Justice minister lauds Nunavummiut for taking firearms safety courses
Justice Department offering courses and other firearms safety events across territory
Minister of Economic Development and Transportation Minister David Akeeagok updated Nunavut’s legislative assembly Friday on the Kivalliq inter-community road study. (File photo)
Nunavummiut are taking aim in the Department of Justice’s firearms safety awareness program.
Justice Minister David Akeeagok provided MLAs an update Monday in the legislative assembly on a campaign called Qukiutiliritsiarniq Nunavummi, which is run in collaboration with Manitoba and Nunavut’s chief firearms officer, RCMP and community organizations.
“The campaign aims to provide Nunavummiut with easy access to the firearm possession and acquisition licence course, while also promoting the safe use, handling and storage of firearms through community events and other initiatives,” Akeeagok said.
He said 23 people in Pangnirtung graduated from the course earlier this year. As well, community justice staff helped 47 people there complete their firearm licence applications.
There were also train-the-trainer instructor courses offered, starting in August. To date, the GN has offered two courses and 19 Nunavummiut from all three regions have become instructors to facilitate Canadian Firearm Safety Courses in their communities.
The most recent Qukiutiliritsiarniq Nunavummi event runs Monday to Thursday in Pond Inlet, which is also being promoted locally as firearm safety week. Representatives are distributing firearm locks and hosting firearm safety awareness contests in the community with prizes, Akeeagok said.
“As a hunter myself, I understand the importance of the safe handling and storage of firearms and encourage all Pond Inlet residents to participate in the upcoming firearm safety week,” he said.
are these courses open to all Nunavummiut fairly, or is there a racist tinge of “one gets priority access if their ancestors…”
My ancestors were hunters too, yo. Same with my father and grandfather.
Why are you complaining about your imagination online instead of taking the time to look into this yourself?
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If this mattered so much to you, you’d be looking into it and getting the answers you are looking for, rather than imagining hypothetical grievances in your head and then complaining about them as if it’s true.
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Take some responsibility for your own life and your own actions, instead of getting upset at your imagined scenarios… I searched “PAL Course Iqaluit” and found multiple useful results in less time than it took for this comment to be written, try it out!
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You can also google the name of the campaign mentioned and find out that it’s just the inuttitut name for the general Canadian Firearms Safety course, and you can get the contact information of people to talk to if you want to try and register for it.
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It was all pretty easy, if you care – you can take the course!
People like to cry racism now days especially when there are Inuit involved
These courses should be made available regularly and you should be able to take them online. Iqaluit can take PAL whenever but in smaller community sometimes ten years no course. Sucks when u got to get a friend or relative to buy you ammo cause u don’t got PAL
Arviat needs it too
First commenter, why do you think it racist? If you’re going to be up here stop what you are thinking. Don’t bring you’re hate attitude whereever you’re coming from. Inuit are fairly nice people but today, if you pissed one off, be prepared to defeat yourself. This advice is free.
I like how the Minister’s use of terminology when he says they “graduated” the course. It’s a one-day course. I took the course many years ago, everybody in my group completed it. The instructor was doing his very best to make it easy to pass.
You could say they completed the course, or they passed the course, I wouldn’t really give it the distinction of “graduating”.