News quiz Nov. 9 | Legal battles and a new $2 coin

Welcome back to the weekly news quiz!

Let’s see if you’ve been paying attention to current events this past week by answering these five questions. You’ll find the answers below.

1. Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Government of Nunavut have had their horns locked in a legal battle for more than three years, and now one side has asked the Supreme Court of Canada to settle the dispute. What’s the issue they’re fighting over?

A. Financial support for people who have to leave the territory for medical care.
B. Inuktut education in Nunavut schools.
C. Financial assistance for Inuit students who leave Nunavut for college or university education.

2. The hamlet of Kimmirut went through tough times recently. How come?

A. The entire community was without electricity for about four days.
B. Halloween had to be cancelled due to extreme weather.
C. The local health centre was overcome by residents stricken with extreme anxiety over the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

3. Speaking of elections, P.J. Akeeagok’s role as premier was challenged in the legislative assembly Wednesday when an MLA put forward a motion to remove him as head of the government. Who was that MLA?

A. Joe Savikataaq, of Arviat South.
B. Solomon Malliki, of Aivilik.
C. Adam Arreak Lightstone, of Iqaluit-Manirajak.

4. A new $2 coin unveiled by the Royal Canadian Mint on Tuesday honours Inuit Nunangat. It’s the third time Canada’s Arctic and the Inuit community were honoured this way. Which of these three events was not marked by the issuing of a commemorative coin?

A. The founding of Nunavut, in 1999.
B. National Indigenous Peoples Day, in 2023.
C. The appointment of Mary Simon as Canada’s first Indigenous governor general, in 2021.

5. Kenn Harper, the historian and author well known to Nunatsiaq News readers for his Taissumani column, focuses on which fascinating historical figure in his latest book?

A. Knud Rasmussen, the Greenlandic-Danish polar explorer.
B. Olaudah Equiano, the first Black man to cross the Arctic Circle.
C. Olaf Krarer, the little person who was non-Inuk yet billed herself as “The Little Esquimaux Lady” and travelled the U.S. on the lecture circuit in the 1800s.

A cabinet card of Olof Krarer dressed in “Esquimaux” costume. (Image from the Kenn Harper Collection)

ANSWERS

1: The correct answer is B. The two sides have been fighting for years over the amount of Inuit-language education provided in schools.

2: A — Following a generator breakdown, all of Kimmirut had no power, forcing the GN to declare a state of emergency and Qulliq Energy Corp. to send in extra workers to make repairs.

3: B — Solomon Malliki was the MLA whose motion prompted the debate in the legislative assembly over P.J. Akeeagok’s future as Nunavut premier.

4: C — No coin was issued when Mary Simon was appointed governor general.

5: A — Harper’s new book is titled Give Me Winter, Give Me Dogs: Knud Rasmussen and the Fifth Thule Expedition.