, Cape Dorset’s SAO, Olayuk Akesuk, said Feb. 10. “We’re doing our best to get the water line fixed,” Akesuk said. The problem started Feb. 8, when the community’s backup water line, a two-inch pipe, froze up. The hamlet responded by reducing water deliveries to 500 litres per household, Olayuk said. But those deliveries NEWS 2012-02-10T16:32:48+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674saganash_to_drop_out_of_ndp_leadership_race/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674saganash_to_drop_out_of_ndp_leadership_race/ (Updated at 2:00 p.m.) Nunavik MP Romeo Saganash has officially withdrawn from the race to lead the federal New Democratic Party, citing illness and a lack of funds. Saganash made the announcement in Val d’Or the morning of Feb. 10, speaking to local media with a hoarse voice from the second bout of bronchitis the Cree leader has suffered since he launched his leadership bid last September. “After thousands of kilometres of travel and two bouts of bronchitis, my campaign for the leadership NEWS 2012-02-10T09:32:16+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_putting_your_best_face_forward/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_putting_your_best_face_forward/ NEWS 2012-02-10T09:01:09+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674canadas_north_becomes_a_battlefield_in_arctic_video_game/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674canadas_north_becomes_a_battlefield_in_arctic_video_game/ HEATHER YUNDT Postmedia News Arctic ice is receding and Canada and other Arctic nations are fighting for control of the last unexploited source of oil, gas and rare minerals in the world. The year is 2030 and the battle for the Arctic — and world domination — is in full force. That’s the premise of a new video game Naval War: Arctic Circle set to be released later this year. Lead game designer Jan Haugland has been working on the game with a small group of developers for four years. The real NEWS 2012-02-10T00:29:36+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674police_investigate_death_of_kuujjuaraapik_woman/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674police_investigate_death_of_kuujjuaraapik_woman/ Police in Nunavik are investigating the death of a young Kuujjuaraapik woman whose body was found Feb. 2. Kativik Regional Police Force officers discovered the 21-year-old woman lying outdoors, and unresponsive, early that morning. She was taken to the local health centre where she was pronounced dead. Police are investigating the incident but say they do not suspect foul play. The name of the woman has not been released. NEWS 2012-02-09T20:23:28+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674qikiqtaaluk_corp._cuts_ties_with_neas/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674qikiqtaaluk_corp._cuts_ties_with_neas/ Qikiqtaaluk Corp. says it is looking to find new ways of investing in the territory’s marine transportation industry. The development arm of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association announced this week that – as of September, 2011 – it had sold all of its interest in Nunavut Eastern Shipping Inc. to Nunavik’s Makivik Corp. and “will no longer have any continuing relationship or affiliation of any sort with NEAS.” Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping Inc., a Quebec-based shipping company, continues to be NEWS 2012-02-09T19:14:15+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674astronauts_tell_iqaluit_students_to_work_hard_dream_big/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674astronauts_tell_iqaluit_students_to_work_hard_dream_big/ Nearly 700 students, elders and community leaders crowded into Inuksuk High School Feb. 8 to watch a once-in-a-lifetime live communication event with the International Space Station. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, a volunteer group, organized the event, as part of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration educational program. The organization has visited schools across Nunavut and Nunavik to communicate with the space station and inspire students to pursue NEWS 2012-02-09T14:43:27+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_zero_tolerance_for_smoking_at_stanton_hospital/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_zero_tolerance_for_smoking_at_stanton_hospital/ NEWS 2012-02-09T01:59:42+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunaviks_population_up_12_per_cent_201_census/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunaviks_population_up_12_per_cent_201_census/ The Nunavik region has seen a 12 per cent population increase since the last census, numbers from the 2011 census reveal. Nunavik is not enumerated as a distinct region for the purpose of the census, but a look at its community populations shows that Nunavik grew to 12,090 residents in 2011, up from 10,784 residents in 2006. That’s well above