|
Around Nunavut
April
15, 2005
Ann Hanson named commissioner
of Nunavut
Ann Meekitjuk Hanson, a
well-known Iqaluit resident who served as deputy commissioner of the Northwest
Territories in the 1980s, has been appointed to serve as commissioner of Nunavut,
replacing Peter Irniq, whose term recently expired.
Hanson, 58, was born on
Qakutut, an island near Kimmirut. She went to schools in Iqaluit, Qamanittuaq
(Baker Lake), and Toronto, as well as St. Francis-Xavier University, the University
of Windsor and Nunavut Arctic College.
In 1964, she worked in
the office of Gene Rheaume, the Liberal member of Parliament for the Northwest
Territories, working as a secretary and interpreter-translator.
In 1973, Hanson became
the first editor of Inuksuk, a community newspaper that later became Nunatsiaq
News. Later in the 1970s and early 1980s, Hanson's voice was well-known to listeners
of Iqaluit's CBC radio station, where she worked as an announcer and producer.
Hanson also worked for
the GNWT as a counsellor and community development worker. As a volunteer, she
helped start several organizations, including a juvenile court committee, an
elders' group, an Inuit cultural group, and an organization called the Qinuajuaq
Society, which brought elders and youth together.
In the late 1980s, she
served as deputy commissioner of the Northwest Territories.
The commissioner of Nunavut
is, legally, the chief executive officer of the territorial government, but
since the 1980s, the commissioner's job in the northern territories has been
mostly ceremonial and symbolic, similar to provincial lieutenant governors.
Commissioners are appointed
by the minister of DIAND, after consultation with the territorial government.
April
15, 2005
BFC boss says Commons
hearing "positive"
Jerry Ward, the CEO of
the Baffin Fisheries Coalition, says that despite the tough questions posed
by some MPs, the BFC's appearance before the House of Commons standing committee
on fisheries last month was a "positive" experience that helped clear
up various "misconceptions" about the organization.
"I thought it was
an extremely good meeting," Ward said.
Ward, and the BFC's president,
Ben Kovic, appeared before the committee on March 22, on the same morning that
MPs heard from members of Qikiqtarjuaq's Nattivak Hunters and Trappers Association,
who broke away from the BFC last year.
Ward said he rejects suggestions
made by Nattivak, and by the NDP member for Sackville-Eastern Shore, Peter Stoffer,
that Kovic may have been in a conflict of interest when he moved to the BFC
from his former job as chair of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, which
recommends fisheries quotas.
"Mr. Stoffer has his
own agenda," Ward said, pointing out that the NWMB finished making fisheries
allocations by the spring of 2004, and that the BFC president's job wasn't advertised
until August, 2004. Ward said BFC's board hired Kovic in November after reviewing
several job applications.
Ward also rejected criticisms
made by Stoffer that the BFC is trading Baffin turbot for the right to catch
shrimp that is then diverted to foreign fish plants.
"Historically, very
little of the northern shrimp catch goes to Atlantic Canadian plants,"
Ward said.
April
15, 2005
Sheila Watt-Cloutier
named "Champion of the Earth"
The United Nations Environment
Program has handed a Champion of the Earth award to Sheila Watt-Cloutier, originally
of Kuujjuaq and now based in Iqaluit as president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference.
Watt-Cloutier sees the
award as both a personal achievement and a collective achievement for the Inuit.
"It really puts us
Inuit in the same breath as other country leaders," Watt-Cloutier said
on Monday. "In a sense it almost puts us as having a geopolitical stance
or a place in the world, and that's very good for Inuit."
This is the first year
that the U.N. has offered the award. There are seven recipients from around
the world, including South African President Thabo Mbeki, the King of Bhutan,
and Mexico's minister of the environment.
Watt-Cloutier will travel
to New York City to receive the award on April 19.
April
15, 2005
Three years later,
tenants get homes in Gjoa Haven
A five-plex housing unit
in Gjoa Haven will get its first tenants on May 1 - nearly three years after
the initial construction was completed.
The Nunavut Housing Corp.
issued a request for proposal for the project in summer 2002, and contracted
the project to 4087879 Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Nunavut Investment Group.
The building was to be
ready for tenants by fall 2003, but after an initial inspection, repairs were
ordered to fix "construction issues," said Lorne Veters. Veters is
the general manager for Nunavut Construction Corp. Properties Inc. and is responsible
for properties owned by Nunavut Investment Group and its companies.
After the repairs were
made, the building should have been ready for tenants by fall 2004, but the
local fuel company forgot to deliver fuel to the new building. Frozen pipes
caused additional delays.
On April 8, the NHC did
a final inspection of the building. On May 1, NHC will finally take over the
building to use for GN staff housing.
April
15, 2005
Pay your power bills
at Northern
Nunavummiut may now pay
their Nunavut Power Corp. bills at their local Northern or Northmart stores,
under a new arrangement between the power corporation and the Northwest Company.
This means that power customers
may now pay their bills at the office counter inside their local Northern stores.
The NPC already has a similar arrangement with co-ops.
Beginning this month, Nunavummiut
will also find that their power bills will appear in Inuktitut and English.
On the back, they'll find instructions in Inuinnaqtun, French, Inuktitut and
English.
And on April 1 this month,
the power corporation's new system took effect. Public housing tenants will
see no changes in the amount they have to pay. Homeowners will see a rate increase
of about 15 per cent, partially offset by a subsidy. Commercial customers will
see an increase of about 16.5 per cent.
April
8, 2005
Kenn Borek pilot found
dead in Calgary
A 21-year-old Calgary man
has been charged with first-degree murder after a Kenn Borek pilot was found
dead in an apartment this past weekend, the Calgary Herald reported.
The victim was Scott Michael
Barr, 25, a pilot who worked for Kenn Borek Air for the last year. Since last
fall, he worked partly out of Iqaluit on three-week stints that took him to
Pangnirtung, Kimmirut and Cape Dorset.
A neighbor in his Calgary
apartment building said he heard yelling and "running around" that
ended abruptly.
Sean Loutitt, Kenn Borek's
chief pilot, said he was surprised and upset by the violent death. A co-worker
in Iqaluit told the Herald she was sad to hear of the death of "a great
guy."
Calgary police arrested
Matthew Wesley Veness on Monday. The cause of death has not been released. A
first-degree murder charge implies that the murder may have been planned and
deliberate.
April
1, 2005
Man charged in Maghagak
homicide
One year since Rhoda Maghagak
was found dead in her home in Cambridge Bay, RCMP have arrested a man in connection
with her death.
Christopher Jame Allukpik,
24, was charged with first-degree murder this past Wednesday. He is now in custody
and was scheduled to appear in court in Iqaluit yesterday, after Nunatsiaq
News press time.
Allukpik is formerly of
Kugluktuk, but was living in Cambridge Bay at the time of Maghagak's death.
Police arrested him at the North Slave Correctional Centre in Yellowknife, where
he was serving time for unrelated offences that took place in Kugluktuk.
TOP
| 
Nunavut 99
