Baker Lake resident Sherri Lee Mouqtassid and her two sons Adam and Asher stand outside the Rachel Arngnammaktiq Elementary School playground. Mouqtassid and her boys dedicate their summers to ensuring the playground is garbage-free and remains a “beautiful and safe place to be.” (Photo courtesy of Sabrina Kingilik)
Snowmobile win a ‘blessing’ for Baker Lake resident
Sherri Lee Mouqtassid 1 of 50 Nunavummiut to receive a free snow machine as part of NTI draw
Baker Lake resident Sherri Lee Mouqtassid said she was not expecting the good news that came with a knock on her door Monday afternoon.
“My cousin dropped by and asked if I had seen an announcement on Facebook that I had won a snowmobile,” she said. “It caught me off guard; I couldn’t believe it.”
Mouqtassid was one of the many Nunavut Inuit enrolled under the Nunavut Agreement who were automatically entered in the 2024 Nunavut Day snowmobile and all-terrain draws.
Hosted by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the draw is in its second year. Two winners from each community were selected using a random selection generator. Winners were verified on Aug. 9, which is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
Mouqtassid will be receiving a 2024 Expedition Sport 900 Ace LE snowmobile which is expected to be delivered to Baker Lake via the next sealift.
Having a snowmobile to help with grocery runs and elementary school drop-offs will be a “blessing,” said Mouqtassid, who has two children.
“Carrying heavy items from the Northern grocery store or parcels from the post office which are full of school items and basic necessities for my children, back and forth, is hard to manage,” she said, adding she usually does her errands on foot.
A fourth-year student in Nunavut Arctic College’s Teacher Education Program, Mouqtassid has to make regular trips to the Piqqusilirivvik Inuit Cultural Learning Centre for her classes.
She said the snowmobile will help her greatly when she travels on extreme windchill days, as she wears glasses and is easily prone to frostbite.
This will be Mouqtassid’s first time on a snowmobile, but she has enlisted her friends to help ensure her first experience will not be overwhelming.
“I never owned a snowmobile; I just couldn’t afford it before. I never experienced using one as a child as my mother never owned a vehicle, so it will be a learning experience,” she said.
“I’m 43 years old and I’m encouraged by a few people who told me it’s never too late to learn.”
In a news release from NTI on Monday, the organization’s president Aluki Kotierk congratulated the 50 families in Nunavut who will benefit from this year’s draw.
Having access to a snowmobile or an ATV will support the region’s “food security, sovereignty and cultural on-the-land activities,” said Kotierk in the release.
God , i love free stuff !!!
CONGRATULATIONS! Who won the ATV?
“Having access to a snowmobile or an ATV will support the region’s “food security, sovereignty and cultural on-the-land activities,” said Kotierk in the release…”
Until it breaks down and never gets fixed and gets put up on facebook buy and sell for “good for parts”.
NTI always throwing money at stuff and calling it food security and sovereignty. Gimme a break.
Agreed. Their language games are transparent and irritating. This is prestige and legitimacy chasing through a candy toss.
I just wish I could get to the point in my life where the hurtful things people say could just zoom right past me, but I tend to absorb it all. My life coach Lisa is right. I think once I can feel that confidence and self love more, I will be able to let go of everyone else’s opinions better. Sounds like usernames 867, Mit, B is for Bromide have strong opinions based on a bad mechanical experience of some kind and is projecting his buy and sell auto parts and the other two naysayers are expressing your Inuktitut language inadequacy. I really want to comment, I’m sorry you had a bad experience like that, regardless, God willing, it will be the complete opposite with my ex husband Abdel who is an auto-mechanic, I could get him to fix my snowmachine if it breaks down. Language is so much a part of who we are, a part of our experience of the world, and our connection to everyone and everything. If it disappears, the people, the culture, and the land does too. My late elderly Inuktitut teacher and translator mother, Sally Ikuutaq would always speak a saying and then would share the meaning of the old Inuktitut words. Sadly only a tiny percentage of non-Inuit are making efforts to learn the Inuit culture and language. One of them being my ex Moroccan husband who speaks Arabic, French and English and is thankfully changing Baker Lake for the better by observing Moroccan Culture Diversity Day during this past Black History Month (February 2024) at our Rachel Arngnammaktiq Elementary School here in Baker Lake. It is so heartbreaking to see how many know the Inuktitut language fully, how many partially know it, and how many are learning it presently. God willing, my kidlets will appreciate me later in life that I was not only their Mommy but God willing their NTEP aspiring teacher and they will remember all the great times and lessons they learned along the way (contributing members of society who are critical thinkers and advocate for social justice).
Touching story and it sounds like the right person won the snowmobile. Congrats. It doesn’t change the fact that NTI can find better things to spend money on that can make long term impacts on entire communities instead of short term instant gratification lotteries. I really hope you get yo use the snowmachine to enjoy the land and experience inuit culture, more than just driving to the northern to pickup groceries.
No one is criticizing you, Sherri.
Envy is a Green Eyed monster, then we attend church on Sunday preaching “Amazing Grace” and get all sanctimonious.😈
Our inuit leaders should be held accountable for the mismanagement on our land claims. This is elementary. Using a “Random selection generator”? Pathetic.
Congratulations Sherri Lee.❤️
Complain. Complain.Complain.🥱
Cynic much?
I feel so sad to feel I need to explain and justify my winning of the snowmachine. So much of my life I have felt I need to justify or convince others that I am worthy and deserving. I am learning through my life coach Lisa that however people think and feel about me doesn’t affect me. I don’t drink alcohol, gamble, smoke cigarettes, or take drugs. I really try my very best to look out for my kidlets best interests at heart with homeschooling and sending them to school every school day, and signing them up for afterschool sports and summer and winter camp, and on top of all that volunteer their time and energy at keeping the elementary school playground garbage free for the past seven summers. I used to be a stay at home Mommy working as a taxi dispatcher and interpreter for my ex husband and his SLIM Taxi business venture, and taking online Facebook requests. I just want to thank the 299 Baker Lake residents for the outpouring of compassion, understanding, and love that they have given me through their Facebook likes and comments on the Baker Lake Public Bulletin Facebook page. I also hold fast to the two positive comments from Eskimos Fan and Pen Dejo on this Nunatsiaq News Facebook page and God willing will read them every now and again when I’m feeling overwhelmed and struggling.
❤️😍🥰
Sounds like you work hard and are a good example to others! Keep it up! 🙂 Happy a deserving person like yourself won.
Maybe… just Maybe
Nunavut Arctic College can step up and teach single mom basic mechanical skills. Changing spark plugs, clean snowmobile fuel pump and carburetor.
Should’ve seen my Mother in law brag up and down about how her daughter fix basic mechanical and get back home.❤️
Road wasn’t wide enough for her arms and swaggering…..❤️❤️❤️