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January 2, 2004
Sure, there were fires but don't assume it's all right to smoke
Nunavut 2003: Putting
out fires in the community and in government
January
- Flames torch the Clyde River fire hall on Jan. 4. Loassie Tassugat, the
community's fire chief, and saves the fire truck. A water tanker is destroyed,
along with a generator and oxygen equipment. Replacement is estimated at $1
million.
- Singer Lucie Idlout stars in the Toronto play Two Words for Snow about
the 1909 Peary expedition to the North Pole, told through the love story of
Matthew Henson and Akatingwah.
- After pressure from residents, Iqaluit council agrees to keep the city's
Arnaitok Arena open for one more year, and then turn to the community for
help financing the rink.
- The Government of Nunavut seals new fuel deals. Shell signs a supply contract
that specifies gasoline will contain a deposit-control additive. The Woodward
Group of Labrador snags the fuel transportation contract previously held by
the Northern Transportation Company Ltd.
- The Nunavut Water Board warns Breakwater Resources Ltd., owner of the former
Nanisivik mine, that it may cancel the company's water licence if it doesn't
put up a $17.6-million security bond and file an emergency response plan.
- The Eurocopter NH-90 arrives in Iqaluit on the world's largest plane, the
Antov 1-24, to undergo cold-weather testing. Iqaluit councillors say the city
should market itself to manufacturers as an ideal location for cold-weather
testing.
- The three territorial premiers ask Ottawa for new health money worth $35
million. "Health is the number one issue," says Nunavut Premier
Paul Okalik.
February
- Okalik drops Rankin North MLA Jack Anawak from the culture, language, elders
and youth portfolio, making him a minister without portfolio. The move comes
after Anawak opposed a cabinet decision to move 13 public works jobs from
Rankin Inlet to Baker Lake.
- Northern premiers say no to a proposed federal health deal, worth $10.8
million over three years to Nunavut, saying the "measly" amount
of money would scarcely buy a week's worth of health care. The premiers walk
away when it becomes clear that Prime Minister Jean Chrétien isn't
going to give them the special territorial health care funding they are asking
for.
- Nunavut's entry in a snow sculpture competition at Ottawa's Winterlude
Festival is demolished after the giant polar bear develops two cracks. It's
the first time in the six-year competition that a sculpture has to be torn
down.
- Don Cherry and Ron MacLean, hosts of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada, film
Hockey Day in Canada in Iqaluit.
- Iqaluit adopts a new pricing policy for non-residential lots. Leaseholders
who have standard leases have three months to convert to equity leases and
receive a discount of up to 25 per cent.
- Territorial premiers pay a call to Jean Chrétien, after they cancel
a meeting on Feb. 24 with federal health minister Anne McLellan.
- The GN replaces the board that runs the Iqaluit Housing Authority after
board members refuse to reverse a decision to fire Susan Spring, the housing
authority's manager. Bryan Hellwig, the outgoing board president, alleges
Spring hired a tenant relations officer before the advertised closing date
for the job.
- Shots are fired at Nanook School in Apex. A janitor finds a bullet fragment
inside the school's gymnasium. No one is injured.
- Iqaluit suffers its second sewage spill in two weeks, with 28,000 litres
of raw sewage released into the bay. Officials say, although marine life may
be at risk, there is no risk to the public.
- Iqaluit council passes its anti-smoking bylaw. With the exception of bars
and private clubs, smoking will be restricted in any public place and within
three metres of any public entrance, beginning April 15.
March
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When delivering his
last budget speech in March, Finance Minister wore borrwed kamiks to symbolize
the government's commitment to future frugality. (FILE PHOTO)
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- Air Labrador begins regular scheduled flights between Labrador and Iqaluit.
- Cambridge Bay's musk ox harvest is delayed until at least 2005. Hunters
usually take 300 animals in a season, which brings in $417,000 in meat and
hides.
- The Nunavut Construction Company plans to build four new buildings in Iqaluit.
The company seeks a permit to built a $35-million complex, with 50,000 square
feet of office space and more than 100 one- to three-bedroom units.
