News quiz Nov. 30 | Dogs, politicians and new arrivals

Time for the news quiz! Put on your thinking cap and let’s go…

1. Last weekend, the federal government formally apologized for the dog slaughter that was carried out in Nunavik during the 1950s and 1960s. Qikiqtani Inuit received a similar apology in 2019 for the killing of sled dogs, forced relocations and family separation. Who was the federal Crown-Indigenous relations minister who issued the Qikiqtani apology?

A. Gary Anandasangaree
B. Marc Miller
C. Carolyn Bennett

2. Staying with the dog slaughter, why was Kangiqsujuaq chosen as the site where the federal government apology was issued?

A. It’s where the slaughter practice is believed to have started.
B. More than 200 dogs were killed there over a three-day period in the mid-1960s.
C. This is a trick question — the apology was actually delivered in Kuujjuaq.

3. For four days, from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3, people in Kimmirut struggled to keep warm during a community-wide power outage. Nearly one year ago, another Nunavut community shivered through the same problem. Which hamlet was it?

A. Pangnirtung.
B. Arviat.
C. Cambridge Bay.

4. “We had a very deep and emotional conversation.” Who said that recently? Was it …

A. The Crown-Indigenous relations minister, describing his conversations about the dog slaughter with Nunavik mushers.
B. Hilda Snowball, after Kativik Regional Council members re-elected her to a second term as chairperson this week.
C. Premier P.J. Akeeagok, talking about the aftermath of some MLAs’ recent unsuccessful attempt to oust him from the premiership.

5. Igloolik recently got a new addition. What is it?

A. A standalone Tim Hortons outlet opened in the hamlet.
B. Nunavut’s first McDonald’s restaurant set up shop.
C. A new bank branch opened.

Igloolik Co-op store, in a file photo from 2023. (File photo by Madalyn Howitt)

ANSWERS

1. C — Carolyn Bennett, who was the first of three ministers to serve in that role under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau since he was elected in 2015, delivered the apology.
2. B — In what must have been a horrific scene, more than 200 dogs were killed there in three days during the 1960s.
3. B — This was a trick question, sort of. The answer is Arviat, which had no power for four days starting late on Nov. 21, 2023. Partial points to you, though, if you selected Pangnirtung where part of the community had no electricity for nearly four days starting in late November last year.
4. A – It was the federal minister, Gary Anandasangaree, who said that during his visit to Kuujjuaq.
5. C — The First Nations Bank of Canada opened a branch in Igloolik’s Co-op store on Nov. 18.