New premier, new mine jobs and much more

The top 10 news 'stories; of 2008

By NUNATSIAQ NEWS

• Eva Aariak wins the Nunavut premiership: After Nunavut's Oct. 27 territorial election, Aariak, only the second Inuk woman to serve as premier of a northern territory, vows to renew the Nunavut government in co-operation with a fresh group of MLAs and cabinet ministers.

• The First Air-Makivik bonus controversy: The public discovers that First Air board members, some of whom are also highly-paid officers of the Makivik Corp. voted to pay themselves $1.5 million in bonuses, raising disturbing questions about the conduct of aboriginal birthright corporations everywhere.

• Leona Aglukkaq wins a federal cabinet job: Aglukkaq conquers Nunavut for the Conservatives, then becomes the first Inuk to serve as a federal cabinet minster.

• State of emergency declared in Pangnirtung: climate change wreaks havoc on a small community, as torrential rains and record levels of melt-water destroy two bridges and leave a small community paralyzed.

• The David Simailak ethics scandal: a powerful Nunavut cabinet minister can't keep his private business affairs separate from his public responsibilities – and pays the price.

• Mary River iron project makes an impact: Baffin residents get a taste of the potential job-creating power of the mining industry when more than 300 people are hired to work for the Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. on a major bulk-sampling project at Mary River. Unfortunately, the global financial crisis may force Baffinland to delay construction of a working mine.

• The Jericho diamond mine fails: The Tahera Diamond Corp. moves into bankruptcy protection, then can't find a buyer for its Jericho mine site.

• Canadian North expands in the Baffin region: Baffin consumers are delighted after Canadian North wins a bigger piece of the Nunavut government's medical travel contract, then uses it as leverage to offer scheduled passenger service to seven Baffin communities, in competition with First Air.

• The Ilulissat Declaration: In what appears to be a victory for the rule of international law, five Arctic states – Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the United States – agree in May to be bound by rules set out in the UN Law of the Sea Convention to resolve their boundary and sovereignty disputes. But the Inuit Circumpolar Conference complains that Inuit are left out of the process and holds its own meeting in Kuujjuaq in September to press their case.

• Stephen Harper says sorry: On June 11, Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivers a long-awaited apology to aboriginal residential school survivors.

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