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Around Nunavut
January 21, 2005
Nanisivik eulogy begins January 31
GN officials will finally make good on a longstanding promise when they fly into Arctic Bay at the end of the month to explain to residents just what is happening to the Nanisivik mine site.
“They’ve been planning to come up for a number of months,” said Quttiktuq MLA Levi Barnabas, who pressed the cabinet for a date during the most recent sitting of the Legislative Assembly.
Breakwater Resources Ltd., the company which owned and operated the mine until its early closing in 2001, started a $9.9 million reclamation of the former mine site late this summer. The demolition should be complete by fall 2005.
“Most of the buildings are being torn down,” Barnabas said. “The trailing pond is already covered.”
Breakwater has agreed to fuel the generator at the airport, which services Arctic Bay residents, until the GN comes up with a plan for continued operation of the airport.
Several non-contaminated items, such as kitchen appliances, have been salvaged from homes in Nanisivik and distributed by public lottery in Arctic Bay. A staff member with the GN’s department of economic development and transportation is co-ordinating the effort.
Economic Development and Transportation Minister David Simailak will lead the public meeting, scheduled for Jan. 31, accompanied by Premier Paul Okalik, Environment Minister Olayuk Akesuk and Community and Government Services Minister Peter Kilabuk.
January 21, 2005
Jeffrey trial delayed again
A Nunavut court judge has again delayed the murder trial of a 23-year-old man accused of murdering a teenager in Iqaluit.
Police found the body of Jennifer Naglingniq in her home more than two years ago, in December 2002.
Mark King Jeffrey faces first-degree murder charges in the 13-year-old girl’s death.
Jeffrey did not appear in court on Jan. 13, when defence lawyer Greg Nearing asked Justice Beverley Browne to postpone a decision in setting the date for the trial.
Defence lawyers say they are still waiting for results of DNA testing, possibly to be used as evidence in the trial.
Browne plans to set a date for the trial on April 7.
January 21, 2005
Gjoa water woes under control
A temporary pipe and pump house were installed in Gjoa Haven to solve the community’s water supply problems.
The new connection means truck drivers will no longer have to make the trek out to the nearby lake to fill up their tanks.
Since December, when the system froze, water trucks had to fill up at a nearby lake, and drivers worked additional shifts to meet the community’s water needs.
These extra shifts are expected to create a deficit in the hamlet’s water and sewage fund.
But at least the water situation hasn’t been as bad as it was four years ago, when MLAs passed a bottle of water from Gjoa Haven around in the Nunavut legislature, but none of them wanted to take a drink.
That’s because the small plastic bottle contained water full of blood worms.
“It’s taken me two days and two nights to travel back to Iqaluit to show the members of this house that blood worms continue to infest the water supply,” said Uriash Puqiqnaq, then the MLA from Nattilik, after plunking the bottle full of bugs down on top of his lectern in the house.
Puqiqnaq, who was recently elected mayor of Gjoa Haven, said earlier this week that the lake water is now free of bloodworms.
“We don’t find those worms in our hair when we wash it now. It’s not good for the health, but it’s ok.”
A new water system for the community is still under construction.
January 21, 2005
Pedestrian death inquest begins next week
Grieving families, accident witnesses, and Iqaluit city administration will meet in the Iqaluit courthouse next week as part of a coroner’s inquest into several deaths of pedestrians over the past five years.
Tim Neily, Nunavut’s chief coroner, will oversee the jury inquiring into how three Iqaluit residents and one Qikiqtarjuaq resident were killed by municipal vehicles.
The proceedings and jury selection begins at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 24.
Neily said that after hearing several days of testimony, the six-member jury will make recommendations to municipal governments and other agencies on how to avoid similar tragedies in the future.
The jury will hear evidence about the deaths of Iqaluit residents Iyukaq Qupapik, Shiela Mathewsie, and Ann-Margaret Jeffery. They will also look at the accidental death of Adamie Nookiguak, who died in Qikiqtarjuaq.
Anyone interested in participating in the inquest can call the office of the chief coroner at 975-7592.
January 21, 2005
Amchitka workers to get compensation
SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS
Hundreds of survivors of nuclear weapons tests will soon receive checks from the U.S. government under a new program to compensate those exposed to radiation or other toxic substances in the U.S., says the Anchorage Daily News.
Amchitka, a small island near the tip of the Aleutian Chain, was the site of three nuclear tests in the 1960s and 1970s, including the largest underground blast ever conducted in the U.S. After the first test, in 1965, radiation seeped out of the surface and into the ground water. A second explosion, in 1969, was even bigger, though radiation was never measured above ground.
The third test, called Cannikin, required drilling a 10-foot-diameter hole more than a mile deep. Miners were lowered daily to cut through the well casing and create a 52-foot-diameter cavity in the rock. Temperatures “in the hole” ran as high as 120 C. The humidity was 100 per cent, yet fires occasionally ignited.
Over the years, drill operators, miners, cooks and others fell ill or died from a variety of diseases.
Some Amchitka workers automatically qualified for a $150,000 compensation award, plus free medical care. They worked on the island between 1965 and 1974 and developed any of two dozen cancers or lung diseases. The first received checks in early 2002, but many others have still been waiting for compensation.
