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Around Iqaluit

February 25, 2005

Iqaluit this week

Young playwrights, free theatre

Saturday, Feb. 26, 2 p.m., Inuksuk High School. Local youth will perform original plays created during a week-long workshop on "the effects of crime in the community" with the Qaggiq Theatre Company. Admission is free. For more information, call Sylvia at 979-2637.

Saturday Night Blues Break

Saturday, Feb. 26, Elk's Lodge. The Baffin Blues Band performs at the Saturday Night Blues Break. Tickets, $10, available at the Elk's.

Inuit Sanaugangit

Tuesdays and Fridays, 4 - 5 p.m. only, building 619 (next to the post office). Fine arts students at Nunavut Arctic College will sell art to raise money for the annual student exhibition trip down South. For more info, call 979-7266.

Northern Ramblers CD release party

Saturday, March 12, The Legion. The Northern Ramblers release their new CD at a party hosted by Brickyard Entertainment, Doyle Entertainment and Salty Dog Music & Promotions.

Toonik Tyme date set

Toonik Tyme 2005 will be celebrated from April 18 - 23.

February 25, 2005

City okays dump expansion

The City of Iqaluit's engineering department will expand the city's landfill site to the north-east, extending its life until 2011, at a cost of about $150,000.

Iqaluit city councillors voted in favour of the proposal this past Tuesday after Brad Sokach, the city's director of engineering, told council's engineering and planning committee that federal and territorial officials are not opposed to the idea.

Work on the creation of related berms and drainage systems will likely start this summer, Sokach said.

February 25, 2005

Coroner's jury prompts new snow removal rules

To help make Iqaluit's streets safer, especially for children, Iqaluit city council is proposing to change its snow removal bylaw to stop large piles of snow from being dumped near intersections.

The bylaw amendment would prohibit any property owner, including the City of Iqaluit, from creating a snow removal pile within five metres of any intersection. If any snow removal pile is created beyond five metres of an intersection, it may not exceed one metre in height.

The amendment would also require all property owners to remove snow and ice from parking areas, either by trucking it away, or by storing it at the back of parking areas as far away as possible from any road or intersection.

Property owners must at all times ensure that snow and ice stored at the back of a parking area does not become a dangerous attraction for children, who may be tempted to play on them or slide into vehicles.

And the amendment, if passed, would give bylaw officers the authority to order the removal, within 72 hours, of any snow pile deemed to be dangerous. If the city removes the snow pile, then the property owner would have to pay all the costs.

The amendment is in response to the recommendations of a coroner's jury issued Jan. 24, after an inquest that looked into the deaths of four people in the Baffin region killed by municipal vehicles.

In one incident, a municipal vehicle struck and killed a four-year-old child who darted out from behind a snow pile before the driver had a chance to stop.

February 25, 2005

Council okays 24-unit development

Iqaluit city council voted this past Tuesday to approve a three-storey, 24-unit building in the Road to Nowhere subdivision, to be build by Tumiit Development Corp.

They also voted to give the developer variances on the amount of lot frontage, and on the area to be occupied by the building.

The building would hold eight rental units on each of its three floors, with a 34-space parking lot.

February 25, 2005

Chamber needs admin money

Iqaluit city council voted to support the Iqaluit Chamber of Commerce in an application to the Government of Nunavut for money to pay for administrative support.

Glenn Cousins, the president of the chamber, said in a letter to the city that he also represents all Nunavut chambers of commerce on the board of the Nunavut Economic Forum.

Cousins said the Iqaluit business organization needs more administrative support to become "a fully active partner in the development of the Nunavut economy."

February 18, 2005

Iqaluit this week

Making books fun for kids

Tuesday, Feb. 22, 10:30 – 11:30 am, Iqaluit Library. The Nunavut Literacy Council will be giving a Storysacks demonstration during pre-school story time. A Storysack is a cloth bag that contains a book or recorded oral story and props, puppets and games to use to make a story come to life.

Upcoming

Young playwrights, free theatre

Saturday, Feb. 26, 2 p.m., Inuksuk High School. Local youth will perform original plays created during a week-long workshop on “the effects of crime in the community” with the Qaggiq Theatre Company. Admission is free. For more information, call Sylvia at 979-2637.

Saturday Night Blues Break

Saturday, Feb. 26, Elk’s Lodge. The Baffin Blues Band performs at the Saturday Night Blues Break. Tickets, $10, available at the Elk’s.

Northern Ramblers CD release party

Saturday, March 12, The Legion. The Northern Ramblers release their new CD at a party hosted by Brickyard Entertainment, Doyle Entertainment and Salty Dog Music & Promotions.

February 18, 2005

New polar bear tags open for hunters

The Nunavut-wide increase in polar bear quotas means five more polar bears can be killed in Iqaluit this year.

