Kugaardjuq School in Kugaaruk burns on Feb. 18, 2017. The school, which has since been replaced, caused the biggest financial loss due to fire in Nunavut in 2017, according to the 2017 fire marshal’s report. (File photo)
Financial significance and number of deaths are “substantial enough for Nunavummiut to strive towards the elimination of all types of fires,” says fire marshal
(Updated, 6 p.m.) Fires in Nunavut caused losses of more than $100,000 per person in 2017, according to a new report tabled in the territory’s legislature. These losses, totalling about $41.7 million, also led to the death of four people and injured another 15, according to the 2017 Fire Marshall’s report. Loss of infrastructure due…
The Royal Canadian Legion’s Simon Awa serves as a standard-bearer during Iqaluit’s Remembrance Day ceremony in the Cadet Hall on Monday, Nov. 11. (Photo by Dustin Patar)
“Day after the sun has set for the next three months,” photographer Clare Kines says about this shot, taken on Wednesday, Nov. 6. The ship is the SV Vagabond, a research vessel that will spend the winter frozen into the ice. (Photo by Clare Kines)
Pauloosie Suvega, Nunavut Arctic College’s president, and Noreen Golfman, provost and vice-president of Memorial University, sign a memorandum of understanding to finalize an agreement for new joint credential degree programs at a ceremony at the college’s Nunatta campus in Iqaluit. The Nunavut Teacher Education Program—previously accredited through the University of Regina—will be the first program offered as part of the new agreement, as well as the first program in Nunavut to offer graduates a degree from both schools. (Photo by Emma Tranter)
Today is International Inuit Day. Here, Eva Kakolak of Cambridge Bay lights a qulliq at an October event as her granddaughter looks on. International Inuit Day was first declared in 2006 by the Inuit Circumpolar Council general assembly in Barrow, Alaska. Nov. 7 was chosen to commemorate the birthday of the ICC’s late founding president, Eben Hopson. In 1976, Hopson rallied Inuit leaders in Greenland, Canada, the United States and Russia to form an international organization, then called the Inuit Circumpolar Conference. “The single most important issue facing all Inuit, regardless of where they live, is the preservation of a unique culture, identity and way of life before they are destroyed by large-scale industrial development and the intrusions of southern society,” Hopson said at the time. (Photo by Jane George)
The Nunavut Impact Review Board brought its final hearing on Baffinland’s proposed expansion of the Mary River mine to an abrupt halt on Nov. 6, the fifth day of the hearing. That’s because the board needs time to consider a motion from Aluki Kotierk, the president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., to adjourn the hearing for eight to 12 months. Kotierk said many questions are still unanswered and not enough time has been provided to properly review information. NIRB chair Kaviq Kaluraq said the board asks intervenors and others to file written submissions by Nov. 15 on the NTI motion and that Baffinland will have until Nov. 22 to respond. Kaluraq said NIRB will issue written guidance on the motion some time after that date. Also, two community roundtables planned for Pond Inlet on Nov. 8 and 9, part of the public hearing, have been cancelled for now. See nunatsiaq.com later for more on this late-breaking story. (Screenshot)
Iqaluit’s next mayor and councillors were sworn in last night at the Nunavut Court of Justice. From left: Kyle Sheppard, Janet Brewster, Romeyn Stevenson, Mayor Kenny Bell, Simon Nattaq, Solomon Awa, Joanasie Akumalik and Malaiya Lucassie. Not pictured: Sheila Flaherty. (Photo by Dustin Patar)