- Public transit returns to Iqaluit, thanks to a city-wide pilot project
setting fares at $2 per person for a one-way trip.
- MLAs vote to remove Jack Anawak from cabinet.
- In his budget speech, finance minister Kelvin Ng warns MLAs that tight
financial times lie ahead. Ng tells MLAs the GN will spend $843 million in
2003-04, but receive only $804.5 million. One out of four dollars will go
to health and social services.
- The GN awards sealift contracts to Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping and Nunavut
Sealink and Supply Inc., which means all GN dry cargo destined for the Baffin
and Kivalliq regions will likely be shipped from Montreal.
- Police charge Mark King Jeffrey of Iqaluit in the death of 13-year-old
Jennifer Naglingniq.
- MLAs kill Bill 1, the proposed education act, which means the education
department must start over on legislation that followed four years of work
and public hearings.
- Ed Picco, the minister of health and social services, introduces the tobacco
control bill describing it as some of the toughest legislation in Canada.
April
- Nunavut Sivuniksavut, a post-secondary program in Ottawa, announces it will
offer a second year.
- Okalik shuffles his cabinet, naming Manitok Thompson minister of education,
and Peter Kilabuk minister of culture, language, elders and youth, and community
government and transportation. Okalik also reorganizes top civil service posts.
- A workbook called Let's Visit Nunavut is pulled from Iqaluit elementary
schools after a parent complains about a handout that says Nunavut Inuit collect
welfare and lack the skills to hold permanent jobs.
- Toonik Tyme, Iqaluit's annual spring festival, is marred by the death of
a 14-year-old boy in a snowmobile accident and a four-year-old girl who is
killed by a sewage truck.
- The future of Arctic College's Inuit studies program is in doubt because
there is not enough money to hire an additional instructor following the departure
of an instructor who was doing double-duty.
- Jeannie Manning, 44, is sentenced to three years in jail, after being convicted
of manslaughter in the death of her former lover Davidee Audla on Sept. 1,
2001, in Iqaluit.
May
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Participants in the
Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention conference in Iqaluit fill a wall
with the names of friends and family members lost to suicide.
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- Jose Kusugak announces he won't seek re-election as ITK president. Pitseolak
Pffeifer and Robbie Watt are candidates in the election, which is due to be
held on June 12.
- Actor Jason Priestly, best known for his role on the television show "Beverly
Hills 90210" is in Iqaluit to film "Sleep Murder," a television
drama.
- Francis Mazhero, a former teacher in Chesterfield Inlet who was dismissed
from his job amid false allegations that he sexually abused a student, sues
the GN and the Federation of Nunavut Teachers for $2.6 million.
- The Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention brings more than 700 delegates
to Iqaluit from May 15 to 19. The theme for the conference is Sivummut, or
"moving ahead."
- Iqaluit city council votes to give a five-year public transit contract
to R.L. Hanson. As part of the contract, Hanson will buy a new bus. About
250 people per week are riding the bus.
- The Iqaluit cooperative association elects its first board of directors
with plans to open a store in the capital in September 2004.
- Public hearings into Tahera's diamond mine proposal are put on hold, giving
the company more time to answer questions about its environmental impact statement.
- Plans for a new hunters and trappers association building in Iqaluit move
ahead after the HTA snags land from the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit museum, next
door to the HTA's new building and outlet.
June
- ITK postpones its presidential election until September because the board
doesn't seem to feel the two candidates present an acceptable choice.
- Jordin Tootoo becomes the first Inuk signed to an NHL team, after he inks
a three-year contract with the Nashville Predators.
- The Evaz Group of Rankin Inlet launches a private radio station in Iqaluit,
Raven Rock, at 99.9 on the FM dial.
- The Workers' Compensation Board closes down Iqaluit's wellness centre because
of environmental and structural dangers, including problems with the flooring,
and mold.
- The Nunavut cabinet rejects the lowest bid in a public tender for the construction
of a new $13-million health centre in Rankin Inlet. Documents show the winner,
Clark-Sanajiit, submitted a bid of $13.439 million, $540,000 higher than Ninety
North's bid of $12.908 million.
