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June 9, 2006

Nunavik goes nearly smoke-free

Stiff new anti-smoking laws came into effect last week in Quebec and will also apply in Nunavik.

Kuujjuaq’s bars and restaurants have been smoke-free since the beginning of 2006, in preparation for the new law.

Under the new regulations, there can be no smoking in restaurants, bars or halls, hospitals, clinics, in the workplace, schools, work vehicles or hotel common rooms.

Smokers must be at least nine metres away from any hospital, clinic, social service outlet, school or workplace entranceway.

Smoking will still be permitted in 40 per cent of hotel rooms and in long-term care hospitals.

For restaurants and bars, fines range from $400 for the first infraction up to $10,000 for repeat offenders. For individuals, fines range from $87 for the first offence to $600 for the second.

A toll-free number, 1-877-416-8222, is in place for anyone wishing to file a complaint that the new law isn’t being respected.

June 9, 2006

No road to nowhere for Kuujjuaq

Kuujjuaq plans to get its streets and house numbers in order.

And the road leading out of town, known now as “Dump Road,” will assume a more elegant name: Aqpik Road, in honour of its route through berry picking areas.

During Kuujjuaq’s recent municipal council meeting, the town decided to adopt a unified system of identifying buildings in the community.

This is important, said Mayor Larry Watt, so emergency response will become easier and development will be more streamlined.

At present, although most streets have names, building numbers appear to be almost random, with 128 on one side of the town, and 129 on the other.

The plan is to group numbers, such as 1 to 100 or 400 to 500, by sector, with even numbers on one side of the street and odd ones on the other. No two buildings in town will have the same number.

The municipality will assign the new numbers to the buildings, owners will remove existing numbers and new ones at least 6 inches or 15 cm high, black on a white background, will be installed on the front of the house.

June 9, 2006

Internet growing by leaps and bounds

The Kativik Regional Government’s Tamaani Internet service, which started two and half years ago, now has more than 900 individual clients and about 250 business or government clients for its high-speed wireless service. Over the past year, it’s nearly doubled its number of residential clients.

And, according to information presented at last week’s KRG council meeting, the growing use and need for higher-speed telecommunications is giving more support to Tamaani’s application to the National Satellite Initiative for more free bandwidth.

“This is why we are asking for bandwidth,” said Joë Lance, the director of KRG’s administration department.

This month Taamani is sending its application to the NSI, a federal program to subsidize satellite costs for remote regions, and asking, in collaboration with other groups in Ontario and Manitoba, for three times the amount of bandwidth.

If the request is approved, Lance said Tamaani will be involved in providing more long-distance consultations for health and justice.

The KRG plans to deploy a network of weather cameras at the region’s airports this summer.

June 9, 2006

Police seize bootlegged alcohol

Despite a ban on alcohol in Aupaluk, some residents have found a way to bring in booze.

Suppliers have been asked to send orders via air cargo to Kuujjuaq. In Kuujjuaq, the orders have been picked up and sent on to Aupaluk, and in this way they have been able to bypass the system.

However, police and municipal authorities are now tracking these packages, and last Friday in Aupaluk they destroyed 48 cans of beer and a 40-ounce bottle of spirits.

June 9, 2006

Regional projects get go-ahead

At last week’s Kativik Regional Government council meeting in Kuujjuaq, councilors gave their approval to three regional projects, which will receive money from the regional development fund.

Nunavik Faces, a book project by photographer Heiko Wittenborn, will receive $25,582. This book, which has already received promises of financial assistance from Makivik Corporation, Nunavik Tourism and the Kativik School Board, will be a trilingual volume, highlighting the people who live in Nunavik.

“Nunavik Elders Telling their Stories” will receive $50,000. The goal of this project, sponsored by Taqramiut Nipingat Inc., is to interview elders and package their interviews in a digitized format.

Funding for these two projects depends on whether they are able to raise all the money they need — more than $100,000 for Faces and $500,000 for TNI’s recording project.

The Nunavik Elders Committee also received $41,170. The seven-member committee on elders’ concerns came after a report was presented at last June’s KRG council meeting in Kuujjuaq, which showed Nunavik’s 419 elders are in need of urgent assistance.

Through the KRG and Makivik Corporation, each community is also receiving all-terrain vehicles, as well as wireless telephones for each community’s elder van.

June 9, 2006

Crime figures up

The Kativik Regional Police Force presented their latest statistics on crime files to the Kativik Regional Government at their meeting last week in Kuujjuaq.

From Jan. to April this year, there were a total of 429 assaults, up from 354 over the same four-month period in 2005, and 254 in 2004.

During the first four months of 2006, 171 conjugal assaults were recorded, up from 127 in 2005 and 92 in 2004.

There has been only one suicide since the beginning of 2006, but 24 attempts. During the first four months of 2005, four suicides and 12 attempts were recorded, and in the same period of 2004, there were three suicides and 25 suicide attempts.

Sexual abuse cases were at 73 from Jan. to April 2006, 63 from Jan. to April 2005, and 48 during the same period in 2004.

The total number of files opened by the KRPF in Nunavik for the first four months of the year has risen from 1497 in 2004 to 2488 in 2006.

Police detained 1,252 people from Jan. to April.

At the KRG meeting, the Kativik Regional Police Force discussed the difficulty of hiring guards for prisoners because of the low wages and irregular hours.

“Guards are one of our biggest problems in many communities,” said Dep. Chief of Police Jobie Epoo. “Because we don’t have any money, we can’t do anything about it.”

June 2, 2006

Photos, carvings from POV displayed on web

You don’t have to go to Toronto to see the newest exhibition at the Feheley Fine Arts gallery.

That’s because its latest show, “Witness to the Past: Photographs by Richard Harrington and Works of Art from Arctic Quebec,” can be seen on its Web site at www.feheleyfinearts.com.

Richard Harrington travelled to Puvirnituq (then known as Povungnituk) in 1959 where he captured history on film: the then-newly formed Sculptors Society.

His photos document the sculpting process by following the artist Charlie Sivuarapik and his family in 1959. They show the labour involved in the creation of sculpture, including quarrying and selecting stone, cutting and filing the rock into a form, and polishing the surface to reach a final product.

This limited series of archival, selenium-toned photographs have only been on display once before. The photographs are exhibited together with the works of art from northern Quebec, which also date from that period.

June 2, 2006

Sinuupa, Tanya Tagaq chosen for aboriginal CD

The National Campus and Community Radio Association has announced the selection of independent artists who will be appearing on its “Dig Your Roots — Aboriginal” CD.

Representing the North are Tanya Tagaq of Cambridge Bay and Sinuupa (Etua Snowball) of Kuujjuaq.

“Dig Your Roots — Aboriginal” is number five in the Dig Your Roots series of compilations.

The release will be followed by concerts in five locations across Canada from June 17 to 29.

Each show will be broadcast live nationally on participating campus and community radio stations.

The “Dig Your Roots” CD is available at www.digyourroots.ca, along with information about the project and all of the featured artists.

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