the eight per cent growth registered in Nunavut and more than twice Quebec’s growth rate (five per cent) in that period. All but one of Nunavik’s 14 NEWS 2012-02-08T20:36:28+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674in_new_exhibit_iqaluit_residents_may_explore_the_explorer/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674in_new_exhibit_iqaluit_residents_may_explore_the_explorer/ Iqaluit residents may delve deeply into Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen’s remarkable visits to the Canadian Arctic, at an exhibit of photos that opened Feb. 3 at the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum. Most of the photos date to the two-year period when Amundsen lived at Gjoa Haven, from 1903 to 1905. There, Amundsen lived in the Inuit community, developing close ties and learning valuable lessons about surviving in the Arctic. And the time he spent living in Gjoa Haven is largely credited with NEWS 2012-02-08T20:21:18+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674mining_giant_xstrata_merges_with_glencore_international/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674mining_giant_xstrata_merges_with_glencore_international/ Mining company Xstrata and commodities dealer Glencore International have agreed to a merger that creates the world’s fourth largest natural resources group. The deal, reached Feb. 7, is worth about $90 billion (U.S.). The combined company’s properties would include major nickel mining and refining businesses in Canada, where Xstrata subsidiary Xstrata Nickel owns the Raglan nickel project along Nunavik’s Hudson Strait. The nickel mine, which Xstrata took over from Falconbridge Ltd. in 2007, NEWS 2012-02-08T18:37:05+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_22_stops_into_larga_baffin/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_22_stops_into_larga_baffin/ NEWS 2012-02-08T17:44:38+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_iqaluit_populations_rise_eight_per_cent_2011_census/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_iqaluit_populations_rise_eight_per_cent_2011_census/ Nunavut’s population continues to grow faster than the national average, according to the latest census numbers released Feb.8. The territory’s population has risen roughly eight per cent to 31,906 since 2006 — compared with the six per cent growth recorded Canada-wide within that period. In May, 2011, 33,476,688 Canadians were counted by census-takers. Only Alberta and the Yukon saw higher growth than Nunavut. Yukon registered the highest growth of the country’s provinces and territories NEWS 2012-02-08T15:37:04+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674ottawa_organization_gearing_up_for_inuit_youth/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674ottawa_organization_gearing_up_for_inuit_youth/ An Ottawa-area organization hopes to help young Nunavut hockey players gear up in brand new equipment — one piece at a time. Project North, which has delivered hockey equipment to nine Nunavut communities since its launch, has started a new fundraising drive that allows people to choose which pieces of gear they’d like to sponsor. Gear Up was the brainchild of Laureen Harper, Project North’s honorary chair and wife of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was helping volunteers load hockey NEWS 2012-02-08T14:41:12+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_en_route_to_whitehorse_for_the_2012_awg/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_en_route_to_whitehorse_for_the_2012_awg/ NEWS 2012-02-07T20:37:41+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674haig_inlet_site_could_hold_230_million_tonnes_of_iron_ore/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674haig_inlet_site_could_hold_230_million_tonnes_of_iron_ore/ Canadian Orebodies Inc. says its early estimates show there could be up to 230 million tonnes of iron ore within its Haig Inlet project near Sanikiluaq, on Nunavut’s Belcher Islands. The Toronto-based mining company conducted a drill program at the Haig Inlet site in 2011, revealing iron ore samples at more than 35 per cent iron, according to a Feb. 6 company news release. “We are extremely excited about this initial resource estimate for Haig Inlet, which we believe represents a significant NEWS 2012-02-07T19:47:55+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674trc_launches_hearings_in_baffin_region/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674trc_launches_hearings_in_baffin_region/ The Inuit sub-commission of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission launched a tour of Baffin Island communities Feb. 7. The community forums begin today in Pond Inlet before heading on to Clyde River, Pangnirtung and wrapping up in Qikitarjuaq Feb. 16. Jennifer Hunt-Poitras and Robert Watt, co-chairs of the Inuit sub-commission, will host the public forums where former students can talk about their