Joe Handley says he is stepping down as chair of Aurora College's board of governors as he and the NWT's education minister are "on different tracks."

In a news release Wednesday afternoon, territorial RCMP said they have charged Krystian Cogswell, 22, with murder, attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

RCMP named Krystian Cogswell as the suspect in the fatal Fort Providence shootings, saying he is charged with murder and attempted murder but remains at large.

The federal government announced more than $11 million for clean energy projects in Indigenous communities. Three NWT projects will receive $3.7 million.

Health officials in Nunavut have declared an outbreak of whooping cough in the Kivalliq community of Naujaat.

Nunatsiaq News has been nominated for a National Newspaper Award for its coverage of the 2024 Nunavut Quest dogsled race.

Coverage was compiled in a 20-page special edition, published July 5, 2024, and distributed with the weekly print edition. It offered readers day-by-day reports from the race in both English and Inuktitut, highlighted by numerous photos from the race.

What set it apart from typical news coverage was that all the stories and photos were produced by a team of six high school-aged people from Igloolik — Cadence Arnatsiaq, Kenneth-Owen Angilirq, Leonard Siusangark, Bernice Satuqsi, Dylan Kayotak and Riley Qamukaq.

In a project organized by Shanshan Tian, an educational consultant in Igloolik, the young correspondents’ work was sent each day from the race course to Nunatsiaq News.

The stories and photos were edited and published online throughout the six days of racing from Arctic Bay to Pond Inlet, which stretched from April 16 to 24, including one day of rest for the 10 mushers and their teams and another day lost due to poor weather.

Mushers and their dogsled teams race between Arctic Bay and Pond Inlet during the 2024 Nunavut Quest. (Photo by Dylan Kayotak, special to Nunatsiaq News)

Later, their work was translated to Inuktitut and published in the special section alongside English versions.

The nomination is in the category titled Special Topic: Journalism in a Language other than French or English.

Shanshan Tian, production co-ordinator Krista Klassen, production artist Andrea Gray, managing editor Corey Larocque and web editor Gord Howard are nominated for the work.

“We were truly grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with the Igloolik youths on such an exciting project,” said Julia Roberts, publisher of Nunatsiaq News.

“It was a fantastic experience that allowed them to hone their journalism and photography skills while providing unmatched coverage of the 370-kilometre Nunavut Quest — a win-win situation for everyone involved.”

Also nominated in that category are two entries from Sing Tao, a Toronto-based Chinese newspaper — one for its investigation into the sale of fraudulent mooncakes at Asian food markets in Toronto, another for its reporting on problems encountered by immigration applicants from Hong Kong.

Nunatsiaq News and Sing Tao were also both nominated in that same category in 2024.

National Newspaper Awards organizers announced Tuesday that 83 individual journalists representing 22 publications are finalists this year, alongside nine team submissions from those publications.

The Globe and Mail received the most nominations, with 16, followed by the Toronto Star with 15 and La Presse in Montreal with 13.

Among the nominations:

• Tavia Grant of the Globe and Mail for her reporting on the Vatican’s unfulfilled promises to return cultural items to Indigenous communities in Canada;
• Tanya Talaga of the Globe and Mail for columns on residential school survivors, residential school denialism and the legacy of Murray Sinclair;
• Richie Assaly of the Toronto Star, for his stories on Canadian musicians, including Nunavik’s Elisapie, and their cultural significance.

National Newspaper Awards winners will be announced at a ceremony in Montreal on April 25.

The Yukon Party called on the governing Liberals to create a task force dedicated to reducing the administrative burden that doctors have to deal with. The minister of health says a forum dedicated to discuss the issue already exists.

The Government of the Northwest Territories is changing its carbon tax so that consumers will no longer pay. The change will be mean lower prices at the pump and on bills for propane heating. The territory will also end its offset payments effective July 1.

A longtime Yellowknife nurse said her profession needs its own collective agreement in the N.W.T. to address the current nursing shortage the territory is experiencing.

After an MLA called for NWT nurses to have a separate bargaining unit, their union called the proposal "problematic" but said it was not opposed in principle.

