http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ en jimb@nunatsiaq.com Copyright 2010 2010-02-08T19:57:29+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/080210_as_g7_host_iqaluit_sits_the_world_down_for_a_chat/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/080210_as_g7_host_iqaluit_sits_the_world_down_for_a_chat/#When:20:29:32Z They came to Iqaluit to chat about some of the biggest problems facing the world’s economy, but in the end, a question about seals rendered four European finance ministers mute. None of the finance ministers from France, England, Germany or Italy wanted to wade in on a question from APTN reporter Kent Driscoll about the European Union’s ban on seal products during a closing press conference at the Cadet Hall Saturday. The result was several seconds of awkward silence, until Jim Flaherty, NEWS 2010-02-08T20:29:32+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/9658_inuktitut_nhl_broadcast_wonderful/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/9658_inuktitut_nhl_broadcast_wonderful/#When:19:57:29Z It was wonderful to hear Charlie Panigoniak and Annie Ford broadcast an NHL game on TV in Inuktitut.  A job well done. Peter Ittinuar Guelph, Ont. Email your letters to editor@nunatsiaq.com. Nunatsiaq News welcomes letters to the editor. But we are under no obligation to publish any given letter at any given time. In our print edition, we usually print letters on a first-come, first-served, space-available basis. In our online edition, we usually print letters as soon as we are able to LETTERS 2010-02-08T19:57:29+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/8567_nalligivatsi_to_my_extended_family/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/8567_nalligivatsi_to_my_extended_family/#When:19:55:57Z My uncle Charlie once said to us “Only if your late mother’s Anisi and late father’s Joanassie Nowkawalk’s immediate family lived nearby, I think we could form a small village.” I agreed with him on this one. Happy Valentine’s Day to my eldest grandmother Rynee Flaherty in Iqaluit and heer children: Mary, Martha, Elisapie, Peter, Jamie, Harry, Lalena,  and her grandchildren, in Grise Fiord, Ottawa, Iqaluit, and Halifax. Nalligivagit to Ajaagguuk Annie Sala in Puvirnituq, her children, LETTERS 2010-02-08T19:55:57+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/8769_nunavut_officials_envy_greenland_oil-gas_model/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/8769_nunavut_officials_envy_greenland_oil-gas_model/#When:19:18:02Z Because of regulatory confusion and federal government apathy, Nunavut lags far behind its circumpolar neighbour, Greenland, in the scope and pace of oil and gas exploration, a Government of Nunavut official said in Iqaluit last week. Gordon MacKay, an assistant deputy minister in the GN’s Department of Economic Development and Transportation, made the remarks in talk given during a speakers’ forum held at the same time as last weekend’s G7 finance ministers meeting in Iqaluit. “This NEWS 2010-02-08T19:18:02+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/9867_arctic_methane_emissions_may_speed_up_climate_change/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/9867_arctic_methane_emissions_may_speed_up_climate_change/#When:14:41:40Z Arctic wetlands may be part of an accelerating cycle of climate change, according to new research. An article in the international journal Science finds that wetlands in the Arctic increased methane emissions by 30 per cent from 2003 to 2007. Methane is the second most potent greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. Methane is produced mostly by bacteria in soil and rivers, and in animal intestines. For years, scientists have worried that melting Arctic permafrost would release methane as it NEWS 2010-02-08T14:41:40+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/86798_arctic_sea_ice_decline_exceeds_expectations/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/86798_arctic_sea_ice_decline_exceeds_expectations/#When:14:34:23Z A new study has provided numbers that say what everyone in the Arctic already knows: the season for sea ice is shortening. Using NASA satellite images, a group of scientists has measured the first day of the spring melt and the first day of the fall freeze each year since 1979. In Hudson Bay and some other areas in other countries, melt season has grow longer by 10 to 11 days each decade according to lead researcher Thorsten Markus, a geologist with NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre. “The NEWS 2010-02-08T14:34:23+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/9768_the_iron_man_of_baffin_casts_about_for_financing/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/9768_the_iron_man_of_baffin_casts_about_for_financing/#When:21:13:28Z The Baffin region’s iron evangelist, Gordon McCreary, said last week there’s just one big item left on the Mary River iron project’s checklist: to find investors willing to put up more than $4 billion to pay for it all. Armed with a promotional video, a Powerpoint slide show and hefty chunks of high-grade iron ore samples, McCreary, the president and CEO of Baffinland Iron Mines Corp., pitched the virtues of his project to an audience of journalists and international visitors attending a NEWS 