News Quiz July 11 | Arts and crafts

We’ve given you the news. Now we’re giving you the quiz. Answer these questions to find out how well you’ve been paying attention to current events. Let’s go!

1. Pangnirtung is home of the Pang hat, a colourful and beautiful woven icon of Nunavut apparel. Tracing the art of the needle back through Pangnirtung’s past, historian Kenn Harper says elders in the hamlet in the 1960s recalled learning how to knit from a woman they called “Mrs. Penny.” Who was Mrs. Penny most likely to be?

A. Penny Little, a bureaucrat who helped establish Pangnirtung’s first government office in 1962.
B. Margaret Penny, a whaler’s wife who would sometimes invite Inuit women aboard her ship for tea over the winter of 1857-58.
C. Penelope Smith, a fondly remembered reverend’s wife who held several workshops through the church in the 1940s and 1950s.

2. Next year, an Inuktitut production of Waiting for Godot could be coming to a stage near you, thanks to the hard work of artist Tatanniq Idlout and her team of interpreters, translators, editors and directors. Why did Idlout choose to adapt this play in particular?

A. Because it’s considered the most significant English-language play of the 20th century by London’s Royal National Theatre.
B. The play, written by Irish writer Samuel Beckett, explores themes of suffering and Idlout believes this translates well to the Inuit experience.
C. Waiting for Godot was a good candidate for translation into Inuktitut because the language in the play lends itself well to the exercise, Idlout said.

3. Nunatsiaq News spoke to musician Beatrice Deer ahead of her planned Canada Day performance in Ottawa July 1. But the show did not, unfortunately, go on. Why?

A. A freak rainstorm wreaked havoc on Canada Day festivities and everybody had to go home.
B. A specific electrical connection failed and technicians were unable to secure a replacement part in time.
C. There was a security threat, forcing the area to be cleared, but it ended up being a false alarm.

4. Which two Nunavut communities experienced dump fires over the past week?

A. Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay
B. Iqaluit and Arviat
C. Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet

5. The Nunavut Land Use Plan has once again been rejected. One major reason topped a list of several concerns put forward by the plan’s three signatories: Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the Nunavut government and federal government. What was that reason?

A. The draft was changed without enough consultation with regional Inuit associations.
B. It proposes protecting too much land.
C. The plan could strand projects that are surrounded by limited use zones.

Inuit musicians Sylvia Clouthier, left, and Beatrice Deer enjoy a relaxing moment June 30 in Ottawa, just before the dress rehearsal for the national Canada Day show on July 1. The show did not go on. Why? (Photo by Lilli Akpaleeapik, special to Nunatsiaq News)

Answers:

1. B — Mrs. Penny was likely Margaret Penny, the wife of whaler William Penny, whose ship spent a winter at Kekerten Island, in the Pangnirtung area.
2. B — Artist Tatanniq Idlout remarked that the Irish experience with suffering — church abuse, colonialism, and loss of culture — is similar to the Inuit experience with suffering. And Waiting for Godot is a black comedy exploring this theme. “What is most beautiful about the story is that they use humour to overcome all the hardships that they experienced,” Idlout said.
3. A — Canada Day festivities, including Beatrice Deer’s show, were washed out July 1 by a rainstorm that dropped at least 99 millimetres of rain, according to measurements taken at the Ottawa airport. The rain also flooded thousands of basements across the city.
4. C — Iqaluit’s dump fire was extinguished within a day, but Rankin Inlet’s was ongoing as of late last week. Fire Chief Mark Wyatt expected it could continue burning for weeks.
5. A — While concerns over all three answers are cited by the signatories, the primary reason the draft Nunavut Land Use Plan was rejected was over major changes to it without consultation.