YWCA NWT says it will take over the Family Connections program, which supports expecting and new parents, from the Yellowknife Women's Society next month.

The Nunavik Youth Houses Association celebrated its 20th anniversary with the completion of a brand new youth centre in Kangiqsujuaq.

Nunavik Youth Houses Association director Tuniq Ningiuruvik says more funding and sponsors should come forward to help Nunavik create more youth houses. (Photo credit of Tuniq Ningiuruvik/Facebook)

Youth houses are “very important,” the association’s director general Tuniq Ningiuruvik said in an interview from his home in Quaqtaq.

The association was created by the Nunavut Regional Board of Health and Social Services to create youth houses and provide youth services across the region. 

“Youth don’t have a lot of places to go to. It is the arena and that’s about it,” Ningiuruvik said.

Youth houses are for children and teens between the ages of five and 19 who wish to do activities and hang out with friends, Ningiuruvik said.

Kangiqsujuaq hasn’t had a youth house since 2017 when a previous house, built in 2000, burned.

With $5.5 million from the Inuit Community Infrastructure Fund, the new youth centre promises a safe space for Nunavimmiut youth to do things such as on-the-land activities, games, outings, sports, and first-aid training.

“We have to think of the youth, especially in those smaller communities, who don’t have a lot going on and they tend to be doing things they should not be doing,” Ningiuruvik said.

He believes that these houses prevent vandalism, crime and drug abuse in the communities. 

The association intends to celebrate its 20th anniversary once the move into the Kangiqsujuaq house is complete and the new youth centre is up and running. That’s expected to take place by the end of the month.

There are 10 communities with active youth houses running in Nunavik. All of them have youth co-ordinators and staff who lead activities, he added.

The association’s goal is to train those younger employees to become community leaders themselves. The skills they acquire by organizing events and uniting the youth of their village help them become leaders.

“I want to see more youth becoming leaders,” Ningiuruvik said.

Four communities do not have active youth centres — Kuujjuaq, Kangiqsualujjuaq, Puvirnituq and Tasiujaq. 

Kuujjuaq is working on building a new youth centre, and a youth house association office is being built in Kangiqsualujjuaq, with construction to be completed by June, Ningiuruvik said.

Puvirnituq is also working on getting a new building, with construction expected to start this summer or next. 

Many of the youth houses also have aging infrastructure, including Salluit, Ivujivik, Quaqtaq, Tasiujaq and Kuujjuaraapik, with some of them being old nurse housing or churches from the 1970s. 

The Quaqtaq youth house is at risk of having water seep into it from the river.

“We were told we can use it until five years from now, we don’t have a lot of time,” Ningiuruvik said. 

Tasiujaq’s youth house closed due to asbestos, and Inukjuak’s has that problem as well, but remains open. 

The association is currently looking for more sponsors and funding to continue their efforts in building safe environments for Nunavik youth, Ningiuruvik said.

For many years, Jay Mitchell believed he was Métis — until a DNA test helped him find his true biological family in the Yukon, and prompted him to pick up and move to Whitehorse.

Nujaliah Iyerak remembers growing up in Igloolik and being fascinated by airplanes, but feeling that flying one and becoming a pilot was far out of reach.

Nujaliah Iyerak is all smiles on the “special day” he was able to take his wife Blandina Irqqarqsaq out on a flight for the first time. (Photo courtesy of Exchange International Corp.)

The closest he got to this dream was checking-in passengers and handling baggage as a representative for Canadian North in Igloolik.

That was until last year, when the Atik Mason Indigenous Pilot Pathway program, which brings flight school to pilots, expanded to Rankin Inlet.

“I just thought that being a pilot was just cool and when I heard about the program, I just applied,” Iyerak said in an interview.

“And then I got an email saying that I got accepted, and I just was lost for words.”

The 25-year-old began the program in Rankin Inlet in May 2024.

The Atik Mason Indigenous Pilot Pathway program began four years ago in Thompson, Man. It is fully funded by Exchange Income Corp., the company that’s in the process of buying Canadian North.

[“We wanted] to try the idea of bringing the program to the people, instead of people to the program, and it was very successful,” said Mike Pyle, CEO of Exchange Income Corp., of the program’s expansion to Rankin Inlet.

