Kinngait hosts appreciation dinner for community’s ‘unsung heroes’
Volunteers and long-serving hamlet employees receive awards for their work
Kinngait firefighters hold certificates they received at a volunteer appreciation dinner at Peter Pitseolak Secondary School on May 6. Back row, from left: Adamie Qaumagiaq, Noah Ottokie, Tytoosie Pudlat, Charlie Qiatsuk, Etidloi Adla, Elijah Parr and Simon Kunuk. Front row, from left: Luutaaq Qaumagiaq, Joanasie Salomonie Ashoona, Koonoo Qaumagiaq, Padlu Qiatsuq, Temela Pitsiulak and Salomonie Ashevak. (Photo courtesy of Dawn Currie)
More than 100 people came together in Kinngait May 6 to honour local volunteers, including the hamlet’s only female firefighter.
“She got up and said, ‘Women can do this too!’” said Dawn Currie, one of the event organizers, of Koonoo Qaumagiaq.
Qaumagiaq, the rest of Kinngait’s volunteer firefighters and dozens of others accepted awards for their service to the community at an appreciation dinner held at Peter Pitseolak Secondary School.
A total of 58 volunteers from recreation, search and rescue and the volunteer fire department received awards and thank-you gifts.
The hamlet also presented six long-service awards to municipal employees for five, 10 and 15 years of service.
Kimberley Young, the hamlet’s senior administrative officer, said volunteers are often “unsung heroes” in the community.
“They come at a moment’s notice. They show up in the middle of the night when needed, and they stay for long hours,” Young said.
“The hamlet can’t operate without them.”
Young said the hamlet wants to recognize their dedication and encourage others to get involved.
“Our search and rescue team had a couple of really difficult searches last year, our firefighters fought a really big fire, and our recreation volunteers have been doing great work,” said Young.
Several recipients received multiple awards for volunteering across different services, including both search and rescue and firefighting.
“When those people got dual awards, you could hear it in the crowd — people clapping extra hard or cheering them on,” Young said.
The recognition dinner was funded through the Government of Nunavut’s sport and recreation division after the hamlet applied for support about a year ago.
The evening included a catered meal, award presentations and raffle prizes from Canadian North, the local Co-op and Northern Store, and Team Nunavut.
Dawn Currie, who retired from the Recreation and Parks Association of Nunavut in 2024, helped organize the event while working with the hamlet as a recreation consultant.
“Community recreation and hamlet services often rely on volunteers and it’s getting harder to recruit them, but one of the things we don’t do enough of is thank them,” she said.
Currie added that tracking volunteers through a spreadsheet could help hamlets better plan programming and make sure long-serving contributors are not overlooked.
Young volunteers who were involved in a youth summit held in Kinngait last year also received recognition during the event.
Young said the hamlet plans to host the volunteer appreciation dinner again next year and hopes it will be “bigger and better” with more volunteers to honour.
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