2010-02-07T21:13:28+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/87689_nunavut_wont_get_cut_if_ottawa_slashes_deficit_flaherty_says/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/87689_nunavut_wont_get_cut_if_ottawa_slashes_deficit_flaherty_says/#When:17:29:15Z Nunavut shouldn’t worry that federal efforts to combat Canada’s $56-billion budget deficit will limit the territory’s access to federal money for capital projects, federal finance minister Jim Flaherty said Feb. 5. “I can tell you that Nunavut will be treated more than fairly by our government,” Flaherty said. Flaherty has made noises in the past about cutting federal spending to control Ottawa’s large budget deficit, which has grown because of the recession, economic stimulus spending and NEWS 2010-02-06T17:29:15+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/8956_report_arctic_warming_could_cost_trillions_of_dollars/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/8956_report_arctic_warming_could_cost_trillions_of_dollars/#When:17:14:46Z Global warming in the Arctic will impose costs on the rest of the planet that could run into the trillions of dollars, a new economic report predicts. “The Arctic is the planet’s air-conditioning, and it’s starting to break down,” said Eban Goodstein, the economist who contributed a financial analysis of the report’s scientific findings. The report, by the Pew Environmental Group, attempts to calculate a dollar value for the effects of Arctic climate. The report found that if climate change NEWS 2010-02-06T17:14:46+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/8679_inuit_org_boss_replies_to_editorial/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/8679_inuit_org_boss_replies_to_editorial/#When:21:32:10Z I thank the editor for pointing out in his Feb. 5 editorial “The real hypocrites,” the incredible strides in health and well-being that Inuit have made in the past 60 years. But Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami would do Inuit a great disservice if it did not continue to advocate for increased services in Arctic regions. There is no hypocrisy in shedding light on the inequalities in health outcomes that exist between Inuit and all other Canadians. I invite you to come to Nunavik and see with your own LETTERS 2010-02-05T21:32:10+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/photo_calm_down_everybody/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/photo_calm_down_everybody/#When:21:25:33Z Everybody calm down. Jim Flaherty, the federal finance minister, speaks with reporters inside the Storehouse Bar and Grill in Iqaluit Friday. Flaherty, in town for a meeting of the G7 finance minsters, downplayed concerns that Nunavut’s funding needs would be hit by Ottawa’s efforts to reduce the federal deficit, which now stands at $56 billion. (PHOTO BY CHRIS WINDEYER) NEWS 2010-02-05T21:25:33+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/87567_nunavut_premier_no_more_poverty_by_2030/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/87567_nunavut_premier_no_more_poverty_by_2030/#When:21:14:44Z In just 20 years, the people of Nunavut will enjoy a secure culture, a prosperous economy and liberation from poverty, Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak said Feb. 5, in a vision statement aimed at reporters and government officials visiting Iqaluit for this weekend’s G7 finance minister’s meeting. “If this were 2030, everyone would understand what I just said,” Aariak declared after reading the first sentences of her speech in Inuktitut. She said that in 20 years, her government envisions numerous NEWS 2010-02-05T21:14:44+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/7568_taissumani_feb._5/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/7568_taissumani_feb._5/#When:22:23:40Z With a major language conference coming up shortly in Iqaluit, I thought it might be informative to write a few words about some of the very early pioneers of Inuktitut language study, the men — for they were almost all men — who compiled some of the earliest descriptions of the Inuit language. Most of them were missionaries, and the earliest of them worked in Greenland. Hans Egede was a Norwegian who had become fascinated with learning what happened to the ancient Norse colony in TAISSUMANI 2010-02-04T22:23:40+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/8679_the_real_hypocrites/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/8679_the_real_hypocrites/#When:20:58:44Z Near the end of last month, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told international leaders gathered in Davos, Switzerland that the world’s richest countries should do more to help pregnant women and young children in the world’s poorest countries. In those remarks, and in an opinion piece published Jan. 26 in the Toronto Star, it’s clear that Harper was talking about nations like Sierra Leone, Afganistan, Chad and Somalia, whose infant mortality rates are many times higher than even the worst EDITORIAL 2010-02-04T20:58:44+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/7689_kivalliq_energy_corp._gets_cash_injection/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/7689_kivalliq_energy_corp._gets_cash_injection/#When:20:54:54Z Kivalliq Energy Corp. is getting a $2 million investment from Vancouver-based investment company Lumina Capital. The