- The Qikiqtani Inuit Association rescues the Inuit studies program, giving
$126,253 to Arctic College to hire an instructor for the language and culture
program.
- Qikiqtarjuaq clam divers are out of work until the federal Department of
Fisheries and Oceans reissues an experimental fishing license. Diving is on
hold until August, when the clams will undergo testing by the Canadian Shellfish
Sanitation program. About 50,000 kilograms of clams are harvested every year.
- A judge finds Nanulik MLA James Arvaluk guilty of assault causing bodily
harm in an incident that occurred in July 2000. Arvaluk can keep his seat
unless his fellow MLAs vote to remove him. Arvaluk resigns on June 20.
- Sanikiluaq receives $55,000 to help prepare annual work plans and make
sure the community is heard in the planned development of hydro-electric projects
on James Bay.
July
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Parents and students
mourn the loss of Joamie School, a community fixture on Apex Hill.
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- Fire razes Iqaluit's Joamie School on July 4. Rebuilding the structure will
cost about $10 million. Some 22 firefighters attempt, unsuccessfully, to bring
the fire under control. Arson is ruled out, but only two out of 100 sprinklers
were working at the time of the fire. About 200 students will need classrooms
for September.
- Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Nunavut land
claims agreement in Kugluktuk. The NLCA was given royal assent in the community
on July 9, 1993.
- Teck Cominco Ltd., the operator of the former Polaris mine on Little Cornwallis
Island, pleads guilty to one count of depositing "deleterious" or
harmful water into fish-inhabited waters in June, 2001. The spill originated
from the fuel tank farm.
- After four months of service, Air Labrador is set to add a second weekly
flight between Iqaluit, Labrador and Newfoundland.
- The City of Iqaluit approves development permits for the new Baffin Regional
Hospital.
August
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Eastern Arctic elders
visit Iqaluit for fun and frolic.
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- Nunavut's crime numbers continue to rise. Between 2000 and 2001, the rate
jumped by 21.6 per cent. The number of crimes per person is four times higher
in Nunavut than in the rest of Canada.
- Iqaluit plans to hold an auction on Sept. 15 to sell off the properties
of 13 residents and four businesses whose owners owe the city an accumulated
$612,000 in unpaid property taxes.
- Education officials decide that Joamie students will move to Iqaluit's Nakasuk
School when classes begin. Administration and students will occupy seven classrooms
and two office spaces at Nakasuk until a replacement school is ready in 2005.
- Three Nunavummiut are named to the Order of Canada - Ann Meetijuk Hanson,
John Kaunak and Bill Lyall.
- Okalik announces that 13 public works employees will remain in Rankin Inlet,
with 15 jobs from the Nunavut Power Corp. coming to Baker Lake from Iqaluit.
- Nunastar Properties Inc. plans to build an $8-million complex on the site
of Iqaluit's white row housing development.
- Chrétien visits Pangnirtung and Iqaluit, where he signs a deal creating
Ukkusiksalik National Park near Repulse Bay. It is Nunavut's fourth national
park.
- The Kitikmeot region loses 24 jobs with the closing of the Lupin gold mine.
- Eastern Arctic elders come to Iqaluit for a week of festivities.
September
- Patterk Netser of Coral Harbour is named the new MLA for Nanulik in a by-election
held on Sept. 2. Only seven votes separate Netser from George Tanuyak of Chesterfield
Inlet.
- Olayuk Akesuk, the minister of sustainable development, calls a Nunavut-wide
meeting of all stakeholders on Bill 35, the wildlife act. The act would be
the first to define Inuit cultural values within its text.
- An Iqaluit woman is crushed by a city vehicle. Margaret Jeffrey, 39, is
the third Iqaluit resident to be killed by a city vehicle in less than three
years. Councillors call for an inquiry into the accident and call for tighter
safety measures.
- On Sept. 11, taxpayers in the City of Iqaluit vote to allow the city to
go into debt to pay for improvements to municipal water services. The "yes"
vote means the city can carry out $50 million worth of improvements to municipal
infrastructure by 2008.