Pyle said his company pays for students’ schooling and accommodations, including a stipend. In addition to living arrangements, the program anticipates its participants’ other needs.

“If something comes up with family, we recognize it and we get them home,” said David White, executive vice-president of Exchange Income Corp.

“When it comes time for a major event, we often fly families in so that students are surrounded by their community, because we recognize that community piece is key.”

In the North, the flight training season is short. So Iyerak, funded through this program, opted to head south to Moncton, N.B., in October to expedite his studies.

Iyerak said he misses home but that his wife Blandina Irqqarqsaqq took a leave of absence from her work and came with him, which made the transition easier. Exchange Income Corp. pays for her to go to New Brunswick as well.

The Atik Mason Indigenous Pilot Pathway program started with 12 students in its first class. There are now 32 students per year combined at its three locations, including Rankin Inlet.

“We’ve got six students flying already and eight more that are about to fly, that are in the queue to start with our various airlines,” Pyle said.

“So we were up to 14 in four years. If we can keep that going, we’ll be able to have a significant piece of our staff be from the communities we service.”

Depending on how much flight time Iyerak can get in, he said he hopes to receive his commercial pilot’s licence by August. From there, he will likely fly medevac planes, but has his eye on flying commercial with Canadian North in the future.

“[Iyerak] is the perfect example of what we’re trying to achieve with the program,” Pyle said, adding that one of the greatest challenges in remote communities is the lack of opportunity.

“When [Iyerak] is sitting there flying the first medevac out of Igloolik, with someone he knows, that’s going to be the world’s best advertisement for, ‘You can be whatever you want to be.’

“Creating hope in remote communities is a huge part of what we’re trying to do here. Selfishly, we also want to build great pilots.”

André Fortin says four major issues for him are making sure gun regulations don’t harm Yukoners, housing, ensuring that the RCMP is properly funded, and healthcare.

A 30-year old man was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment for possessing cocaine for the purposes of trafficking in a Yellowknife case dating to 2021.

Organizers hope next week's Dehcho Economic Development Summit, in Fort Simpson, can give the region a "unified voice" in resource management and beyond.

A Yellowknife complex is receiving $18.5 million in federal cash for renovations and Fort Smith will get $2.6 million to help spur construction of new homes.

RBC is bringing its Olympic talent identification program to Yellowknife in May, offering athletes aged 14-25 the chance to take a step toward the world stage.

Canada's defence minister says challenges encountered with the Nanisivik project have shown the government that a better way forward is to make sure defence investments “benefit people and communities as well as the Armed Forces.”

Organized crime is becoming more prevalent in the Yukon, as networks from B.C. and Alberta are expanding into the territory, according to a law enforcement intelligence report.

David Eric Godfrey was last seen between 6 and 7 p.m. Sunday in the city's Porter Creek area. Police say they are concerned for the senior's well-being, because he was not wearing clothes suitable for cold weather and may not have shoes on.

An exploration company that was fined two years ago for mining infractions at a copper exploration site near Whitehorse is again at work in the same area — and some local residents are not happy about it.

Canada is teaming up with Australia to boost Arctic security and will invest in Nunavut’s infrastructure, Prime Minister Mark Carney said in Iqaluit on Tuesday.

“Arctic sovereignty is a strategic priority of our government,” Carney said during a news conference at the Canadian Armed Forces’ Iqaluit Forward Operating Location near the airport.

This visit to Nunavut’s capital was Carney’s first domestic trip since he was sworn in as prime minister Friday.

It followed his whirlwind trip to Europe where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and had an audience with King Charles.

Tuesday’s announcement includes more than $6 billion for Canada’s Arctic over-the-horizon radar system that will be developed in partnership with Australia. Over-the-horizon radar has the capability to detect targets hundreds of kilometres beyond the scope of ordinary radar.

The federal government will also spend about $420 million for Canadian Armed Forces to have a “greater, sustained and year-round” presence in the Arctic, according to a government news release issued Tuesday.

Carney also announced $253 million for Nunavut infrastructure. That includes.