sale grants Lumina almost 10 per cent ownership of Kivalliq Energy. The money from the sale will be used for exploration and development of Kivalliq’s Lac Cinquante uranium deposit in the southwestern Kivalliq, last explored in the 1980s. The site is on Kivalliq Energy’s Angilak Project, located between Angikuni, Tulemalu and Yathkyed lakes. Lumina isn’t allowed to sell its NEWS 2010-02-04T20:54:54+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/8679_mental_health_advocacy_reaches_out_to_nunavik/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/8679_mental_health_advocacy_reaches_out_to_nunavik/#When:20:48:56Z A Quebec mental health advocacy organization is reaching out to the province’s more remote communities, including those in Nunavik. The organization is now offering English-language telephone support services to those struggling with mental illness and their caregivers. The groups are designed to reach caregivers living in regions where English services are not readily available and to help them better cope with loved ones living with mental illness. “Anyone who is living outside of NEWS 2010-02-04T20:48:56+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/7568_jobs_outlook_grim_for_nunavuts_young_population_report/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/7568_jobs_outlook_grim_for_nunavuts_young_population_report/#When:20:44:51Z Nunavut’s youthful population faces many years in which economic growth will fail to yield enough jobs for everyone, according to a new report. The “Northern Outlook” report by the Conference Board of Canada looked at economic trends in all three territories, the first time such a report has been issued specifically about the North. Nunavut’s population growth — the highest in Canada — will continue to outstrip its economic growth according to the report. Nunavut’s demographics are highly NEWS 2010-02-04T20:44:51+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/8657_pricey_pools_make_a_splash_with_wet_set_in_nunavik/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/8657_pricey_pools_make_a_splash_with_wet_set_in_nunavik/#When:20:32:44Z KANGIQSUJUAQ — Pool operators in Nunavik say the facilities they maintain are worth the effort it takes to keep them open. The swimming pool is still a relatively new – not to mention high-maintenance — addition to the region’s municipal infrastructure. But residents who use them are lapping it up. Over the last decade, pools have opened in five of the region’s communities, while a sixth will be constructed this year. The pools’ popularity with locals might come in waves, said NEWS 2010-02-04T20:32:44+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/nunavik_schools_movie_nights_pay_for_haiti_relief_trip_to_kenya/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/nunavik_schools_movie_nights_pay_for_haiti_relief_trip_to_kenya/#When:19:59:51Z QUINN CARTER AKULIVIK — Every Friday night, students in the village of Akulivik are lined up at the door to get back into school. Although it’s the first night of the weekend, kids of all ages crowd into the gymnasium of Tukisiniarvik School to watch a movie on the big screen. While proceeds from these movie nights usually help raise funds for an upcoming class trip to Kenya, students of Tukisniarvik School decided to do something different this week. Last week’s movie night raised $350 for NEWS 2010-02-04T19:59:51+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/8567_handheld_field_computers_record_inuit_knowledge/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/8567_handheld_field_computers_record_inuit_knowledge/#When:16:47:11Z A project that promises to revolutionize the way traditional knowledge is gathered and used across Nunavut’s vast expanse has run into a problem all too familiar to software entrepreneurs everywhere — it’s running out of cash. The Igliniit Project has spent two years testing and refining a computer program for hunters to log what they see and do on while out on the land. But as the money from the International Polar Year’s research winds down, Igliniit looks to new sources to continue its NEWS 2010-02-04T16:47:11+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/7568_first_nations_bank_set_to_expand_to_iqaluit/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/7568_first_nations_bank_set_to_expand_to_iqaluit/#When:22:36:51Z The First Nations Bank of Canada’s long-anticipated entry into the Nunavut market will happen sometime this April. The Saskatoon-based bank plans to open a branch in the new Kamotiq Centre building at the Four Corners intersection. They’ve hired a manager and plan to start with a total of five employees, said Keith Martell, the bank’s chairman and chief executive officer. “We’re hearing there’s a lot of pent up expectation for us to open,” Martell said in a telephone interview from NEWS 2010-02-03T22:36:51+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/photo_a_lucky_birthday_in_kangiqsujuaq/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/photo_a_lucky_birthday_in_kangiqsujuaq/#When:21:42:36Z Not long after the local FM station warned residents in Kangiqsujuaq that a polar bear was seen near town Feb. 1, Elijah Ningiuruvik shot this cub and strapped it to his sled. Feb. 1 was a good day for Ningiuruvik — his first polar bear, and his birthday. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS) NEWS 2010-02-03T21:42:36+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/020210_iqaluit_braces_for_g7_impact/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/020210_iqaluit_braces_for_g7_impact/#When:19:44:00Z You can’t get a hotel room. Or rent a car. You might even have problems placing a phone call. Welcome, Iqaluit, to the world of high-profile international meetings. The G7 finance ministers, representing seven of the western world’s largest economies, including Canada, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, are scheduled to kick off two days of meetings Friday. With the politicians come hundreds of staff and reporters, stretching Iqaluit’s hospitality capacity to the NEWS 2010-02-02T19:44:00+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/020210_iqaluit_police_net_pot_pills_in_pair_of_busts/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/020210_iqaluit_police_net_pot_pills_in_pair_of_busts/#When:15:30:07Z Ed Devries appeared in court Monday on drug charges. Devries, 51, was arrested Jan. 29 after police searched two Iqaluit homes and seized nearly one kilogram of marijuana, $7,200 in cash, a GMC Yukon and trafficking paraphernalia. Devries faces charges of drug trafficking and possession of the proceeds of crime. Sakku Kripinak, 30, was also arrested Jan. 29 and faces a charge of marijuana trafficking. Kripinak was released on an undertaking and will appear in court May 7. The CBC reported NEWS 2010-02-02T15:30:07+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/photo_nunavik_artists_make_ice_bear_for_quebec_city/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/photo_nunavik_artists_make_ice_bear_for_quebec_city/#When:21:31:22Z Two Puvirnituq sculptors, brothers Juanasi and Peter Boy Ittukallak, helped create this polar bear exhibit that was launched last week at the Quebec City Carnival. For the joint project, which was led by the organizations Équiterre and the Fédération des coopératives du Nouveau Québec, the Nunavik sculptors worked with British artist Mark Coreth to design the ice bear as an environmental statement. The bear will eventually melt away to reveal its bronze skeleton. The idea was first used last NEWS 2010-02-01T21:31:22+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/83467_northwestel_confirms_discussions_on_trans-arctic_link/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/83467_northwestel_confirms_discussions_on_trans-arctic_link/#When:19:57:58Z Northwestel says it’s had “very preliminary discussions” with an Alaska company hoping to build a trans-Arctic fibre optic cable. Anne Kennedy, a spokeswoman for Northwestel, said two of the company’s vice presidents took part in a conference call with representatives with the Kodiak Kenai Cable Company, which wants to build a 15,000-kilometre link between Europe and Asia that would snake through the Northwest Passage. “They were sounding us out on a few things,” Kennedy said. “So of course NEWS 2010-02-01T19:57:58+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/010210_craig_hopes_oldies_are_golden_with_new_iqaluit_station/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/010210_craig_hopes_oldies_are_golden_with_new_iqaluit_station/#When:19:10:38Z Iqaluit is a young town, but Glenn Craig is going with oldies for his second radio station. The CRTC announced Monday it’s approved an application from Craig, who already owns Top 40 station CKIQ, to start an oldies-format FM station in Iqaluit. The new station would broadcast at 103.5 FM. According to the CRTC decision, the station is to offer seven hours per week of Inuktitut programming, as well as “news reports from safety and security professionals, health officers and municipal NEWS 2010-02-01T19:10:38+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/8756_researcher_written_inuktitut_still_symbolic_only_in_nunavut/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/8756_researcher_written_inuktitut_still_symbolic_only_in_nunavut/#When:19:01:25Z Despite its official legal status, the Inuit language will never become a functional language of work unless more people learn how to read and write it, a Laval University researcher said in a recently completed PhD thesis and other articles. ”Inuktitut literacy has lost its footing among most bilingual Nunavummiut,” linguist Aurélie Hot said in an article published last year in the Journal of Canadian Studies. Between 2005 and 2007, Hot interviewed 11 people in Igloolik, 18 people in NEWS 2010-02-01T19:01:25+00:00 http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/8678_iqaluit_rcmp_probe_suspicious_death_in_lower_base/ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/ stories/article/8678_iqaluit_rcmp_probe_suspicious_death_in_lower_base/#When:16:52:10Z Iqaluit RCMP members are saying little about a dead man they found inside a house in Lower Base this past Friday, except that they are treating the case as a “suspicious death.” Police found the man’s body at house 725, just behind the Northmart store, at around 11:30 a.m. Jan. 29. Though they know the man’s identity, police are not releasing his name until his next-of-kin are notified. Throughout the weekend, RCMP members kept a close watch on house 725 and used the headlights of vehicles NEWS 2010-02-01T16:52:10+00:00