Carolyn Heller snapped this image from a spring picnic outside Iqaluit on Tuesday, April 16: “When your day involves travelling by snowmobile across the frozen ocean from Iqaluit and picnicking on caribou stew and smoked Arctic char on the ice, with caribou skins to keep us warm,” she wrote. (Photo courtesy of Carolyn B. Heller)
Riit sparkled, alongside Kathleen Merritt and Tom Power of CBC Radio q, on stage at Inuksuk High School in Iqaluit on Thursday, April 25. Read more later on nunatsiaq.com. (Photo by Patricia Lightfoot)
Edmon Kooneeliusie stops for a break on his snowmobile ride to take in the view from Pingujua, a 3,000 foot high peak just outside of Qikiqtarjuaq. (Photo by E. Kooneeliusie)
On April 8, Kuujjuaq’s Isuarsivik Recovery Centre was visited by Sylvie D’Amours, the Quebec minister of aboriginal affairs (far right), and Denis Lamothe, the member for Ungava (fourth from right). The pair met with chairperson David Forrest (third from the right) and executive director Alicia Aragutak (far left), as well as three Isuarsivik board members, to discuss the progress of the centre’s projects and the impacts of trauma and substance abuse on communities. Their meeting ended with the government officials taking part in the opening ceremony of a men’s recovery cycle. Isuarsivik wrote on Facebook: “We are enthusiastic and optimistic that we can develop a positive and #constructiverelationship with the newly elected officials and are looking forward to fostering #closecommunication with them for the benefit of our programs and services.” (Photo courtesy of Isuarsivik Recovery Centre/Facebook)
Sarah McNair-Landry and Willie Hyndman make their final push toward the finish line during Iqaluit’s Toonik Tyme skijoring race on Sunday, April 14. Hyndman and his dog Aven ended up finishing first while McNair-Landry and her dog Scoby placed second. (Photo courtesy of Bill Williams)
Leevedee Atagoyuk and his grandchild, Joseph Lalonde Maatiusi, proudly show their Easter winnings at the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre’s Easter Dinner Party and egg hunt on April 17. Families enjoyed a ham dinner before their children stormed the playground in search of chocolate, each with individually decorated collection bags. At the end, the centre gave out loot bags. (Photo by Kahlan Miron)
A Nunavik Sivunitsavut student poses during a school trip to Kuururjuaq Park. Last week, students went to the park for their physical education class. As they were guided through the area, some activities included playing some traditional drum songs, fishing and eating country foods. (Photo courtesy of Nunavik Sivunitsavut/Facebook)
The staff at Nunatsiaq News wish our readers a restful Easter. Our offices will be closed on Good Friday, but we’ll be back hopping to it on Monday, April 22—much like this Arctic hare, spotted by Clare Kines outside Arctic Bay in June 2017. (Photo courtesy of Clare Kines)
Racers in Toonik Tyme’s kids snowmobile race, 200 class, speed towards the finish line on Friday, April 12, at AWG Lake. The event, for children between the ages of 8 and 12, is part of Iqaluit’s annual springtime festival. (Photo courtesy of Bill Williams)
Teresa Meadows receives the individual achievement award at the Nunavut Mining Symposium gala on Wednesday, April 3. Meadows has served as legal counsel for the Nunavut Impact Review Board and Nunavut Water Board for the past decade. As she received the honour she was lauded as “a kind, compassionate professional whose dedication to her clients and to protecting the integrity of Nunavut’s regulatory processes knows no bounds.” (Photo courtesy of the Nunavut Mining Symposium)
Let the fun begin! Iqaluit’s spring festival officially opened Thursday evening with the naming of the festival’s two honorary Tooniks: Rebecca Veevee, the host of the popular APTN cooking show Niqitsiat, and Lew Phillip, a former RCMP officer and longtime carver. The evening also included a fashion show, featuring clothing made by participants in a Nunavut Literacy Council program, throat-singing and music. Festival events get underway on Friday, a civic holiday in Iqaluit, with more information available at www.tooniktyme.ca. (Photo by Jane George)
Cecile Lyall ran the silent auction table during the intermission of Nunavut Sivuniksavut’s play and fundraiser, “The Inuit Story: A Dramatization,” at Ottawa’s Arts Court Theatre on March 6. Funds go towards the students’ end-of-year cultural exchange trip. Bidders crowded the table until the last second. The auction featured goodies from InukChic, Manitobah Mukluks, Inhabit Media Inc. and more. (Photo by Kahlan Miron)
Natasha Nagyougalik receives a standing ovation at the Nunavut Mining Symposium gala in Iqaluit on Wednesday, April 3, for becoming the first Inuk woman in Nunavut to drive a massive Caterpillar 6030 mining shovel. Nagyougalik, who hails from Baker Lake, began working at Agnico Eagle Mining’s Meadowbank mine eight years ago as a dishwasher. Agnico Eagle’s president, Ammar Al-Joundi, said it’s important for mines to be part of nearby communities, so locals can find work and grow with the company. (Photo courtesy of the Nunavut Mining Symposium)
The children of the Northern Village of Kuujjuaq enjoy sledding as part of the community’s second “Love Life” event on March 13. “Love Life” celebrates life and helps residents heal from recent trauma and tragedy. The community also celebrated the day with music, snow sculptures and country food. The slide, which was built for the event, stayed up afterwards and children can still enjoy sledding on it after school or on the weekends. (Photo courtesy of Isabelle Dubois)
