Big Iqaluit crowd turns out for Canada Day

Close to 500 people, many wearing white and red, gathered in downtown Iqaluit to celebrate Canada Day with a barbecue hosted by the city on Wednesday afternoon.

Alma Bie, left, and Audrey Canlas peek out from the window of a parade float decorated as a Jeepney, a kind of small bus in the Philippines, during Canada Day celebrations in Iqaluit. The pair were part of a four-float contingent of 40 members of Filipino Canadian in Iqaluit Nunavut, the cultural organization representing Filipino-Canadians in the territory. (Photo by Daron Letts)

“It’s awesome to see the community come together,” said Breton McNeil, Iqaluit’s recreation director. 

More than 150 people were already lined up for burgers at 1 p.m. when the parade arrived, having departed the Arctic Winter Games Arena parking lot shortly after noon.

The 14 parade floats lined Queen Elizabeth Way along the full length of the Nakasuk School grounds.

“Other than Halloween, parades are my favourite part of my job,” said Matilda Pinksen, Iqaluit’s special events co-ordinator. “I thought the Christmas parade was big but I think this is bigger.”

Some of the float entries featured more than one vehicle.

Filipino Canadian in Iqaluit Nunavut, the cultural organization representing Filipino-Canadians in the territory, decorated four vehicles, which represented various regional festivals in the Philippines. More than 40 group members accompanied the cultural cavalcade.

It was the first time the organization fielded a float since 2018, said president Maricel Moralidad. She rode in a pickup truck with a life-sized replica of a palm tree in the back.

One dozen members of LECUDO Nunavut Inc., a cultural and development organization representing Iqaluit residents originally from southwest Cameroon, walked in the parade dressed in bright colours fringed with shimmering garland that fluttered in the breeze.

A double line of nine RCMP officers marched between the floats, led by Insp. Will McGinis and Chief Supt. Kent Pike.

Other floats included Asian Kitchen, Qulliq Energy Corp., and a fire truck and other emergency vehicles that together carried 19 Iqaluit firefighters.

Four-year-old Nalani Guri shows off her bicycle she decorated with her dad, Malcolm Guri, in the Arctic Winter Games Arena parking lot on Canada Day. (Photo by Daron Letts)

“I love seeing all the colour, the sun, and lots of people,” said fire Chief Solomon Tagak, who has participated in the city’s Canada Day Parade for the past 18 years.

The largest float, and perhaps most popular with children present, was the city’s 140 Cat grader with six-wheel drive.

“It’s the most fun machine that the city’s got and probably one of the most difficult to operate,” said driver Matt Reynders.

Children pumped their arms as the parade set off from the arena parking lot, signaling to Reynders to sound the horn.

Reynder obliged.

“Got to give them the honk – babies, kids everybody,” he said.

Prior to the parade, three dozen children participated in a mini-parade of their own in the arena parking lot, after decorating their bicycles and tricycles with streamers, stickers, and red balloons.