Photo: First look at Nunavut’s baby box

First look at Nunavut’s baby box: Emily Shoapik of Pangnirtung places her two-week-old newborn, Rachel Shoapik, into one of the Finnish-style baby boxes, filled with many items for babies and parents, which the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Health will distribute to the moms of newborn infants, as Health Minister George Hickes and Tara MacAskill of Nunavut’s health department look on. When Finland began giving out baby boxes in 1939, the country cut its infant mortality rate from 90 per 1,000 to two per 1,000. “I’m thrilled that Nunavut is taking the lead on this baby box initiative—the first publicly funded universal program of its kind in Canada,” Hickes said. Read more later about the baby boxes on Nunatsiaqonline.ca. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)