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November 3, 2006

The Municipality of Hans Island is here!

SIKU Circumpolar News Service

Prince Tartupaluk from Canada now has a serious rival for his web-based claim to Hans Island, which is called Tartupaluk in Greenland, due to its kidney-bean shape.

A group calling itself the “Tartupaluup Kommunia,” that is, the Community of Hans Island, has mounted a Web site at http://www.tartupaluk-kommune.olesen.gl/ documents/23.html in Greenlandic that explains its sovereign claim to the tiny rocky island between Ellesmere Island and Greenland.

The Web site says “it’s a joke,” but it nonetheless features extensive information about the community’s leadership, photos and news, including an image of what looks like a navy frigate marooned on the island.

Both Canada and Denmark claim ownership of the 1.3-square-kilometre island, which is located between Ellesmere Island and Greenland.

A 1973 map that defines the boundaries between Canada and Greenland, part of Denmark, left Hans Island out of the boundary line, because neither side could agree who owned the island.

November 3, 2006

Greenlandic spell-checker launched

SIKU Circumpolar News Service

Oqaasileriffik, the Greenland Language Secretariat, last week launched the first version of Kukkuniiaat, a Greenlandic spellchecker and hyphenation tool, which can be used in Microsoft Word and other programs in Office.

Kukkuniiaat will function as a platform for the development of future language tools in Greenlandic, says the language secretariat.

That’s because Kukkuniiaat is not a simple word list, but an advanced automat with built-in knowledge on word formation and grammar. It’s intended to become a foundation for projects in developing language technology tools.

“We rejoice in this important step in our work with the Greenlandic language, which will be crucial in the development of its status, in accordance with the current goals of the official language policy,” says a news release from the secretariat.

Kukkuniiaat can be downloaded for free from the secretariat’s home page www.oqaasileriffik.gl/kukkuniiaat as well as an updated lexicon lists and a document template which automatically will make Kalaallisut - Greenlandic the standard language when using Word.

November 3, 2006

Iceland resumes commercial whaling

Iceland has resumed commercial whaling.

Iceland’s fisheries ministry said whalers could hunt 30 minke whales and nine fin whales in the period from Sept. 1 to August 31, 2007.

The ministry said “none of the planned catches involve any endangered or threatened stocks of whales. They only involve abundant stocks and are linked to Iceland’s overall policy of sustainable utilization of marine resources.”

There are about 43,600 minke whales in Icelandic waters. Fin whales in the central North Atlantic number around 25,800.

Iceland halted whaling altogether in 1990, but in 2003 resumed for scientific reasons.

Heimir Hardarson, marketing director of whale-watching company Nordur­siglingar in northeast Iceland, said tourists have already started canceling trips to Iceland to protest against the resumption of whaling.

But Fridrik J. Arngrímsson, manager of the Association of Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners (LÍÚ), told Fréttabladid that whaling will pay off, even if there is no market for whale meat.

Arngrímsson said whales in Icelandic waters compete with the fish for food, and that with so many whales, the fishing industry loses millions of dollars a year.

The European Union and the United States have also condemned Iceland’s decision to resume commercial whaling.

For circumpolar news every day go to http://www.sikunews.com

November 3, 2006

Kuujjuaq’s stray dogs will soon end up in the dog pound

Mayor Larry Watt said Kuujjuaq the town plans to adopt a new dog control bylaw.

”This bylaw will pretty much state the rights of the Northern Village of Kuujjuaq to impound dogs that are not on a leash,” Watt said.

The current bylaw gives Kuujjuaq the power to catch any loose dogs and put them down.

“We are planning on adopting this new bylaw to give the population a chance to recover their dogs,” Watt said.

The town will charge a minimal fee, which is still to be determined, for the owners to get their dogs back. This money will be used to help pay for dog pound’s operations.

Watt said Kuujjuaq is also planning on supplying dog owners with numbered dog tags to better keep track of the dogs, and make it easier to contact the owners if their animals are picked up.

A reminder from the town: to avoid having their dogs impounded, Kuujjuammiut should keep their dogs on a leash or under their control when not on a leash.

Kuujjuaq finally has a dog pound, to reduce the cull of stray dogs in the community (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NV OF KUUJJUAQ)

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November 3, 2006

FCNQ launches web site

The Fédération des cooperatives du Nouveau-Québec, the cooperative network in Nunavik, has launched its triligual Web site at http://www.fcnq.ca.

”This tool is to be a window for the world to have a peek at what has been accomplished during the last 40 years by the members of the co-ops of Nunavik and their partners,” says an FCNQ news release about the launch of the Web site earlier last month.

November 3, 2006

Report dead birds – but touch with caution

The Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre wants the public to report any sightings of sick or dead birds to the centre at 1-866-544-4744 or http://wildlife1.usask.ca.

In Nunavik, residents can also call the Nunavik Research Centre at 1-877-625-4845 or Nunavik’s public health department at 819-962-2222, ext. 235.

A Canada-wide survey of dead birds in underway and Information from this survey will help better understand the influenza viruses in bird populations, says the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Centre.

News releases from the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Centre and Makivik Corporation note viruses in wild birds usually pose low risks to human health and no cases of bird flu have yet been detected in Nunavik or anywhere else in Canada.

Avian cholera has, however, been found in Nunavik. This summer, the centre, along with the Nunavik Research Centre, investigated a die-off of eider ducks on some Ungava Bay islands near Kangiqsujuaq, Kangirsuk, Quaqtaq and Aupaluk, which died of avian cholera.

This illness caused a similar die-off of eiders near Ivujivik in 2004.

Wildlife and public health officials did not recommend a clean-up of these islands due to the extent of the outbreak, the risk of transmission to other areas and the risk of disease from other germs encountered when coming into contact with dead birds.

Public health officials recommend the following when handling dead birds or down:

• Avoid handling dead birds and use gloves if a carcass has to moved;
• Wear gloves to collect down;
• Clean down away from food or drinking water, after it has been dried and exposed to light, and wash up afterwards;
• Teach children to report, but not touch, any sick or dead birds they find;
• Cook all birds well and wash up afterwards.

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