Get ready to have fun on Nunavut Day

Iqalummiut line up for food at the Nunavut Day event held July 9, 2010. Organizers say this year’s July 9 event will be bigger and better. (FILE PHOTO)

National Hockey League player Jordin Tootoo will be the star attraction at Iqaluit’s Nunavut Day activities July 9.

Festivities will kick off in Iqalit at 1 p.m. in the parking lot behind the Legislative Assembly building.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc, Nunavut Tourism and both territorial and federal governments are hosting an afternoon event which includes a feast of country foods and hamburgers, live music and games for the whole family.

Tootoo, the Rankin Inlet native who plays right wing for the NHL’s Nashville Predators, will be at the event throughout the afternoon to meet fans and sign autographs.

The event wraps up at 5 p.m.

Nunavut Day 2011 marks 10 years since July 9 was created as a public holiday.

The date commemorates the proclamation of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, which came into law July 9, 1993.

Since then, NTI and other Inuit organizations have acknowledged the day, although it wasn’t until 2001 that July 9 officially became Nunavut Day.

Although Nunavut Day is widely recognized as a celebration of the territory’s creation, Nunavut split from the Northwest Territories on a different date: April 1, 1999.