First Air bows out of annual charity gala, Canadian North steps in

Sponsors at Iqaluit’s AWG arena in November 2013 for last year’s charity gala. This year, First Air has stood down from the event, while Canadian North, NCC and QC will take over. (PHOTO BY ED PICCO/TWITTER)

Preparation is underway in the lead up to one of Iqaluit’s biggest annual social events and fundraisers, but this year’s holiday charity ball will look a little different than those of years past.

That’s because First Air has bowed out of hosting the annual ball, while its major competitor has stepped in to take its place.

Canadian North announced last week that it will host this year’s Nov. 29 charity ball in Iqaluit in partnership with the NNC Development Group Inc. and the Qikiqtaaluk Corp.

Canadian North’s senior director of business and community relations, Hunter Tootoo, said the airline is “proud” to step up and make the event happen.

“It’s a great event,” he said. “It’s something that everyone looks forward to every year. And it’s a great chance to raise some funds for a local charity.”

This year, all the proceeds made from the charity ball will be donated to REACH, the fundraising campaign for Iqaluit’s new aquatic centre, which is slated to open in 2016.

That campaign has raised about $350,000 so far, but aims to reach $1 million by the end of 2015.

The charity gala makes money through its ticket sales — there are 400 available at $130 a piece, Tootoo said — and through a live auction.

The event, which will be held Nov. 29 at Iqaluit’s Arctic Winter Games arena, will also feature a performance by Quaqtaq-raised singer-songwriter Beatrice Deer and her band.

“Since First Air was pulling out, we wanted to find a way to make sure it still happened,” Tootoo said.

“We believe this starts a new era of partnership for the charity ball and we look forward to seeing everyone attend.”

In past years, First Air has raised thousands of dollars through the holiday gala for different organizations in Iqaluit, including the women’s shelter, the Kamatsiaqtut Helpline and Iqaluit’s food bank.

But the airline may have hinted at things to come when it cancelled the annual gala in 2012, telling CBC that its resources were stretched.

The airline has more recently hinted at financial strains.

In a recent speech to the Economic Club of Canada, First Air’s vice president-commercial, Bert van der Stege, told an audience that the northern airline industry is not economically viable, calling on the federal government to do more to improve airport and air safety infrastructure across the North.

That may have been remedied by plans for First Air and Canadian North to merge, as the airlines announced earlier this year.

But in a surprise announcement last month, the two airlines said they’ve dropped any talks aimed at merging.

For its part, First Air said it plans instead to host a new community event in the summer of 2015.

“We’ve replaced our charity ball with a community summer event for next year,” said the airline’s president and CEO, Dr. Brock Friesen, in a Nov. 18 email to Nunatsiaq News.

“It will have a charitable part as well, but most importantly this new event is there for all Iqalungmiut.”