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Around Nunavut
August
19, 2005
CMHC gets northern
office - in the South
The federal government
created a "northern" office for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
on July 1 - even though it's located in Calgary, Alta.
The CMHC is a Crown corporation
that funds social housing for low income people in the three northern territories.
Until 1993, the CMHC paid
for the construction of new social housing in the territories, and still supplies
territorial governments with money to pay the operation and maintenance costs
of their social housing stocks, under an agreement that will run out in about
20 years.
A press release issued
just before Nunatsiaq News press-time this week from the office of Joe Fontana,
the federal housing minister, says the corporation will create an entity called
"CMHC Northern Housing" to better manage its northern housing responsibilities.
The press release says
Fontana will visit Rankin Inlet, Whale Cove and Chesterfield Inlet, but doesn't
say when. No one at his office was able to provide that information in phone
calls made late Wednesday afternoon.
It also contains no indication
of when Fontana will respond to a $1.9 billion proposal for an Inuit housing
program submitted to the federal government in 2004.
August
19, 2005
Navy trawls for foreign
fishing boats
A Canadian frigate will
patrol the waters of the eastern Arctic in search of illegal fishing vessels.
The HMCS Fredericton left
Halifax on Thursday, Aug. 18, bound for the Davis Straight, where it's scheduled
to patrol until the second week of September.
The ship has on board several
officials from the department of fisheries and oceans, who will be on the lookout
for Greenlandic fishers from the Faroe Islands who are suspected of fishing
illegally in Canadian waters.
Visits to Iqaluit and Pond
Inlet are also scheduled.
August
19, 2005
NTI beefs up finance
department
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
made two appointments in its financial department this month, in a move aimed
at strengthening the organization's ability to control its finances in the future.
Ashley Sinclair has been
named to fill a newly-created job: Chief Financial Officer. For the past two
years, Sinclair has served as NTI's director of finance.
Annie Tattuinee, formerly
NTI's assistant director of finance, will now serve as director of finance.
The schedule for paying
out the $1.1 billion in compensation money for Inuit, negotiated through the
Nunavut land claims agreement, will end in 2007.
The Nunavut Trust, which
invests that money to produced earnings that are used to finance NTI and the
regional associations, has warned NTI that it's unlikely that the entire $1.1
billion in capital will be intact when the payments from Ottawa cease.
That's because NTI has,
in addition to using investment earnings, borrowed money from the capital retained
by the Trust to pay for its operations and programs
In the press release, James
Eetoolook, NTI's vice president of finance, says that NTI must develop "measured
and productive" strategies to reduce its dependence on the capital.
August
12, 2005
Four arrested for home invasion
Four Rankin Inlet residents face assault and sexual assault charges following
a home invasion early Monday morning.
Police report that a woman opened her door to two other women, who entered
and beat her unconscious. They then attacked a second victim who was sleeping.
When a 12-year-old boy inside the house tried to stop the attacks, he was also
assaulted. The boy managed to phone police from a neighbour's house.
The assailants left, but returned minutes later, accompanied by two men. By
then, the first victim had awoken and locked the door, but the four entered
after breaking a window.
The two men then sexually assaulted the first victim, police say.
Police arrested four people found a short time later in a parked vehicle.
Ujaralaaq Eno, 23, and Amy Kaludjak, 19, are charged with assault causing bodily
harm, assault and break and enter. Gary Sigurdson, 27, and Jonathan Kaludjak,
21, are charged with sexual assault and break and enter. They appear in court
in Rankin Inlet on October 31.
The victims were treated for injuries at the health centre and released later
that day. Police say alcohol was a factor.
August
12, 2005
Premiers to talk savings time
When they're not enjoying golf, a train ride, and a rodeo, Canada's provincial
and territorial premiers will talk this week about the merits of extending the
length of daylight savings time.
The premiers are holding their annual meeting this year at the luxurious Banff
Springs Hotel, a scenic resort nestled in Banff, Alberta.
The U.S. congress recently passed a bill that will extend the period of daylight
savings time in that country. Under it, daylight savings time will start three
weeks earlier than in the past - in March - and end one week later, in November.
August
12, 2005
Canada, Denmark to talk Hans
The prime minister of Denmark, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said earlier this week
that his government will start talks with Canada this fall on resolving their
minor territorial dispute over Hans Island.
Rasmussen told the Danish news agency Ritzau that foreign ministers from Canada,
Denmark and Greenland will start talks on the issue this September, at the same
time as the U.N. general assembly holds its fall session.
Though Canada and Denmark co-operate in many areas related to the Arctic, including
a $75-million undersea mapping project in the High Arctic, the Hans Island spat
has aroused public opinion in both countries.
This year's Hans Island headline hunt was kicked off this past July, when Canada's
defence minister, Bill Graham, made an unannounced visit to the island about
a week after a small Canadian military unit had planted a flag and erected an
inuksuk on it.
August
5, 2005
Attempted murder charges follow stabbing
Two young Iqaluit residents have been charged with attempted murder after police
discovered a 28-year-old man bleeding from multiple stab wounds outside Iqaluit's
Arnakadlak building, early in the morning of Aug. 1.
Jason Kilabuk, 21, and Douglas Katsak, 18, face charges of attempted murder,
aggravated assault and other charges related to the incident. They're to appear
in court on Thursday, Aug. 4.
The victim, a 28-year-old Iqaluit resident, underwent surgery in the Baffin
Region Hospital where he's recovering from wounds to his stomach and neck.
Police won't release further details, including the victim's name.
August
5, 2005
Youth arrested for knife-point robbery
Iqaluit police have charged a 17-year-old boy following the knife-point robbery
of a taxi driver during the evening of July 18.
The youth faces one count of robbery and one count of breaching probation.
He's to appear in youth court on Aug. 8.
August
5, 2005
Two more months of daylight savings?
If U.S. President George W. Bush likes the idea, U.S. residents - and then
Canadians - could be setting their clocks to daylight savings time for eight
months of the year.
Two extra months of daylight savings time were part of the Energy Policy Bill
approved by the U. S. congress July 21.
Daylight savings time was originally conceived as an energy saving policy:
by starting the clock later in the day, people may wake up in the dark, but
will find extra sunlight during the evening hours, when they might otherwise
be using electricity to light their homes.
If the president signs the bill, daylight savings time will start in March
and extend to the last weekend in November across the U.S.
Many Canadian businesses have already suggested that Canada should follow suit.
Otherwise, airline schedules, radio and television programming, business hours
and financial markets would be out of sync for at least two months of the year,
or more in places that don't switch to daylight savings time at all, such as
Saskatchewan.
If Canada were to adopt extended daylight savings time, Nunavut would likely
consider making the change.
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