• $94 million to upgrade power plants in Cambridge Bay, Gjoa Haven, Igloolik and Iqaluit;
• $74 million for critical housing infrastructure
• $66 million to build, renovate and repair homes; and
• $20 million to Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corp. for the first phase of its hydroelectricity facility to be constructed outside Iqaluit.

Premier P.J. Akeeagok and Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, welcomed the initiatives with both saying that Inuit needs were “heard” by the federal government.

However, Nunavut NDP MP Lori Idlout said Carney’s announcements show the Liberal government is not willing to invest in northerners.

“It’s frustrating that Canada is promising to invest more in another country’s capabilities rather than its own people’s. How many-fold is that $250 million compared to the $6 billion to work with Australia?” she said, comparing the money for Nunavut infrastructure against the cost of the commitment to work with Australia.

Manitoba MP James Bezan, the Conservative defence critic, called Carney’s visit a “re-announcement” of previously introduced projects with no new money.

It “does nothing to fix years of neglect and state of disrepair our forces are in,” Bezan said in a written statement Tuesday.

Carney’s Arctic security announcement comes at a time of heightened tensions in the Arctic, with calls growing for Canada to do more to secure the region.

In an article for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute released hours before Carney’s announcement, Arctic security expert Alexander Dalziel wrote: “Canada is sleepwalking into Arctic irrelevance. Canadian leaders need to ‘think Arctic’ when they think foreign affairs and defence. It should become a policy reflex.”

The Liberal government announced its Arctic foreign and defence policies in 2024, promising to appoint an Arctic ambassador and spend $81 billion on defence over 20 years.

That funding includes $2.7 billion for northern operational support hubs in Iqaluit, Inuvik and Yellowknife, which was reaffirmed in an announcement by Bill Blair, the minister of national defence, in Iqaluit on March 6.

Carney is the third federal party leader to come to Iqaluit for an Arctic defence announcement in just over a month.

On Sunday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh vowed to establish a military base in Iqaluit as part of his party’s Arctic platform

He said that under an NDP government, Canada would meet the expectation that NATO members spend two per cent of their gross domestic product on defence by 2032.

On Feb. 10 in Iqaluit, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pledged to build a permanent military base in the community within two years if he becomes prime minister.

The proposed base would be big enough to host a Royal Canadian Air Force command unit and to launch and land new F-35 fighter jets and Poseidon P-8 surveillance aircraft.

The base is part of Poilievre’s plan to “take control of our North, secure all of our borders and stand on our own two feet,” Poilievre said.

– With files from Nehaa Bimal 

Joshua Boudreau arrived in Yellowknife on Tuesday afternoon with three medals around his neck to an airport full of cheers and Canadian flags.

Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Inuit leaders in Iqaluit on Tuesday on his way back from his whirlwind trip to Paris and London.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed said he was impressed by the prime minister’s decision to visit the Arctic early in his tenure.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed speaks with reporters Tuesday in Iqaluit. (Photo by Daron Letts)

“We’ve talked a lot as Inuit about the Inuit-Crown relationship, and our modern treaties really are the basis for Canadian sovereignty,” Obed, whose national organization represents Inuit in Canada, said in an interview with Nunatsiaq News.

“And a prime minister acknowledging that and saying he went to France, to Britain, and now to the Canadian Arctic as the three pillars of the foundation of this country, shows that he gets it.”

Obed said, “He is stepping right in in a leadership role in a time of urgency and crisis and recognizing Inuit Nunangat for what it is — it’s an essential part of the country, and the Inuit and Inuit self-determination are a key component to team Canada.”

Carney also met with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Jeremy Tunraluk and representatives from Nunavut’s three regional Inuit associations to establish what the Prime Minister’s Office referred to on Carney’s itinerary as “a link of collaboration” on major infrastructure projects.

Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated President Jeremy Tunraluk said he felt “heard” during a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney in Iqaluit, Tuesday. (Photo by Daron Letts)

“The meeting went very well,” Tunraluk said, adding he felt Carney listened thoughtfully to their opinions.