- The department of justice announces its intention to renovate a building
in Kugluktuk to become the territory's second jail, or "healing centre."
Prisoners from the Kitikmeot region will be able to spend short jail terms
in the region when a new 20-person facility opens.
- Territorial premiers go to Cambridge Bay to sign a cooperation accord.
Premier Dennis Fentie of the Yukon, Stephen Kakfwi of the Northwest Territories
and Okalik sign the Northern Cooperation Accord on Sept. 3. As part of the
accord, territorial premiers will hold an annual Northern Premiers' Forum.
- The Nunavut Water Board calls a meeting in Ottawa to bring together all
the parties involved in the $11.5-million cleanup of the Nanisivik mine. Breakwater
Resources Ltd. and its team of consultants are questioned on their assessment
of risks to human health and ecology.
- Tungasuvvingat Inuit, Ontario's Inuit community centre, regroups its programs
under a new Mamisarvik Healing Centre. The new centre will receive $2 million
over four years from the Aboriginal Healing Foundation to offer healing services
to Inuit suffering from "the legacy of residential schools and the forced
relocations of families from their traditional lands."
- The Francophone District Education Authority, le conseil scolaire francophone
d'Iqaluit, is put under trusteeship following the mass resignation of its
members on Sept. 5 due to financial disarray and an overall lack of credibility.
Suzanne Lefebvre, director of French programs and services for Nunavut's department
of education, takes over as the FDEA's trustee on Sept. 12.
- Iqaluit Mayor John Matthews casts the deciding vote against a proposed Tundra
East housing development.
- A GN task force on suicide prevention tours Nunavut and says it hopes to
cut Nunavut's suicide rate by half in less than four years.
- Iqaluit decides not to auction off the properties of tax deadbeats after
13 out of 17 settle their accounts. The three private residences with the
biggest tax arrears still have outstanding accounts.
- Finance Minister Kelvin Ng announces he will quit politics, after 24 years
of service to the territorial government.
October
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Elisapee Sheutiapik
becomes the new mayor of Iqaluit, beating incumbent John Matthews by 40 votes.
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- Jose Kusugak says he will seek a second term as ITK president. On Oct.
23, he receives the majority of votes at the ITK annual general meeting in
Puvirnituq.
- In Iqaluit, Bob Nault, the federal minister of Indian affairs and northern
development, says his department will foot the $294,000 bill for engineering
work on projects that will tap the unused heat from power plants in Iqaluit
and Rankin Inlet to warm buildings.
- Teck Cominco is fined $5,000 and must make a $250,000 donation after admitting
to dumping fuel into the ocean at the Polaris mine.
- Nunavut's wildlife bill gets the backing of hunters and trappers after
a three-day workshop in Iqaluit.
- The federal government announces it will spend $20 million over the next
two years on affordable housing in Nunavut.
- Federal money pays for a $500,000 pre-feasibility study on a road between
Nunavut and Manitoba.
- Statistics Canada says 90 per cent of Inuit speak or understand Inuktitut,
but Nunavut Language Commissioner Eva Aareak says these numbers sound high
and that a 2001 Nunavut Household Survey that said Inuktitut or Inuinnaqtun
is the first language of 75 per cent of the territory is more realistic.
- Finance Minister Ng tells MLAs that rising health-care and building-replacement
costs will inflate the GN's operating deficit for 2003-04 to about $50 million.
- Okalik refuses to say why cabinet rejected the advice of civil servants
and ignored the lowest bid when awarding a contract for the construction of
a hospital in Rankin Inlet.
- QIA reports a sound financial picture at its annual general meeting in Apex,
with all of Qikiqtaaluk Corp.'s wholly owned subsidiaries now profitable.
- The department of Indian and northern affairs releases figures that show
the residents of Resolute Bay pay the most of any community in the eastern
Arctic to eat well - $342 a week.
