It’s fun, fun, fun on Nunavut Day

Mounds of hotdogs, toy sailboat races, Inuit games, cribbage tournaments, fishing derbies, parades and square dances: this is how Nunavut residents celebrated July 9, Nunavut Day.

In Iqaluit, Oleepeeka Veevee sang a rousing version of “Happy Birthday” in English and Inuktitut as an opening to the day’s festivities. Soon, hundreds of Iqalungmiut were jigging to the Iqaluit Band’s accordion music.

Sunny, if a bit cool, weather marked Nunavut Day activities in the territory’s capital, which started with a pancake breakfast served behind the legislative assembly building.

A line of chefs, including Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Paul Kaludjak, Iqaluit’s mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik and Iqaluit MLAs Hunter Tootoo and Ed Picco, skillfully flipped pancakes for hundreds of hungry early-risers.

Also on hand was a special chef — Thomas Berger, wearing a Nunavut Day apron.

Berger, a renowned human rights lawyer and judge, was appointed May 26 as a conciliator to help resolve a four-year dispute over a new 10-year contract for the implementation of the Nunavut land claims agreement.

And on Nunavut Day, which commemorates the anniversary of the land claims’ signing, the message from NTI to beneficiaries was for them to have “patience.”

“Implementation takes a long time,” Kaludjak told the gathering in Nunavut. “It’s because we want to do things right.”

In his opening remarks, Okalik said Nunavut is cooperating more than ever with NTI, but his main message to the crowd was for everyone to enjoy themselves — an easy order to follow on what Okalik called a “made-to-order” day — the sixth Nunavut Day since Nunavut’s creation in 1999.

For Miss Nunavut 2005, Fauna Kingdon of Iqaluit, Nunavut Day marked the beginning of a nerve-wracking week of events leading up to the Miss World Canada pageant tomorrow night in Toronto.

Kingdon spent Nunavut Day behind a table in Iqaluit’s Northmart store, where she continued her fundraising for the Canadian Cancer Society. As part of the Miss World Canada competition, each contestant is raising money to support childhood cancer research: the total amount each raises will be counted in the contestant’s evaluation.

Miss World Canada judges will also rate Kingdon on her response to personal interviews, her overall fitness and grace in swimsuit and evening gown competitions.

The pageant’s theme is “beauty with a purpose”

“It’s not only about having a pretty face and a nice body: It tests how confident you are,” says Kingdon, a graduate of Inuksuk High School who is now in her fourth year of accounting studies at the University of Manitoba.

Kingdon is at ease on the winners’ podium: she also won the Youth prize at the 2005 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards and was a 2004-2005 National Aboriginal Youth Role Mode. This summer, Kingdon is working for the GN’s finance department.

During the pageant preliminaries this week, Kingdon planned to hand out information packets about Nunavut. If she wins the Miss World Canada title, she’ll take a year off school and compete in the global pageant in China.

“If I do win, I’ll be an international ambassador for Nunavut,” Kingdon said.

For more information on how to help Miss Nunavut win, go to http://www.missworldcanada.com and click on “beauty with as purpose” logo to donate to the Canadian Cancer Society.