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Around Iqaluit
June 2 , 2006
Iqaluit this week
Bake and rummage sale
Saturday, June 3, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Catholic Parish Hall, building 911. Homemade bread, cookies, cakes and pies will be on sale, as well as rummage items.
Summer camp registration
Wednesday, June 8, 5:30 p.m. at the Curling Rink. Come out to register your kids, aged 6 to 12, for summer camp. Camp runs from July 3 to August 18, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fees are $70 for the entire summer or $10 per week. Space is limited. For more information, call 979-5617.
Inuksuk daycare rummage sale
Saturday, June 10, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Inuksuk High School. The Inuksuk daycare will hold a rummage sale fundraiser. Tables are $15 or two for $25. To reserve a table, call Rukshana or Erica at 979-3007.
Get your wheels in motion
Sunday, June 11, registration at noon, walk begins at 1 p.m. Walk, run or walk for people with spinal cord injuries and related disabilities in the Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion fundraiser. The walk takes place around the rink road; registration forms are available at Arctic Ventures. For more information, call Ailsa Lapp at 979-5617.
To have your event listed, free of charge, please call 979-5357.
June 2 , 2006
Third gas station for Iqaluit?
Iqaluit could have a new gas station, if the Northwest Company has its way.
The company has set in motion steps to build a gas station on Apex Road, adjacent to the Quick Stop convenience store.
The station would likely be self-serve. “We find that customers prefer that model,” said Paul Hughes, the company’s manager of petroleum products.
Because a gas station would also draw more customers to the convenience store, Hughes said he expects the expansion would add several full-time jobs.
But first the land must be rezoned, and then a development permit must be approved by city council. It’s unclear whether these steps will be done before the end of construction season this year.
Iqaluit council recently gave first and second reading to a bylaw to rezone the lot in question. The bylaw now requires ministerial approval in order to move forward to third reading.
Michele Bertol, the city’s director of lands and planning, said the bylaw could receive third reading by early July at the earliest, if council decides to give it the go ahead.
When that happens, the company will likely apply for a development permit, to be approved by council. That permit could be approved as early as late July.
Only when all that’s done will the company consider shipping supplies north to build the station, said Hughes.
“If we do construction this year, great,” he said. “As we get closer to the shipping dates, we’ll have to make a decision.”
June 2 , 2006
Bring the folk school to the capital
Iqaluit’s capital is an ideal location for a cultural school, says the Iqaluit district education authority in a 10-page proposal to the minister of culture, language, elders and youth last month.
IDEA pressed on with its proposal even after finding no indication of support for the project among local MLAs.
The proposal was a response to a request for letters of interest from any of Nunavut’s communities. That request was sent to DEAs across Nunavut, and was open to anyone who wanted to propose their community as the location for a new cultural school.
The IDEA suggests Iqaluit is a good location for the folk school because: community members represent all regions of Nunavut; there are already resources in town that the school could take advantage of; and the central location is cost-effective. An Iqaluit folk school could collaborate with other groups in the capital to work on larger projects, such as language development.
The IDEA also points to the need for a cultural revival in Iqaluit and beyond.
“We believe that locating Piqqusilirivvik in Iqaluit would serve to demonstrate to Nunavummiut, Canadians and the world, how Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit can lead the rebuilding of strong Inuit cultural practices in Iqaluit, and lead the transformation of our education system in Nunavut.”
Iqaluit Mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik included a letter of support.
June 2 , 2006
Lori Idlout joins IDEA
Lori Idlout was sworn in as the seventh member of the Iqaluit District Education Authority on May 8.
Idlout is the executive director of the Isaksimagit Inuusirmi Katujjiqatigiit Embrace Life Council. She has five children in Iqaluit schools.
This brings the IDEA up to full membership.
June 2 , 2006
Land trips pay off
Elementary students at Nakasuk School returned from their land trips in April “empowered and elated,” principal Carol Horn said in a letter to the Iqaluit DEA, which funded part of the program.
Nakasuk school ran five day trips on the land in April. The trips were an extension of a program where two, and sometimes three, elders work with 32 “students at risk” in the school.
The students had a chance to sew mittens and slippers, make traditional tools, or bake bannock for the breakfast or lunch program.
Nakasuk School is now seeking $5,000 from the IDEA’s Students First Fund for a four-day school camp by the Sylvia Grinnell River, organized by elders and Inuit staff.
These programs make a difference, Horn notes: “[Students] are developing a greater sense of self-worth and confidence. They come to the office to share their successes. They have their pictures taken with their handiwork and then proudly take it home as a gift to important family members.”
June 2 , 2006
How many Inuit teachers are there?
The Iqaluit district education authority wants to know how many Inuit teachers work in Nunavut’s schools.
This information is essential if Iqaluit’s schools are to move to a bilingual education model proposed by the Department of Education.
The IDEA will use this information in a proposal to the department. They want that department to offer help to new graduates from the Nunavut teacher education program.
The IDEA would like to see graduates of that program get mentoring and assistance for their first three years in the classroom, before they are left in classrooms on their own.
The most recent estimates, included in Thomas Berger’s report on the education system, put the number of Inuit teachers at around 230, or 36 per cent of all teachers. That report also points out that the number of Inuit teachers is in decline: either because teachers are retiring, or they quit after one to three years on the job.
June 2 , 2006
Oil spill info needed
Someone dumped at least 45 gallons of what appears to be crankcase oil in Iqaluit’s Carney Creek off Federal Road, during the weekend of May 19 to 22.
That’s enough oil to contaminate thousands of gallons of water, which could threaten the health of people, fish and wildlife, warns Nunavut’s environmental protection division.
They’re asking for the public’s assistance in identifying who spilled the oil, in violation of Nunavut’s Environmental Protection Act.
First-time offenders could face a fine up to $300,000, and up to six months in prison.
For repeat offenders, the maximum fine increases to $1 million, and a maximum prison sentence of two years.
“We’re serious as death about this,” said Craig Welsh, manager of communications for the department of environment.
“We’re really annoyed by it, and we’ll find them.”
Clean-up began this week.
Anyone with information is asked to call Robert Eno at 975-7748.
June 2 , 2006
IDEA member Jeannie Eeseemailie suggested Iqaluit would
be a good location for the forthcoming cultural school. The
IDEA has now submitted a proposal describing why the capital
would be a good location. (PHOTO BY SARA MINOGUE)
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