The organizations shared their perspectives on the importance of the Inuit Child First Initiative, whose funding was recently renewed for another year, as well as the proposed Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link project to bring high-speed internet, and the signing of the SINAA agreement to preserve marine ecosystems in the Qikiqtani Region.

Arctic sovereignty was also front and centre in the discussions, Tunraluk said.

“We need to be included as part of Arctic sovereignty,” he said. “[Prime Minister Carney] was able to make sure that he was collecting all the information that we were giving him.”

Carney emerged from the NTI meetings wearing a blue atigii, a traditional Inuit pullover, presented by Tunraluk and created by Iqaluit seamstress Emily Joanasie.

A teacher charged with assaulting a 12-year-old student in 2023 was acquitted in an Iqaluit courtroom Tuesday.

Michelle Wolf, who participated in the court proceedings by video link, broke into tears as Justice Mia Manocchio read out her verdict.

“I believe Ms. Wolf’s testimony. It makes the most sense,” ‌Manocchio said.

On May 5, 2023, Wolf, who at the time was a teacher at Sakku School in Coral Harbour, grabbed a student by his hoodie.

The physical altercation in the classroom was never in doubt. Both parties agreed it had happened. However, the assault charged hinged on the circumstances leading up to the incident.

“I’m satisfied that Ms. Wolf’s actions on the date in question in May 2023 were done for corrective purposes and were reasonable under the circumstances. I acquit Ms. Wolf of the charge brought against her,” the judge said.

Wolf’s defence relied on a section of the Criminal Code that allows schoolteachers to use force on a student to correct behaviour or prevent harm to other students; however, the use of force must be reasonable under the circumstances, Manocchio said.

Tuesday’s verdict followed a trial held last month in Coral Harbour. Wolf testified that the student had been disrupting her math class by chasing another student, and the disruption included jumping on desks.

To stop the disruption, Wolf said she felt she had no choice but to grab one of the students. Wolf testified she did not want to hurt the student, but felt there was no other way to gain control of her classroom.

The student, who was 12 at the time and cannot be named due to a court-ordered publication ban, contended the assault happened in the afternoon, long after the disruption of Wolf’s mid-morning math class.

The student testified he asked her if he could go to the washroom. Wolf agreed, then grabbed him by the hoodie unprovoked, he testified.

The incident was reported to police months later in October 2023, and Wolf was subsequently charged.

Wolf left the Coral Harbour school in June 2023 after working there for eight months. A court summons in November 2023 indicated she was living in Ulukhaktok, N.W.T. Nunatsiaq News has not been able to independently verify her current place of employment.

Canada's prime minister said the nation will spend $420 million on activities and personnel to expand its existing military footprint in the North and Arctic.

The Cree Nation of Chisasibi celebrated the launch of its new airline earlier this month. SiBi Air will provide medical evacuation and charter flight services and has plans to expand already.

Dene National Chief George Mackenzie called for discussion of the "ability to screen persons at our borders" as leaders look for solutions to the drug crisis.

A teenage Hay River biathlete won two U17 gold medals at the sport's Canadian and North American Championships in Quebec.

The Yukon Party says the territorial government needs to move fast to poach health-care workers who might be thinking about leaving the United States.

Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in Iqaluit Tuesday morning and was greeted at the commissioner’s house with a “welcome home,” by Premier P.J. Akeeagok.

Carney — who Akeeagok referred to in his welcome as a “fellow northerner” from Fort Smith, N.W.T. — was sworn in as prime minister on Friday, succeeding Justin Trudeau.

Carney is in the Nunavut capital for a one-day stop following a brief trip earlier this week to London, where he met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and had an audience with King Charles, and Paris where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Carney said the purpose of his visit to Iqaluit is to “advance and reaffirm our sovereignty in Nunavut.”

He also spoke briefly about the need for the federal government to deliver on “better housing.”

“I look forward to our discussions,” Carney said, before he and Akeeagok went inside the commissioner’s house for a closed-door meeting.

The pair are set to make an announcement on Arctic security on Tuesday afternoon.

This is not Carney’s first visit to Iqaluit as a public official. Previously, as governor of the Bank of Canada he took part in a 2010 meeting with G7 finance leaders.