12 from 2025: Test yourself with our year-end news quiz

Puvirnituq Mayor Lucy Qalingo demanded her community get fair treatment as Canadians this year. (File photo by Cedric Gallant)

It was the year we got a new prime minister, a new premier — and a new U.S. president we couldn’t get out of our heads.

Let’s wander through the back pages of 2025 and test your memory of the events big and small that dot the calendar.

1. With U.S. President Donald Trump threatening tariffs against Canada even before he took office, and former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement that he would resign, which public figure released a letter urging people to remain calm during this “period of uncertainty”?

A. Former premier P.J. Akeeagok
B. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre
C. Gov. Gen. Mary Simon

2. On Jan. 24, a new chief justice of the Nunavut Court of Justice was sworn in. Who became the top judge across the territory?

A. Neil Sharkey
B. Susan Cooper
C. Mark Mossey

3. Reacting to the trade war started by Trump, provincial and territorial governments showed their displeasure in various ways. What did Nunavut do?

A. It pulled American-made alcohol off the shelves at Nunavut Liquor and Cannabis Commission stores.
B. The Government of Nunavut banned American-made vehicles from being shipped to the territory.
C. Airplanes coming from the U.S. were banned from landing in Nunavut.

4. One speaker suggested an unusual source for electrical power in Nunavut during the Nunavut Mining Symposium in April. What was it?

A. To buy a single, massive generator from China to power the whole territory
B. Construct small nuclear reactors
C. Import cows and capture methane from their waste to fuel gas-powered plants

5. “We are Canadians, and we have to get the same treatment as anyone else in Canada,” said Lucy Qalingo, mayor of Puvirnituq, in mid-May. What spurred her to make that statement?

A. Nunavik’s ongoing tuberculosis crisis
B. Her community’s struggles to get adequate housing for residents
C. A local water shortage crisis

6. Nunavut got a couple of cool shout-outs from major televised events this year. Two of these answers actually happened — which one did not?

A. Ron MacLean used Nunavut in a corny pun during a Stanley Cup final game.
B. King Charles referred to Arviat during a speech in Ottawa.
C. Colour commentator Buck Martinez mentioned Iqaluit during a Toronto Blue Jays game in the World Series.

7. In August, this popular Indigenous group announced they were breaking up. Which band was it?

A. Northern Haze
B. Twin Flames
C. The Jerry Cans

8. Inuit cultural artifacts stored in a Toronto museum beside items that once belonged to Elvis Presley and Queen Victoria were prepared to return to Kugluktuk this summer. What were they?

A. Two hand-sewn parkas
B. Three century-old kayaks
C. A pair of sealskin boots

9. It was a bad day for the crew on the 172-metre-long cargo ship Thamesborg. The ship was the pride of the Netherlands side when it left fully loaded from Asia — but could it be the north wind they were feeling, before this happened?

A. It spilled its load of oil in the Franklin Strait.
B. It ran aground in the Franklin Strait.
C. Its engine caught fire and the ship was disabled in the Franklin Strait.

10. After seven years, the City of Iqaluit announced in September this activity would be legal once more. What is it?

A. Washing your car
B. Stores could stay open for as long as they choose; no curfew on operating hours.
C. Road hockey is legal again, now that the bylaw has been rescinded.

11. The jail in Kugluktuk underwent renovations this year. What makes it different than nearly every other detention centre in Nunavut?

A. It’s a co-operative; the prisoners act as their own jailers.
B. It’s open custody, with no locks on the doors.
C. Each December, the inmates go carolling throughout the community.

12. In November, MLAs selected John Main as the new premier of Nunavut. Who was the other MLA who sought the premier position?

A. Janet Pitsiulaaq Brewster
B. George Hickes
C. David Akeeagok

U.S. President Donald Trump, seen in a White House file photo, threatened tariffs against Canada even before he took office earlier this year. (Photo courtesy of White House gallery)

Answers

1. C — Gov. Gen. Mary Simon’s letter acknowledged “many Canadians are concerned about what lies ahead” and that “we must encourage meaningful dialogue within our society and cultivate a renewed sense of pride as we write the next chapters of our national history together.”
2. B — Justice Susan Cooper was sworn in to lead the Nunavut Court of Justice. She succeeded Chief Justice Neil Sharkey, who retired in April 2024.
3. A — Nunavut pulled U.S.-made alcohol from its store shelves and stopped purchasing it as well. “We stand united with the prime minister and with all the premiers that we must act to defend Canada,” said former premier P.J. Akeeagok.
4. B — There could be benefits if Nunavut considered using small nuclear reactors to generate electricity, said Agata Leszkiewicz, of the Westinghouse Electric Corp.
5. C — A sudden water shortage in March caused by a broken pipe forced schools to close, health centre patients to be transferred out, and left Puvirnituq scrambling for repairs and quickly find drinking water.
6. A — Ron MacLean didn’t make a Nunavut pun (so consider yourself lucky, Nunavut). But King Charles and Buck Martinez made those comments.
7. B — Twin Flames, the husband-and-wife team of Chelsey June and Jaaji Okpik, announced they would no longer perform together.
8. C — A pair of small, white-and-red kamiks, or boots, made by the late Elva Pigalak in the 1980s, would be returned to Kugluktuk from the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, the museum announced.
9. B — The Thamesborg ran aground. After 33 days, it was finally refloated.
10. A — People in Iqaluit could finally wash their cars because water conditions at the reservoir had improved. Good thing, the cars were looking pretty dirty at that point.
11. B — The Kugluktuk Ilavut Centre is one of only two open-custody jails in Nunavut.
12. C — David Akeeagok ran unsuccessfully against John Main to be Nunavut premier.