Photo: Justice Beverly Browne’s last day on the bench

Nunavut’s legal community gave the outgoing head of the Nunavut Court of Justice, Beverly Browne (left), a big sendoff this past Sept. 25. By the end of the two-hour ceremony, many participants dabbed their eyes with kleenexes after the reality of Justice Browne’s departure sank in. After earning enormous respect in Nunavut for building a functioning court system from the ground up and for numerous gestures aimed at making the courts friendlier for Inuit, Justice Browne will move to Edmonton to sit on the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench. Though Browne’s replacement has yet to be named, some observers speculate that Justice Robert Kilpatrick (right) will become Nunavut’s next chief justice. It’s also unclear how or when a fourth, vacant position on the Nunavut bench will be filled. Inuapik Sageeatok of Iqaluit (below) began the ceremony by lighting a qulliq. (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)