January 21, 2005
Wisintainer leaves John Howard
Jay Wisintainer has stepped down as vice president of the John Howard Society of Nunavut, saying he believes his involvement with the society has been the root cause of its troubles with city hall.
Wisintainer will continue to volunteer and work part-time for the society as his services are “indispensable” for the Saturday night TV bingo.
The non-profit prisoners’ aid society, which raises its own money through weekly bingos, hit a snag last September when city councillors decided not to automatically renew the group’s bingo licence in an in camera session.
Instead, they issued a two-month temporary licence and asked to see detailed financial records. The licence was not renewed when it expired at the end of November, causing the JHSN to miss two weekly bingos in a row.
The bingos resumed on Dec. 18, but with another two-month temporary licence that will soon expire as the city waits for the society’s 2004 audited reports, which are now in progress at Iqaluit’s Mackay Landau accounting firm.
Office manager David Fraser says the city is causing his group “enormous hassle,” demanding financial records it does not require from other groups in town.
The JHSN recently tried to organize another, separate bingo to raise money for the tsunami relief effort in Southeast Asia, in which all of the proceeds would go to charities. At present, the JHSN gives half of their profits to local charities, while keeping half for charity work they conduct themselves, such as judo programs for kids.
That this has yet to be approved by city council, signals that, Fraser says, show the JHSN is being singled out unfairly.
City officials are now refusing to talk directly to the JHSN, instead choosing to communicate through their lawyer.
January 14, 2005
Counterfeit money hits Iqaluit
The Iqaluit RCMP is investigating the presence of counterfeit bank notes in the area. According to a news release, bogus $10 and $20 bills have been passed around the city.
Police are encouraging Iqaluit’s businesses and the public to be on the lookout for false bills, and to call them if you suspect you have counterfeit currency.
January 14, 2005
Thief nabbed in Cambridge Bay
A one-man crime spree came to an end after police caught a suspect in a series of break-ins in Cambridge Bay over the holidays.
Clifford Koplomik, 18, is serving time in prison in Yellowknife after he admitted to breaking into four businesses on Boxing Day.
Koplomik busted into government offices, Nattuk Plumbing, the Cambridge Bay Housing Association, and the elementary school, making off with $150 and a bottle of liquor.
Besides the break-ins, Const. Paul Paquin said the holidays were “relatively quiet,” with only several reported assaults.
January 14, 2005
Iqaluit RCMP resolve to get more staff
Iqaluit RMCP plan to boost their ranks during the holidays after what one officer called “a rockin’ New Year’s Eve.”
Police found that three officers wasn’t enough to handle the number of booze-fueled incidents at bars and homes, as partiers celebrated the coming of the new year.
Sgt. Dale McLeod said the RCMP will bring in one more officer to deal with the influx in calls.
Police received 27 calls on New Year’s Eve, almost double the amount they dealt with last year.
“The boys were running flat-out,” McLeod said.
The majority of calls were alcohol-related.
January 14, 2005
Scholarship for Rankin Inlet student
A second-year anthropology student, Krista Zawadski, is the fourth recipient of a $5,000 scholarship.
Zawadski, originally from Rankin Inlet, is studying at Carleton University in Ottawa. She is a graduate of the Nunavut Sivuniksavut Program.
The scholarship is in honour of Laura Gauthier, who “was instrumental in the formation of a made-in-Nunavut utility company,” notes the Qulliq Energy Corp.’s news release.
The scholarship criteria include academic performance, career goals, brief biography, role model qualities, volunteer and leadership contributions.
The selection committee was comprised of a Gauthier family member, Iqaluit mayor and QEC board member Elisapee Sheutiapik and a representative of the Qulliq Energy Corporation communications department.
“We selected Krista because of her passion for helping others, commitment to Inuit and her determined approach to life,” Sheutiapik said.
January 14, 2005
Lucie Idlout takes Toronto
Nunavut chanteuse Lucie Idlout is among 24 elite residents of Toronto who will contribute to a special exhibit at Toronto City Hall later this month.
The exhibit, called “My City, My Life,” will consist of photos taken by each participant that document a typical day in their lives. It will be on display Jan. 28 to Feb. 10.
Idlout, originally of Iqaluit, has made Toronto her home for the past three years.
Her photos will appear alongside photos by other artists, athletes, businessmen, and prominent community members, including TV host Ben Mulroney, comedian Rick Mercer, musician Nelly Furtado, author Michael Ondaatje and Olympic athlete Jeff Adams.
January 14, 2005
Booze ban a bust
Rankin Inlet police found a ban on alcohol in their community over the holidays failed to keep booze from flowing.
RCMP report that alcohol was involved in all 16 arrests made in Rankin Inlet between Christmas and the early New Year.
Sgt. Grant St. Germaine said “out-of-province” airlines and liquor authorities needed to co-operate more with the hamlet council’s ban on booze, in order to keep the community dry.
“There was an alcohol ban in the community,” St. Germaine said. “But there somehow seemed to be alcohol coming in.”
St. Germaine noted that residents might have bypassed the ban by ordering alcohol from Iqaluit, which wouldn’t require a permit. He applauded local airlines like First Air and Canadian North for respecting the ban.
However, police did crack down on suspected bootleggers over the holidays. Police arrested a husband and wife accused of illegally selling liquor, after seizing 40 40-oz. bottles of vodka.
The couple will appear in court on Feb. 1. Police also seized marijuana from their house.
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