This carving from the late 1960s shows a traditional adoption, validated in 1969 by Justice J.H. Sissons of the Northwest Territories. It’s among the carvings from the Sissons-Morrow collection of Inuit carvings from the N.W.T., currently on display at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit. That collection began in 1956 when Kaotak, a man found not guilty of killing his father, presented Sissons with a carving depicting the trial. After that, Sissons would commission local carvers to depict cases in stone, ivory, caribou antler, soapstone and metal. Later, Justice William J. Morrow continued the collection. (Photo by Jane George)
The Nunavut Impact Review Board is holding a technical meeting in Iqaluit from Monday to Wednesday on Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.’s planned expansion of its Mary River mine in North Baffin. Daniel Quassa from the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization, second from right, said on Monday he worries about the larger project’s impact on the marine food chain. Consultants working for Baffinland said the mine conducts extensive monitoring for invasive species and contaminants. After the meeting wraps up, Baffinland will have a chance to respond to a long list of concerns before the NIRB’s final public hearing on the project takes place this September. From left: Merlyn Recinos of Igloolik, Enookie Enuarak of Pond Inlet, Quassa and Frank Tester for the Hamlet of Pond Inlet. (Photo by Jane George)
Drum dancers from around Nunavut’s Kitikmeot and Kivalliq regions, including Julia Ogina, seen here, will perform in Cambridge Bay tonight from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Kullik Elementary School. Other nightly performances are also planned later in the week. During the day the drum dancers plan to meet and record their songs, for a follow-up to 2018’s Huqqullaarutit Unipkaangit or “Stories Told Through Drum-Dance Songs,” a book prepared for the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, which Ogina co-ordinated. (Photo by Jane George)
“Inuit in Canada will continue to harvest seals as we always have to meet our needs in the Arctic,” said a Nunavut Sivuniksavut student at the school’s pro sealing rally. On March 28, NS students gathered at Parliament Hill for a rally in support of Inuit seal. They gave a presentation on its historical and cultural importance, commented on the state of sealing today and ended with a fashion show. The students also encouraged their audience to take and share a “#sealfie” —a picture featuring sealskin fashion. The Government of Nunavut lent garments to NS for the event. (Photo courtesy of NS/Facebook)
At the annual spring opening of Nunavut’s courts in Iqaluit on Friday, March 29, Justice of the Peace Nicole Sikma, the daughter of a special RCMP constable in Chesterfield Inlet, was honoured for her 11 years of service. Inspired by her father and helped by her legal colleagues, Sikma said she tries her best to administer justice in a place where western justice is new. (Photo by Jane George)
A book of condolences is now available at the Nunavut legislature in Iqaluit, where members of the public can leave messages or cards for the family of Joe Enook, the Speaker of the legislature,. who died on Friday, March 29, at the age of 61. Enook had represented the constituents of Pond Inlet, as MLA for Tununiq, since 2011. You can also send condolences by email to submissions@assembly.nu.ca or by mail “Messages of Condolences for the Enook family, c/o Office of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut, P.O. Box 1200, Iqaluit. NU X0A 0H0. (Photo by Jane George)
The Nunavut Mining Symposium trade show in Iqaluit is the place to make contact with mining companies seeking new workers. But the show has a wider scope than just mining: it also features companies like the Nunavut-owned Arctic Fresh, an online retail store for affordable food and household products. The trade show is open to the public on Wednesday, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., at the Frobisher Inn. (Photo by Jane George)
Interested in an Arctic read? Nick Newbery’s autobiography, “Never A Dull Moment: Forty Years in Education in Canada’s North (and in a few other places),” is released this month. In Iqaluit, the author will launch the book and sign copies at Arctic Ventures this weekend. Newbery’s book offers his perspective on historic events—particularly in Northern Ireland and the Canadian Eastern Arctic—and his critiques on the northern education system. It also shares his thoughts on the changing world of Inuit and situations faced by youth. Alongside these insights, the book follows Newbery’s time in the British residential school system, university life in Ireland, his teaching French in Toronto and moving North. The author now lives in Nova Scotia, where he’s taught courses on Nunavut at Mount St. Vincent University. Newbery will hold his book launch and signing in Iqaluit on Friday, April 5, at 5 p.m. and on Saturday, April 6, at 11 a.m. (Photo courtesy of Nick Newbery)
Brian Penney, president and CEO of Baffinland Iron Mines, and David Akeeagok, Nunavut’s minister of economic development, sign an agreement on Tuesday, April 2, to work together to maximize Inuit employment at the Mary River mine. The memorandum of understanding, which is non-binding, calls for both parties to collaborate on four priorities: reducing barriers to unemployment, employment and training opportunities, community wellness programs and infrastructure and transportation. The agreement has been in the works for two years, said Akeeagok. (Photo by John Thompson)
Fireworks explode outside Iqaluit on the evening of April 1, 2019, to celebrate Nunavut’s 20th birthday. (Photo by Clare Kines)
