Iqaluit council says yes to all-day Toonik Tyme holiday

Ice carvers work on their blocks of ice during the Toonik Tyme ice carving competition held April 14 in front of the RCMP V Division headquarters in Iqaluit. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Iqaluit City Council said yes April 17 to the idea of declaring the first Friday of Toonik Tyme an all-day holiday, when they gave first reading to a new Civic Holiday for Toonik Tyme bylaw.

“The community absolutely wants to come together and celebrate on that Friday,” Mayor Madeleine Redfern said.

For many years, most Iqaluit workers have enjoyed a half-day holiday on Toonik Tyme’s first Friday, which usually falls immediately after an evening devoted to opening ceremonies.

But Redfern said many hamlet governments in Nunavut declare full-day civic holidays during their Hamlet Days celebrations.

The Cities, Towns and Villages Act allows municipalities to declare civic holidays within their municipal boundaries, Redfern said.

Coun. Romeyn Stevenson, said, however, that some employers, such as the Department of Education, need to know dates of holidays well in advance so they can schedule their year.

Since the dates for Toonik Tyme change from year to year, that could be a problem, Stevenson said.

Redfern replied that the Toonik Tyme committee could be asked to set fixed dates for the festival, a practice that would allow the civic holiday date to be fixed in advance also.

This year’s Toonik Tyme celebration, which was aided by warm, sunny weather in Iqaluit, started April 12 and ended April 16.