residential school experiences. “The commission will focus its efforts on getting to as many NEWS 2012-02-07T16:21:11+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674practical_nursing_diploma_hopes_to_attract_more_inuit_into_healthcare_/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674practical_nursing_diploma_hopes_to_attract_more_inuit_into_healthcare_/ The Government of Nunavut hopes to attract more Inuit students into the field of nursing through a new, shortened health care program. Nunavut Arctic College plans to add the new two-year Nunavut Practical Nursing diploma to its roster of programming in September, 2012. “There’s been a call from the GN for more Inuit in the health work force,” said Sally Naphan, program manager for nursing and health sciences at NAC. “Essentially, we hope the shorter program will attract more Inuit students NEWS 2012-02-07T15:42:33+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674puvirnituq_man_charged_with_second_degree_murder/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674puvirnituq_man_charged_with_second_degree_murder/ A Puvirnituq man has been charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 30 stabbing death of his spousal partner. Police were called to Puvirnituq’s health centre Jan. 31, where they discovered the body of 26-year-old Talasia Tukalak-Ivilla-Nutataluk, said Sgt. Claude Denis of the Sûreté du Québec. Police say the woman appears to have died from stabbing injuries. Police immediately arrested the woman’s partner, Putugu Tukalak, who was at the health centre when they arrived. The 34-year-old NEWS 2012-02-07T15:12:51+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674canadas_arctic_tundra_is_vanishing_researchers/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674canadas_arctic_tundra_is_vanishing_researchers/ ED STRUZIK Postmedia News Research from University of Alberta biologist Isla Myers-Smith and about 30 other researchers from 10 countries suggests that sizable chunks of the alpine/tundra world are being taken over by shrub cover that is increasingly crowding out those plants that many Arctic animals depend on. “Climate warming may well be a reason why this is happening,” said Myers-Smith, who is the lead author of a paper published recently in the scientific journal Environmental Research NEWS 2012-02-07T12:57:37+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_premier_aariak_receives_a_diamond_jubilee_medal/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_premier_aariak_receives_a_diamond_jubilee_medal/ NEWS 2012-02-07T02:25:47+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674dejaeger_investigation_continues_indictment_not_yet_filed/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674dejaeger_investigation_continues_indictment_not_yet_filed/ A team of five RCMP members continues to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct in Igloolik against disgraced priest Father Eric Dejaeger, the Crown prosecutor said in court in Iqaluit Feb. 6. This means the RCMP’s investigation into Dejaeger won’t be finished until a May 7 court appearance by Dejaeger in the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit, where the Crown is expected to file a formal indictment. Dejaeger currently faces up to 39 criminal charges, most alleging the sexual NEWS 2012-02-06T22:45:47+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674devries_to_enter_guilty_pleas_later_this_month_lawyer/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674devries_to_enter_guilty_pleas_later_this_month_lawyer/ The former Marijuana Party candidate for Nunavut, David “Ed” deVries, will appear in court Feb.29, where he is expected to plead guilty to a number of charges currently before the court, his lawyer, Alison Crowe, said in court Feb.6. Following RCMP searches conducted in August 2009, January 2010, and September 2011, deVries faces multiple charges of trafficking in marijuana. He also faces unrelated charges of sexual assault and possession of child pornography. It’s not clear what charges he NEWS 2012-02-06T22:02:28+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavik_biosciences_brings_seaweed_to_the_dinner_table/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavik_biosciences_brings_seaweed_to_the_dinner_table/ Managers of a Makivik Corp. subsidiary hope that Nunavik seaweed will soon make its way onto dinner tables across the world. Makivik first launched its subsidiary, Nunavik Biosciences, in 2005, when the company first decided to bottle a species of brown seaweed found in Ungava Bay for its line of skin care products. The Ungava line includes six natural creams and cleansers, lightly fragranced with white tea. But as the company continued to build on its selection of fine creams, some of its NEWS 2012-02-06T20:59:14+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674quality_care_for_those_at_risk_in_nunavut/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674quality_care_for_those_at_risk_in_nunavut/ On either June 8 or June 9, 2001, a 52-year-old elementary school principal in Iqaluit named Hal Richards sat down inside his staff housing unit and used a .308 Winchester rifle to fire a bullet through his head. Following an outbreak of near-hysterical gossip and misinformation, much of it propagated by Nunavut teachers and their union, the coroner’s office held a full-blown inquest into his death: complete with jury, lawyers, witnesses, and the Chief Coroner of the Northwest Territories EDITORIAL 2012-02-06T21:41:23+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_iqaluit_students_reach_for_the_stars/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_iqaluit_students_reach_for_the_stars/ NEWS 2012-02-06T19:11:11+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674northern_lights_showcase_has_come_of_age_in_2012/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674northern_lights_showcase_has_come_of_age_in_2012/ OTTAWA — They came from across the world, across the Canadian Arctic and from as close as Parliament Hill. More than 1,200 businesspeople, politicians and artists descended upon the Ottawa Convention Centre last week for the third — and largest — edition of the Northern Lights business and cultural showcase. And if the goal of the conference was to bring together northerners and southerners to promote common projects, then organizers say the 2012 edition was Northern Lights’ best effort to NEWS 2012-02-06T18:33:47+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674mining_industry_can_help_fill_territorys_infrastructure_void_minister/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674mining_industry_can_help_fill_territorys_infrastructure_void_minister/ OTTAWA - Building basic infrastructure across Nunavut continues to be a massive challenge for the Government of Nunavut, the territory’s minister of economic development and transportation told the Northern Lights conference in Ottawa Feb. 4. That’s why the GN is eyeing the territory’s growing mining sector as a way to attract some private investment to pay for much-needed infrastructure in Nunavut’s communities. “The mining sector is one that is growing the fastest in Nunavut, and it’s an NEWS 2012-02-06T15:39:34+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_gearing_up_for_inuit_youth/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_gearing_up_for_inuit_youth/ NEWS 2012-02-06T13:56:19+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_do_i_hear_3000/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_do_i_hear_3000/ NEWS 2012-02-06T13:19:54+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_nunavut_man_picks_up_diamond_jubilee_honour/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_nunavut_man_picks_up_diamond_jubilee_honour/ NEWS 2012-02-05T18:59:52+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_qia_president_sworn_in_to_a_new_three-year_term/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_qia_president_sworn_in_to_a_new_three-year_term/ NEWS 2012-02-05T18:40:58+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_amundsen_exhibit_opens_at_iqaluit_museum/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_amundsen_exhibit_opens_at_iqaluit_museum/ NEWS 2012-02-05T13:00:08+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674qikiqtani_hospital_tests_same-day_patient_care/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674qikiqtani_hospital_tests_same-day_patient_care/ People in Iqaluit who need to see a doctor about urgent non-emergency medical issues have a new option at the Qikiqtani General Hospital. The hospital is testing a new “rapid access clinic,” in a pilot project created to divert patients with urgent matters from the emergency room. “Before we had people sitting in emergency for a long time because they needed a prescription refilled or they had a sore throat,” said Darlene MacPherson, director of clinical services at the QGH. “This is pulling NEWS 2012-02-03T21:06:53+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674coroner_to_hold_inquest_into_2009_death_of_iqaluit_man/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674coroner_to_hold_inquest_into_2009_death_of_iqaluit_man/ A long-awaited inquest into the circumstances surrounding the 2009 death of Adamie Nutaraluk at RCMP cells in Iqaluit will go ahead March 12 to March 16, the Office the Chief Coroner said Feb. 3. Nutaraluk, 55, died on the morning of Dec. 9, 2009 inside an RCMP cell, after police found him in an unresponsive state. An ambulance rushed him to the Qikiqtani General Hospital, but health workers were unable to revive him. Over the previous 24 hours, police had arrested and detained Nutaraluk NEWS 2012-02-03T20:22:36+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674police_seize_16_pounds_of_weed_at_iqaluit_airport/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674police_seize_16_pounds_of_weed_at_iqaluit_airport/ The Nunavut RCMP drug section have laid a charge of possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking against an Iqaluit woman following the seizure of 16 pounds of weed Jan. 29 at the Iqaluit airport. Police made the seizure after questioning the woman after her arrival on a flight from Ottawa, an RCMP press release said. After arresting her, police found the drugs hidden in empty snack boxes inside her luggage. The woman, 38, was processed, then released from custody. She’ll appear in NEWS 2012-02-03T19:17:07+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674young_family_of_three_feared_dead_in_taloyoak_fire/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674young_family_of_three_feared_dead_in_taloyoak_fire/ (Updated 2:50, Feb. 3) A fire that swept through a unit within a fourplex apartment building in Taloyoak Feb. 2 has killed a family of three, Nunavut RCMP and other sources said Feb. 3. A source in Taloyoak told Nunatsiaq News a 23-year-old woman and her two children, boys aged four and two, are dead. The woman was pregnant with what would have been her third child. The father of the two children is a man from Taloyoak who now lives in Yellowknife, the source said. The fire stared between NEWS 2012-02-03T16:48:16+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674charest_sells_big_opportunity_to_northern_crowd/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674charest_sells_big_opportunity_to_northern_crowd/ OTTAWA — Quebec Premier Jean Charest touted Quebec’s Plan Nord to an audience of northern government and business leaders Feb. 2, selling the scheme as a way to benefit the aboriginal people who inhabit the province’s north. Speaking to a luncheon at the Northern Lights business and cultural showcase in Ottawa, Charest told his audience that his 25-year plan to develop Quebec above its 49th parallel responds to a strong demand for natural resources, coupled with better access to the region NEWS 2012-02-03T14:14:02+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674seal_skin_solidarity_on_parliament_hill/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674seal_skin_solidarity_on_parliament_hill/ OTTAWA – Downtown Ottawa was awash with fuzzy accessories Feb. 2, as government officials and Inuit leaders donned seal skin in support of the industry. Even Prime Minister Stephen Harper was spotted on Parliament Hill sporting seal skin, presented to him by Rankin Inlet mayor Pujjuut Kusugak, as part of a government show of support for the country’s controversial and troubled sealing industry. “Canada’s sealing industry sustains thousands of Northern and East Coast jobs and the traditional NEWS 2012-02-03T00:20:47+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674bill_c-10_will_hit_nunavut_hard_shewchuk_tells_senators/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674bill_c-10_will_hit_nunavut_hard_shewchuk_tells_senators/ Dan Shewchuk, the Nunavut justice minister, told the Senate legal affairs committee Feb. 2 that Bill C-10, the Conservative government’s omnibus crime bill, will create big costs and other problems for Nunavut’s justice and correctional systems. Bill C-10, known as the Safe Streets and Communities Act, would amend the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal Justice Act and other federal laws to limit the use of conditional sentencing, create more mandatory minimum sentences and make the youth NEWS 2012-02-02T22:20:40+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674taloyoak_principal_wins_national_honour/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674taloyoak_principal_wins_national_honour/ What makes an outstanding principal? You can ask Gina Pizzo, the veteran principal of Netsilik School in Taloyoak, recently named one of Canada’s outstanding principals for the year 2012. Pizzo received the award for her ability to bring the community into the classroom and instill cultural pride among her students. “I think it is really important in the education of any child that they have a strong sense of where they come from,” Pizzo said. “My role is to prepare them for the future so NEWS 2012-02-02T21:43:12+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674down_with_sensational_crime_coverage/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674down_with_sensational_crime_coverage/ Dear Nunatsiaq News journalists and editors, I find myself concerned by your paper’s continued zeal in reporting the drug busts and booze raids around Nunavut and your enthusiastic support of law enforcement’s war against recreational drug and alcohol consumption. I presume, after the many decades your paper has been publishing this type of casually dramatic law and order related story (Jan. 27, 2012,)  that a demonstrably constructive effect on northern residents’ consumption and habits LETTERS 