At a public meeting held Feb. 7 members of the Amarok Hunters and Trappers Association voted to make all five polar bear tags open tags — that is, any beneficiary who kills a polar bear can come in after a successful hunt to claim a tag.

Amarok members also voted to open the tags the very next day, Feb. 8.

“It’s a free-for-all,” said chairman Michael Qappiq.

Polar bear hunting season opened on Feb. 1 this year. One of the new tags has already been claimed by Jimmy Noble Jr., who killed a bear just last Thursday.

February 18, 2005

Lower Base residents to vote on hook-up scheme

Over the next few weeks, the remaining residents of the Lower Base neighbourhood who have yet to hook their houses up to utilidor pipes will vote, through mail-in ballots, on whether to accept a subsidy plan aimed at defraying the cost of installing the connections.

Under the plan, the city will give each homeowner a $1500 grant to help pay the cost of connecting their system to the utilidor, and will pay the cost of installing pipes from the mains up to each resident’s lot line.

Each homeowner may pay the remaining cost all at once, or through payments spread over many years.

At a public hearing this past Tuesday, city officials said ballots will be mailed out soon.

February 18, 2005

Appeal board nixes home spa business

In a decision on Feb. 10, Iqaluit’s development appeal board removed an Iqaluit resident’s right to operate a beauty spa business at her trucked-service house in Tundra Valley.

In April of 2004, Carol Collin began operating Carol Satin Care Studio out of house 2628 on Nanuq Drive, offering tanning beds, hair care, manicures, and other services.

When she applied for a business licence in May of that year, Collin received one without first getting a development permit. That’s because the city didn’t have an economic development officer at the time, and there was, apparently, no one there to advise her on the city’s bureaucratic procedures.

In November, some neighbouring residents, including Frank Rizzi and Frank Cunha, and the proprietors of two competing businesses, Suzanne Laliberté and Debbie Purchase, complained to the city about it.

At a council meeting on Nov. 23, councillors passed a motion allowing the business to operate under certain conditions: a three-vehicle limit for parking, only one water delivery per day, a maximum of two employees, and a reduction in size to 40 square metres.

But the complainants then took the issue to the development appeal board, who upheld their appeal, thereby overturning the Nov. 23 council decision.

The board criticized city administrators for not providing correct information to Collin when she applied for a business licence last year, and accused them of having an “overwhelming bias” in favour of allowing the business to continue.

Home-based businesses located in trucked service lots are supposed to get council approval before issuance of a business licence.

February 18, 2005

Councillors to ponder new subdivision

City administrators are prepping Iqaluit’s engineering and planning committee with a “concept plan” for a small subdivision that would be located close to a small lake known as “Toonik Pond” close to the highest point on Apex Hill.

The subdivision, if approved, would likely supply the city with about 130 new lots, in a mix of residential and commercial uses.

Council’s planning and engineering committee were to talk about the idea at a meeting this past Tuesday, but the matter was deferred until a meeting in March.

Meanwhile, work on the first phase of the Plateau subdivision will continue this spring, with surveying starting soon, followed by development work later on. About 50 lots will be created in that phase of the subdivision.

February 18, 2005

Iqaluit homeowners delay AGM

In light of mounting prep work, the Iqaluit homeowners group has rescheduled their first annual general meeting.

The group, which aims to lobby city hall over taxation and service issues, will meet on March 10, at a location to be announced closer to the date.

Keith Irving, a spokesperson for the group, said the steering committee formed at the last meeting changed the Feb. 23 date, because they needed more time to do research on homeowners issues in the community.

The March meeting won’t be an official annual general meeting because of timing with the fiscal year, but it will still involve an election of a board.

February 11, 2005

Iqaluit this week

GREASE, the musical

Tonight and Saturday, Feb. 12, 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 13, 2:30 p.m., Inuksuk High School. Iqaluit high school students will recreate the time, the place and the motion. Admission is free; donations go to the Iqaluit Music Society.

Legion curling bonspiel

Friday and Saturday, Feb. 18 – 19. Enter as couples or singles; teams will be drawn. Entry fee is $30 for members or $50 for non-members. New and beginner curlers welcome. Call Les Hickey at 979-5438.

Toonik Tyme date set

Toonik Tyme 2005 will be celebrated from April 18 – 23.

February 11, 2005

Iqaluit mayor welcomes homeowners association

Iqaluit Mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik said she welcomes the creation of Iqaluit’s newly-formed homeowner’s association, “Nangminiqaqtuit Iqalungni,” when members of the group appeared at a city council meeting this week to introduce themselves.

Susan Gardiner and Joe Tigullaraq, who each addressed council as spokespersons for the association, had little to say about the organization’s specific concerns.

