Your 10 most popular Nunatsiaq News photos of 2016: excellence shines

The top photo of 2016 from the Nunatsiaq News Facebook page: Air Inuit pilot Melissa Haney sits in the cockpit of an Air Inuit Dash 8 parked at the Kuujjuaq airport March 21, 2016, before heading north to do a scheduled run up Nunavik’s Ungava coast. (PHOTO BY KASSANDRA LEDUC)

A review of the thousand-plus photos posted on the Nunatsiaq News Facebook page to find the most viewed, liked and shared photos reveals our readers’ appreciation for excellence and commitment.

The top Facebook page photo, which received thousands of views, likes and shares, shows Air Inuit pilot Melissa Haney in the cockpit of an Air Inuit Dash 8 parked at the Kuujjuaq airport March 21, before she headed north to do a scheduled run along Nunavik’s Ungava coast.

The second most popular photo on the Nunatsiaq News Facebook Page: Nunavut National Hockey League star Jordin Tootoo in his hometown of Rankin Inlet in August with wife Jennifer and three-month-old Siena Rose—a chance for the newborn girl to meet her paternal grandparents. (PHOTO BY NOEL KALUDJAK)

The third shows Donna May Kimmaliardjuk, who just finished medical school and is now a resident physician at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, on the cover of the National Inuit Youth Council’s Nipiit magazine. Kimmaliardjuk, whose family comes from Chesterfield Inlet, is hoping to become a cardiac surgeon by 2020. “I feel happy, and I must admit, proud, but also humbled and honoured to be Nunavut’s first Inuk doctor,” she wrote in Nipiit. “My advice for youth is to find and do something in life that makes you happy.”

The fourth most-popular photo by Annie Kavik finds Sanikiluaq resident Anita Kavik holding the tail of a beluga she harvested— her first—this past July near the King George Islands. Kavik, 23, told Nunatsiaq News she was out searching for eider duck nests to gather down when she saw a pod of belugas. Her boyfriend gave her his .303 rifle and told her to shoot when they came up for air. It took her a few tries but she managed to finally get one. She called her godmother in Inukjuak right away to tell her and then split the maktaaq between her godmother and local elders.

The fifth most-popular photo captures Arctic Bay high school graduates enjoying a celebration: Arctic Bay graduated nine students in 2016, including, in this photo, Candace Barnabas, Tapia Attagutsiak, Rosalie Oqallak, Angela Attagutsiak, Mickey Iqaqrialu, Leetia Kalluk, and Ashley Kalluk. Missing from photo Carlton Reid and Michael Inutiq. (PHOTO BY CLARE KINES)

Also in the top 10:

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Bryan Pearson’s final homecoming: Bryan Pearson, 82, Iqaluit’s first mayor and founder of the community council that eventually evolved into today’s Iqaluit City Council, made one last journey home Aug. 27. Diagnosed with terminal liver cancer more than six months earlier, Pearson flew via medevac from Ottawa to Iqaluit, where an ambulance took him home. About 60 vehicles lined up around the Four Corners intersection to view the procession, which passed through downtown Iqaluit just after 11:15 a.m. Spectators waved, honked their car horns and clapped. “He was very touched by the community support. He’s now home resting and happy to be reunited with his friends and especially his dog Kamik,” said Iqaluit Mayor Madeleine Redfern. (PHOTO BY THOMAS ROHNER)

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Puvirnituq midwife honoured: Veteran midwife Akinisie Qumaluk, at right, was recognized for her decades of work as a midwife at the Inuulitsik health centre in Puvirnituq, where she has delivered 669 babies. Qumaluk was one of many healthcare workers honoured by the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services in 2016. “We need to keep our unborn babies healthy, as they are our future leaders, our future mayors, our future doctors and our future nurses; please don’t consume alcohol and drugs during pregnancy,” Qumaluk said in a speech. (PHOTO COURTESY OF NRBHSS)

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In Nunavik, 9/11 is remembered: Kuujjuaq firefighters gather at the Nunavik community’s fire hall Sept. 11 for a moment of silence to mark the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York City’s World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, which killed about 3,000, including hundreds of firefighters. “We’ve been out here every year since it happened, and we’ll continue to come out for years to come,” said one firefighter. Municipal officials and first responders in Kuujjjuaq could recall that morning, 15 years ago, when they received notification that some international air traffic could be grounded in Kuujjuaq, forcing many of the community’s emergency services on standby. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

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Golden girls: Some members of the Midget Nunavik Nordiks hold up gold medals they earned April 3 at the annual Kanata Girls Hockey Association multi-age tournament in Ottawa. Unbeaten until the end, the Nordiks bested the Nepean Rodger 5-1 in the final for a hard-fought victory. Nordiks’ sniper Bridget Oovaut earned top points in the tourney for the midget girls with six goals and four assists. Seven of the Nordiks made it into the tournament’s top-10 for points. Goalie Anissa Saunders, who played four of the girls’ five games, gave up only two goals the entire tournament. The midget Nordiks is the only select girls team in the region under the Nunavik Youth Hockey Development Program. (PHOTO BY ELAINE GRIMSEY)

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Walrus hunt on ice: Clyde River photographer Robert Kautuk captures a successful day’s hunt July 21 with his new drone. (PHOTO BY ROBERT KAUTUK)

To see more photos from 2016, visit our Facebook page’s photo section.