- Iqaluit elects a new mayor. Elisapee Sheutiapik receives 546 votes, beating
the incumbent John Matthews by 40 votes. Keith Irving and Jimmy "Flash"
Kilabuk come in third and fourth, respectively.
November
- Several prominent Nunavummiut lobby MLAs to reject Nunavut's human rights
bill. MLAs pass the act by a narrow margin, with eight opposing the legislation
because it includes "sexual orientation" as a prohibited ground
for discrimination.
- Baker Lake votes to change its liquor laws, while three other communities
- Rankin Inlet, Kugluktuk and Resolute Bay - vote to maintain the status quo
in a series of liquor plebiscites on Nov. 10. Baker Lake is expected to clamp
down on the amount of booze residents can bring in to the community. No change
means Kugluktuk won't put any limits on the booze flowing into the community,
but Rankin Inlet and Resolute Bay will still try to keep tabs on how much
and where their residents can legally drink.
- NTI holds its annual general meeting in Sanikiluaq, approves a $35-million
budget and decides to hold future AGMs in major centres.
- Schools and public buildings are closed as the flu bug hits Sanikiluaq,
with 100 ill.
- At the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards gala in Toronto, Lucie Idlout is
named the Best Female Artist of 2003. Her CD is called "E 5-770: my mother's
name."
- The Baffin Fisheries Coalition, which fishes Nunavut's quotas on behalf
of 11 Inuit organizations, appeals to the Senate Standing Committee on Fisheries
and Oceans for more fish and more money for infrastructure and training.
- Okalik tells MLAs that Nunavut won't perform same-sex marriages unless
compelled to do so by federal law, but the territory will recognize same-sex
unions performed in other Canadian jurisdictions.
- The nine members of Inungni Sapujjijiit, Nunavut's suicide task force,
present their report, which contains 34 recommendations aimed at reducing
the territory's alarming suicide numbers.
- Nunavut becomes the first Canadian jurisdiction to sign on to the federal
government's climate change program. David Anderson, the federal environment
minister, visits Iqaluit to sign the pact with Olayuk Akesuk, Nunavut's minister
of sustainable development.
- The Crown drops a charge against a City of Iqaluit driver who struck and
killed a four-year-old girl in April. But Nunavut law does not allow charges
to be laid against the city for putting an unsafe vehicle on the road.
- Vandals set a couch on fire on the steps of Nakasuk School. Eric Cauette
saves the school from destruction by tackling the blaze with a fire extinguisher.
The fire causes $40,000 in damages.
- The department of education announces it will install security cameras
in Nunavut schools, in response to growing incidents of vandalism.
- The Nunavut Broadband Corp. says every resident of Nunavut could have affordable
access to broadband Internet by next fall.
- The Nunavut Court of Justice hears sentencing arguments for the case against
James Arvaluk. He returns to court for sentencing on Jan. 12.
December
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It's high living
for Jack Anawak, who is named Canada's Arctic ambassador.
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- A special committee reviewing the Official Languages Act recommends four
languages for government documents and signs. It says the next legislative
assembly should repeal the current act and replace it with a new one.
- Chrétien appoints MLA Jack Anawak as Canada's Arctic Ambassador.
Anawak replaces Mary Simon. Simon resigned on Oct. 31, after nine years as
Canada's circumpolar ambassador.
- Flu continues to close down schools and daycares in several Kitikmeot communities
and events are cancelled or postponed in an attempt to prevent more Nunavummiut
from falling ill.
- The ministers responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board for Nunavut
and the Northwest Territories approve the WCB'S new Environmental Tobacco
Smoke Work Site Regulations. After May 1, 2004, there will no smoking in or
even near an enclosed work site, such as a bar or restaurant, where other
people are on the job.
- Iqaluit and other communities will share a fire and building inspector,
who should be in place by February.
- The Nunavut Court of Justice begins a preliminary inquiry in the case of
Mark King Jeffrey, charged with the murder of 13-year-old Jennifer Naglingniq.
- Nunavut MLAs pass the Tobacco Control Act and the Wildlife Act during their
final days of sitting. The last sitting of the legislative assembly wraps
up on Dec. 5.
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