News quiz Aug. 9 | Planes, boats and Obed runs again

Welcome to the news quiz — only 19 more quizzes ’til Christmas. Let’s play!

1. Team Nunavut is in St. John’s, N.L., to compete against the country’s best amateur athletes at the Canada Summer Games. The territory has sent its biggest contingent ever. Which of these sports is Nunavut not competing in?

A. Badminton
B. Basketball
C. Beach volleyball

2. Canadian North hosted a public celebration in Kuujjuaq on Tuesday. What was the occasion?

A. It will start offering flights between Montreal and Kuujjuaq.
B. It’s ending its flights between Montreal and Kuujjuaq.
C. It’s phasing in larger airplanes to serve Kuujjuaq.

3. A group of Cambridge Bay youths and adults got more than they bargained for late last month when they set out on a camping trip. What happened?

A. They became stranded for several days on an uninhabited peninsula.
B. They encountered a polar bear and one youth killed it.
C. They came down with food poisoning and a youth had to pilot the boat to a safe landing.

4. Many people were caught by surprise last week when Natan Obed announced he will seek a fourth term as president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. What’s the big deal?

A. ITK rules limit presidents to serving no more than three consecutive terms.
B. People assumed he had fulfilled all his promises made during his three previous presidential campaigns.
C. After being acclaimed in 2021, Obed said he would not seek re-election in 2025.

5. Larga Baffin — a boarding facility for Nunavummiut in Ottawa for medical care — provided an update on its expansion plans. What’s the latest news?

A. The plan to build a new six-storey, 220-room facility is delayed by a year.
B. Expansion is on hold until further notice.
C. The plan has been expanded to include a seventh floor plus 48 more rooms for visitors.

Former prime minister Justin Trudeau, left, listens as Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed speaks at a press conference in Ottawa in April 2022. (File photo by Corey Larocque)

Answers

1. A — Team Nunavut is competing in basketball, indoor volleyball, beach volleyball and wrestling. But not badminton.
2. B — Canadian North celebrated with the public as it ended its Montreal-Kuujjuaq flights, which are now offered instead by Air Inuit. The change was announced in conjunction with the sale of Canadian North to Exchange Income Corp. in February.
3. A — The youths were stranded on for a few days, and some were helicoptered out, after poor weather conditions forced the group to head for land mid-trip.
4. C — Natan Obed said in 2021 that he would not seek another term as Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president. But in an interview recently, he told Nunatsiaq News he began to have second thoughts during the “dying days of the Trudeau government.”
5. B — Larga Baffin’s expansion has been put on hold as it awaits a long-term service contract from the Government of Nunavut.