My Little Corner of Canada: Images of 1999

JOHN AMAGOALIK

Looking back on 1999, the important events of the last year of the second millennium, as see from this little corner, are captured in the following images:

* Helen Maksagak embracing the Nunavut flag: Many years from now, when people look back to the rebirth of Nunavut, the image that represents that event most fittingly will be the picture of Helen Maksagak embracing the Nunavut flag. This wordless spontaneous gesture by Helen captured the emotion of a historic moment. It was the symbolic ending of an era and the beginning of a new one.
* A bruised heavy-weight: The Prime Minister had just scored a series of quick goals against the staggering separatists. By throwing his clarity bill into the political arena, Jean Chrétien had just sent all his opponents reeling and confused. Bouchard was appearing on province-wide television to call for unity against Chrétiens’s power play. It was an image of a bruised heavy-weight with rubbery legs, but refusing to go down. There was no fire in his eyes and no emotion in his voice. He seemed to be begging for someone to ring the bu er to end this particular period in our political hockey game.
* Images of war from Kosovo: The wars in the former Yugoslavia will be remembered as a turning point in the protection of human rights. It was a message from western leaders that it is no longer acceptable for despots to brutalize humans. In our interconnected world, distant wars are no longer distant. We see them as they happen and can feel that we have a stake in the outcome. We also have our people there, as the letter from Kosovo by Harry Eegeesiak in the November 19 issue of Nunatsiaq News reminds us.
* The back of Wayne Gretzky: The Great One retires and skates off the ice for the last time after his final game in Madison Square Gardens. Number 99 is retired by the NHL and Gretzky goes into the Hockey Hall of Fame.