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Around Iqaluit
April 14, 2006
Iqaluit this week
Toonik Tyme starts Monday
Festival highlights include:
Seal hunting, snowmobile contests
Sunday, April 15. Registration begins at 7 a.m. at the sea ice. Hunters should return by 4:30 p.m. The seal skin snowmobile challenge (where participants must race around a course while balancing a jerry can on a seal skin dragged behind the machine) and kids snowmobile races will happen the same day, from 10 a.m. to noon, on the sea ice.
Northen band night
Tuesday, April 18 at the Cadet Hall.
Senior hockey tournament
The hockey tournament runs from Wednesday, April 19 to Sunday, April 23. A full schedule is available at the old arena.
Dancing and games
Thursday, April 20, 9 p.m. to midnight at the Parish Hall.
Teen outdoor hockey tournament
Friday, April 21, at 1 p.m. on the Road to Nowhere lake. Entrance fees are $10 for a team of up to six people.
Craft sale
Saturday, April 22, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the curling rink.
Closing ceremonies
Saturday, April 22, 6 p.m. at Nakasuk School.
April 14, 2006
City waffles on interim CAO
Iqaluit’s city council had second thoughts about who should become its interim chief administrative officer during a meeting this past Tuesday.
Last week city council approved of the idea of making Mark Hall, the city’s public works director, their interim CAO. During a special meeting on April 5, councillors pushed a motion through first and second readings that would appoint Hall to the position.
But when time came for the motion’s third and final reading this week, no councilor either moved or seconded the motion, and it died.
The motion was discussed in camera, so whatever reservations city councillors had about Hall’s appointment were not made public.
What’s more, when a motion dies this way, it cannot be re-introduced again for several months, according to the city clerk.
That leaves finance director John Hussey as acting CAO in the meantime, while the city begins its search for someone to fill the seat permanently. Iqaluit’s former CAO, Ian Fremantle, left his job in mid-March, after he and city council could not agree on the terms of a new contract.
The designation of “interim” CAO, rather than “acting” CAO, would give the position more authority to represent the city and sign official documents.
As the most senior city director, Hussey replaced lands director Michele Bertol as acting CAO when he returned from vacation several weeks ago.
April 14, 2006
City slow on filing finances
The City of Iqaluit will be late in filing its consolidated financial statements to the Government of Nunavut this year.
City staff have requested an extension from March 31 until June 30.
That’s because the city’s finance department continues to experience problems with new computer software installed over the last year. Difficulties with the software was one reason why the city’s 2006 budget was not prepared on time, either.
According to John Hussey, the city’s finance director, computer programmers are working on fixing the problem right now.
“We want to do it right,” Hussey said. “Otherwise, we’ll have a re-occurring problem.”
April 14, 2006
New Plateau lots sell out
It didn’t take long for lots in Iqaluit’s new Plateau subdivision to sell out during a ballot draw held in the city council chambers, April 6.
“In 15 minutes, all of the lots were gone,” said Michele Bertol, the city’s lands and planning director.
City staff received 41 applications to purchase 29 single-family residential lots. All but one of the applicants were first-time homeowners, according to Bertol.
Residents paid a non-refundable $250 entry fee to enter the draw. The average cost of a residential lot this year is $65,000. Lease payments paid to the city are used to cover the cost of building the subdivision.
The Plateau is billed as a “sustainable subdivision” by the city. That’s because homes in it are required to be fitted with low-flow toilets and faucets, as well as energy-efficient appliances, insulation and windows.
April 14, 2006
Bilingual education steams ahead on a shoestring
The Iqaluit District Education Authority is pressing ahead to get new bilingual education models in Iqaluit schools, despite getting little support from the Department of Education.
“I was expecting more workshops or something to get us going on this,” said Katherine Trumper at a Monday night meeting. She also noticed that although the department set aside four days for professional development workshops this year, not one of them was dedicated to bilingual education.
On Monday, the IDEA asked all school principals to outline where they are at with bilingual education. Two principals suggested working together on the project, which will require a major overhaul of how education is delivered in Iqaluit.
Nakasuk School has already selected a new bilingual model, which adds increasing amounts of English to the Inuktitut stream every year, until both languages get an equal amount of time in the classroom in Grade 4.
Literacy and bilingual literacy are top priorities for Nakasuk in the coming school year, Principal Carol Horn wrote in a letter to the DEA. But in order to implement the new strategy, the school needs some help, including:
- Assistance to screen kindergarten students to see how well they speak English or Inuktitut, so students who lack Inuktitut skills are getting the help they need in the early grades;
- New criteria for new teachers hired at the school, which insists they have Bachelor of Education degrees and are bilingual;
- Money to hire a consultant to track the results of the project and prepare a research report on implementing bilingual education.
April 14, 2006
Cyber-bullying hits Aqsarniit
Teasing on the Internet leads to fighting on the playground at Aqsarniit middle school, where principal Darlene Nuqingaq said “there are major numbers of reports of cyber-bullying.”
She refers to students who use MSN to chat with their friends at home, or who build their own web sites where they post photos of friends. These photos can easily be copied by other websites, where they can be posted with rude comments.
“It’s just really widespread and it’s carrying over to incidents that are happening in the school,” Nuqingaq told the Iqaluit District Education Authority on Monday.
The school already monitors which sites the kids visit, Nuqingaq said, and has sent a letter to parents outlining how they do that, and what parents should be doing.
Nuqingaq has also asked Stephan Kilabuk, the school’s RCMP contact, to come and speak to the kids about the issue of slandering classmates online.
“They students just do not know the legalities.”
April
7, 2006
Iqaluit this week
It's a Small World Ice
Show
Saturday, April
8, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Arnaitok Arena. The Iqaluit Skating Club presents its
spring ice show. Admission is free; donations are accepted.
First Annual Territorial
Skills Competition
Tuesday, April
11, Inuksuk High School. Students and apprentices from across the territory will
be competing in different skilled trade and technology areas including cooking,
carpentry, hairdressing, graphic design, workplace safety, TV & video production,
Internet webpage design, job interview and prepared speech.
Opening ceremonies begin
at 8:15 a.m., and the competition runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. As a bonus, aesthetics
services available for purchase include: make-up application, manicures, 'tooth
fairy' and paraffin hand treatments.
For more information, contact
Michelle at 975-6574 or michellej@skillscanada.com.
Seal talk on APTN
Tuesday, April
11, 8 p.m. APTN will air the final episode of Qanuq Isumavit live from the IBC
studio, following a special presentation of Waiting at the Edge, a Government
of Nunavut video that highlights the importance of seal hunting to Inuit culture.
Viewers can join panelists Olayuk Akesuk, minister of economic development, and
the department's IQ coordinator, Simon Awa, by calling 979-0810 or 1-800-337-6186.
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