2012-02-02T19:19:00+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674telesat_to_spend_40_to_upgrade_northern_broadband_services/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674telesat_to_spend_40_to_upgrade_northern_broadband_services/ OTTAWA -— Satellite provider Telesat said Feb. 2 that it plans to spend $40 million to upgrade broadband equipment and services in Nunavut and across the northern territories over the next 10 years. Paul Bush, Telesat’s vice-president of business development, said the upgrades would address the gaps identified in a recent communications assessment report prepared by the Northern Communications and Information Systems working group. The report painted the Arctic communications scene as one NEWS 2012-02-02T16:32:26+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674taissumani_feb._3/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674taissumani_feb._3/ Over 100 years ago, an old man in northern Greenland told a story. It was a tale about white men, strangers to the land of the Inuit, and about the Inuit perception of these newcomers. The story began with the story-teller recounting the legend of the origin of the qallunaat – the white men – who were born from the union of a woman and her dog and who, as infants, sailed away to the south on a boot sole. Their Inuk mother had shouted after them, “You shall be fighting men!” The Inuk who TAISSUMANI 2012-02-02T16:30:08+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674iqaluit_bylaw_officer_put_taxi_driver_in_harms_way/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674iqaluit_bylaw_officer_put_taxi_driver_in_harms_way/ I am writing this letter concerning an issue I had when my taxi was pulled over last month for speeding. I am not writing to dispute the the ticket, but am very upset by the dangerous situation that I was put in. At approximately 1:00 a.m. my car was loaded with four drunk, abusive passengers when I was pulled over to speak to the bylaw officer. I was approximately 100 metres from the Elks and they were trying to get there before last call. After speaking to the bylaw officer, I asked him if LETTERS 2012-02-02T16:19:36+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674hats_off_to_city_of_iqaluit_work_crews/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674hats_off_to_city_of_iqaluit_work_crews/ The City of Iqaluit has been under fire of late from many quarters. However, there are many who work for the city who we never hear about. They are the unsung heros who bring us water and haul away our sewage. They get very little press and yet perform vital tasks. We on trucked service take for granted that our water tanks are always full and the sewage tank is empty. It seems we give little thought to those men and women who deliver these services. It’s amazing to see, in this day and LETTERS 2012-02-02T16:16:29+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674thank_you_for_taissumani_articles_about_sam_ford_and_mary_edmunds/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674thank_you_for_taissumani_articles_about_sam_ford_and_mary_edmunds/ Thank you so very much for telling this story Kenn. Sam Ford is my father’s (Jackie Napayok) and Sam (nee Ford) Voisey’s grandfather. Their mother was Charlotte, who had the two boys prior to marrying Henry Voisey. That’s why Sam Voisey carried his name, although he was not the natural son of Henry Voisey. Although I knew her name, I had always wondered who Sam Ford’s wife was and which family she came from. I’m very interested in finding out if you could direct me to this information?  That LETTERS 2012-02-02T16:09:19+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_getting_crafty_at_iqaluits_library/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_getting_crafty_at_iqaluits_library/ NEWS 2012-02-02T14:10:21+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_shes_got_the_moves/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_shes_got_the_moves/ NEWS 2012-02-02T02:28:57+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674china_hopes_to_settle_arctic_disputes_by_peaceful_means_ambassador/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674china_hopes_to_settle_arctic_disputes_by_peaceful_means_ambassador/ LYNN MOORE Postmedia News China hopes to solve “by peaceful means” any disputes with Canada concerning the Arctic, China’s ambassador to Canada told a Montreal audience Wednesday. Canada is to take over the chair of the Arctic Council in 2013, a body on which China wants observer status. After a luncheon speech on China-Canada relations at which he said Canada and China are “natural partners” that should increase the array of goods they trade, Ambassador Zhang Junsai was asked about NEWS 2012-02-02T02:00:17+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_arviat_musician_entertains_northern_lights_crowd/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_arviat_musician_entertains_northern_lights_crowd/ NEWS 2012-02-01T21:45:46+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674gn_making_progress_on_its_suicide_action_plan/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674gn_making_progress_on_its_suicide_action_plan/ The Government of Nunavut’s Department of Health and Social Services says it is “making progress” in rolling out its Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy. Speaking at a Feb. 1 press conference in Iqaluit, deputy health minister Peter Ma said the government’s strategy was going “as planned”, while its architects work out an action plan. Ma was responding to concerns after reports that 2011 was one of the worst for suicide statistics in Nunavut: thirty-three Nunavut residents, including a NEWS 2012-02-01T21:35:59+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674win_a_nunavik_fishing_trip_with_mary_simon_as_your_guide/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674win_a_nunavik_fishing_trip_with_mary_simon_as_your_guide/ Looking for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Nunavik, that will also help support the region’s youth? Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Mary Simon has an offer to make: she wants to take you fishing near her home town, and she’ll even clean and filet your catch. Simon’s husband, Whit Fraser, chair of the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation, will be auctioning off a 2012 fishing trip with his wife along the Koksoak river, outside of Kuujjuaq. The trip is one of several items that will be taking NEWS 2012-02-01T19:31:24+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674new_album_from_kuujjuaq_rocker_political_but_playful/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674new_album_from_kuujjuaq_rocker_political_but_playful/ Kuujjuaq rocker Sinuupa has released his first album in more than a decade — a bluesy blend of north and south aimed at an even wider audience. The album, titled Culture Shock, is clean in its composition, easy on the ears, but the album’s goal is also to evoke the “shakiness, weirdness of how an Inuk feels” out of his element, says Etua Snowball, the singer and songwriter also know as Sinuupa. The album draws on more than 25 years of song writing from this Kuujjuaq-based musician, with some NEWS 2012-02-01T19:27:53+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674response_agencies_look_back_at_resolute_air_disaster/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674response_agencies_look_back_at_resolute_air_disaster/ At a two-day workshop in Iqaluit, police debriefed agencies on the crash of First Air flight 6560 near Resolute Bay Aug. 20. About 40 representatives from federal and territorial agencies, as well as airlines that serve the north, attended the discussion on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. The RCMP have identified shortfalls within the communications network they set up at the crash site, where they set up three separate sites during the crash for information to flow through. This caused delays in NEWS 2012-02-01T20:00:03+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_northern_lights_leading_ladies/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_northern_lights_leading_ladies/ NEWS 2012-02-01T15:27:29+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674iqaluit_man_charged_with_manslaughter_in_december_death/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674iqaluit_man_charged_with_manslaughter_in_december_death/ An Iqaluit man has been charged in connection with a homicide investigation that started Dec.12, Chief Supt. Steve McVarnock said during a press conference at Iqaluit’s RCMP detachment Jan. 31. Alec Petooloosie, 22, has been charged with manslaughter in the death of 36-year-old Matthew Petooloosie of Iqaluit. Alec Petooloosie, who police say is the victim’s nephew, made his first court appearance Jan.31. Police and first responders discovered the body of Matthew Petooloosie Dec. 12 after NEWS 2012-02-01T16:18:47+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_nunavik_is_living_colour/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674photo_nunavik_is_living_colour/ NEWS 2012-02-01T12:58:11+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674newmont_puts_the_brakes_on_hope_bay_project/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674newmont_puts_the_brakes_on_hope_bay_project/ The Newmont Mining Corp. will put its Hope Bay gold project in the Kitikmeot region into limbo pending a review aimed at figuring out how and when they will continue developing the site, the company said Jan. 31 in a statement. To that end, the company has approved “care and maintenance” funding for Hope Bay, the statement said. But at the same time, all “development and surface exploration activities” are postponed pending the review. And Newmont’s website says Hope Bay is not included in NEWS 2012-02-01T13:37:34+00:00