Look at this: Photos of the Year

Nunavut's Eekeeluak Avalak, in yellow, holds down his opponent Fred Calingay in the gold-medal match on Aug. 11 at the Canada Summer Games in Niagara, Ont. Avalak went on to win Nunavut's first-ever gold medal at the Games. (Photo by Denis Cahill, special to Nunatsiaq News)

Team Nunavut’s first-ever women’s volleyball team celebrates scoring a point in their game against Newfoundland and Labrador on Aug. 16 at the Canada Summer Games in Niagara. Nunavut lost the game 0-3, but two days later the team won a game against Yukon on Aug. 18 3-1, marking the first time Nunavut has won a match in a team sport at the Games. (Photo by Denis Cahill, special to Nunatsiaq News)

Pope Francis ends his week-long visit through Canada with a four-hour stop in Iqaluit on July 29, speaking to the crowd in front of Nakasuk Elementary School. Pope Francis visited Edmonton, Quebec City and Iqaluit to apologize to Indigenous Peoples about the role some members of the Catholic Church played in the residential school system. (File photo by Corey Larocque)

Hunters from Rankin Inlet and Naujaat stand atop their catch: a bowhead whale. The hunters caught the whale late on Aug. 20, about 50 kilometres south of Naujaat, then towed it for 12 hours back to the hamlet. (Photo courtesy of Lillian Simik)

Musher Owen Willie’s sled dogs squeeze together at the sound of a whip at the Nunavut Quest in Arctic Bay in April. The 2022 Nunavut Quest, where competitors race dogsleds 500 kilometres from Arctic Bay to Igloolik over six days, was the first time the race had been held since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by David Venn)

Lee Inuarak of Pond Inlet leaves the Nunavut Quest starting line on Adams Sound, or Uluksan Qingua, 10th on April 18. (Photo by David Venn)

Playing the accordion, Gov. Gen. Mary Simon gets the people of Kangiqsualujjuaq on their feet dancing. She was in the community in March as part of a tour of Nunavik. It was her first visit to Nunavik since becoming Governor General in July 2021. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)

Steve Mapsalak speaks to reporters outside France's Ministry of Justice in Paris on Sept. 13. Mapsalak was part of a small delegation of Inuit who flew to France to persuade officials to extradite Rev. Johannes Rivoire to Canada to face a charge of indecent assault. Mapsalak came face-to-face with Rivoire, who he has accused of abusing him as a child in Nunavut. (Photo by Emma Tranter)

A group of youth performers form a human triangle as the finale to their circus performance at the Jaanimmarik School in Kuujjuaq on April 24. (Photo courtesy of Isabelle Dubois)

More than 100 people take part in the Red Dress Day march on May 5 in Iqaluit, honouring the memory of murdered or missing Indigenous women and girls. (Photo by David Lochead)

Inuk singer Elisapie performs at Kuujjuaq’s Aqpik Jam Music Festival on Aug. 10 at the village’s hockey arena. Aqpik Jam is a four-day free concert event in Nunavik. The lineup also included magician Magic Ben, Ahujak Cain, William Tagoona, The Flummies, Derek Tagoona, and Peter Nassak, among others. (Photo by Isabelle Dubois, special to Nunatsiaq News)

Daisy Saunder wears a polar bear skin on the Kuujjuaq beach during the village's National Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations on June 21. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)

Iqalummiut participate in a commemoration walk for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Iqaluit on Sept. 30. (Photo by Meral Jamal)

Brody Kaloon, 5, poses with a caribou he shot in Baker Lake on Aug. 29. His mother, Channell Denise, said Brody shot the caribou, his first ever, near Bridge Road, about a 10-minute drive outside of town. Brody later shared the meat with community members. “First catches are to give out,” Denise said. (Photo courtesy of Channell Denise)

Queen, a Kimmirut dog, gets an intravenous catheter prior to being spayed by vet technologist Wendy Kane (left) and Dr. Michelle Tuma (right) in Qaqqalik School’s shop on March 15. Tuma and Kane are part of Veterinarians Without Borders, an organization that partnered with the hamlet to offer free services in Kimmirut from March 14 to 17. Overall, the team saw 89 animals during its time in Kimmirut. (Photo courtesy of Marieke Van Der Velden)

The Artcirq Circus act performs during a busy weekend in Igloolik on April 29. From left, Guillaume Saladin, Keith Irngaut, Gisle Henriet and Jessica Arpin juggle on stage at Igloolik’s community hall. (Photo by Dustin Patar)

The Pangnirtung dump was on fire for two days in early December. Blizzard winds spread the fire and prevented firefighters from being able to extinguish the flames quickly. (Photo courtesy of Jamie Evic)

Katherine Snowball plucks a goose her father caught in preparation for a family meal in Kuujjuaq on May 13. Every spring, hunters in Nunavik look forward to the return of geese. (Photo by Malaya Qaunirq Chapman)

Kevin Akpalialuk poses beside the polar bear he harvested past the causeway on the sea ice near Iqaluit on Dec. 9. The bear's meat was shared with the community. It was Akpalialuk's first polar bear. (Photo courtesy of Norman Mike)