Nunavut communities marshalling spring cleanup teams

With a little help from the territorial department of environment, Nunavut’s municipalities have scheduled community cleanup days when they hope to clear away litter and refuse that accumulated within six month’s worth of snow and ice. The Iqaluit creek, above, might be a good place to start. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

Summer is fast approaching, and as the last piles of snow subside, the season for community cleanups throughout Nunavut is set to begin.

The territorial Department of Environment will kick off the start of this year’s community cleanups in Iqaluit June 13 with a morning event from 9:00 to noon.

The department is inviting all residents of the territorial capital to meet in two locations — the Unikkaarvik Visitor’s Centre and Nanook School in Apex — to receive cleanup supplies and choose an area of the city where they will help clear away all the trash and refuse.

For added incentive, a barbecue and prize-draw will follow the cleanup from noon to 1:00 p.m. at the Visitor’s Centre.

All of the territory’s communities will put on similar events, also sponsored by the Department of Environment but organized by their hamlet or municipal offices. Cleanups may take place in a single day, or last a full week.

Baker Lake and Kimmirut will be the first hamlets to start, according to Sidney Horlick, pollution prevention assistant with the Department of Environment. Both are set to launch a full week’s cleanup in their communities, starting Monday, June 9.

Other communities will follow suit on different days through to July, depending on melt-times for snow and ice, Horlick said.

In April, Iqaluit city councillors issued a challenge to businesses to clean up their own premises, especially construction companies whose building materials are sometimes left in unsightly piles or end up strewn around town.

The department will provide T-shirts to all volunteers who join the effort. Other details are left to the hamlet offices.

“We leave it up to the hamlet to decide what other things they’re going to be offering to the volunteers,” Horlick said.

“You should want your community to look good,” she said, adding that the government’s support of the program is meant to “encourage community pride.”

Volunteers throughout Nunavut will have a chance at win two airline tickets from Canadian North. One winner will be drawn from each of four regions: North Baffin, South Baffin, Kivalliq and the Kitikmeot. Winners will be announced August 1.

For information on cleanups in your community, check with the hamlet office or contact clean-up@gov.nu.ca.