But they described the new organization as a body that will “make sure the rights of homeowners will be protected,” and will work on recommending “courses of action.” They also slammed Iqaluit reporters for “concentrating on the negative side” in their coverage of the association’s formation.

Coun. Stuart Kennedy said he applauds the group’s creation, saying its members are “a list of who’s who in Iqaluit homeownership, with a definite interest in seeing Iqaluit prosper.”

February 11, 2005

Iqaluit council wants in on gas tax committee

Iqaluit city council wants to ensure that Iqaluit is represented on a new advisory committee that will recommend how to divide up Nunavut’s share of federal gasoline tax revenues.

The fund gives Nunavut $37.5 million a year over the next five years to pay for water, waste-water and solid waste schemes within municipalities. After five years, the federal contribution will drop to $15 million a year.

To figure out how to split up Nunavut’s share, the Government of Nunavut and the Nunavut Association of Municipalities will form a body called the Community Infrastructure Advisory Committee.

Deputy Mayor Chris Wilson said he’s not suggesting that “Iqaluit is not sensitive to the other communities,” but he said it’s essential for the city to be involved in the committee’s work.

A GN press release says the committee will recommend long-term capital plans and set criteria for the new money. The advisory committee will also make recommendations for municipal infrastructure projects that use either federal or territorial money.

The federal government will distribute about $1 billion a year’s worth of money, collected through the federal tax on gasoline, to municipal governments throughout the country.

Ottawa is insisting that the money be spent on “environmentally sustainable” infrastructure, such as water and sewer projects, solid waste management, and roads and bridges.

February 11, 2005

City pays off bus contractor

The City of Iqaluit will give $137,124.46 to R.L. Hanson Construction Ltd. as “full and final payment” for the early cancellation of Hanson’s contract to provide a scheduled bus service in Iqaluit.

Under that five-year contract, which started in July of 2003, the Hanson firm supplied a bus and driver, and kept any money raised from selling fares.

But after their budget sessions early last December, city councillors voted to cut the service as of Jan. 10., and provide the Hanson firm with 30 days notice of their intention to withdraw from the contract.

A study by Dillon Consulting showed that ridership on the bus service dropped from 300 riders a week to only 200 a week — at a cost of $16.99 per user.

At the same time, city council was forced to make nearly half a million dollars in cuts to stave off a deficit and create a balanced budget for 2005.

The contract was only about a year and a half old after city council made its decision to back out of it. City officials then began negotiating a compensation arrangement with the contractor.

City councillors voted to approve the payment Jan. 27, after an in camera session. Coun. Nancy Gillis was the only council member to vote against the motion, which was made by Deputy Mayor Chris Wilson and Coun. Theresa Rodrigue.

February 11, 2005

City lobbies Godfrey on infrastructure

In a special one-hour closed session Jan. 20, Iqaluit city council members and city administrators sat down with John Godfrey, the federal cabinet minister responsible for infrastructure, to lobby him for more money to pay for badly needed work on Iqaluit’s aging municipal infrastructure.

City officials told Godfrey about numerous problems that Iqaluit residents already know about: the old undersized sewage lagoon, areas not yet serviced by utilidor, bad gravel roads that are prone to washboarding and undercutting because of poor drainage, and the need to completely rebuild the Apex road.

But they also had a lot to say about the city’s desire for a deep-water port and dock that could help the community save on shipping costs. In the 2005-06 fiscal year, the GN is expected to give the city $100,000 to pay for a feasibility study on a deep water port, which could cost between $20 and $25 million.

Godfrey responded by listing various federal money-pots to which the city is eligible to apply for funding, including $37.5 million in gas-tax revenue that the federal government will give to Nunavut municipalities, every year for 5 years.

February 4, 2005

Iqaluit this week

Huge book sale

Saturday, Feb. 5, 1 - 3 p.m., Iqaluit Centennial Library. Come over and fill a shopping bag full of books, and pay only $5. Proceeds go to the Iqaluit Library Board. For more information call Tori at 979-5400.

A voyage to the South Pole

Monday, Feb. 7, 7 p.m., Francophone Centre. Sarah and Éric McNair-Landry present photos and videos from their trip to the South Pole.

Sex ed for everyone

Friday, Feb. 11, 1:30 -3:30 p.m., Nunavut Arctic College. Celebrate National Sexual and Reproductive Health Day with this interactive presentation from one of Canada's top sexual health educators.

GREASE, the musical

Friday and Saturday, Feb. 11 - 12, 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 13, 2:30 p.m., Inuksuk High School.

Iqaluit high school students will recreate the time, the place and the motion. Admission is free; donations go to the Iqaluit Music Society.

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