Prime Minister Mark Carney announced investments into the military’s infrastructure and presence in the Arctic and into Nunavut infrastructure while visiting its capital of Iqaluit on Tuesday — the first domestic trip of his leadership of Canada.  

The man was seriously injured and has been transported out of the community, RCMP said. The RCMP's crime reduction unit and forensic identification services are both helping with the investigation.

The N.W.T. government is investigating nine cases of caribou wastage involving 48 caribou, an increase from last winter. The Yellowknives Dene First Nation says it will increase guardian patrols next year.

Inuvik RCMP said a person had been medevaced with serious injuries after being "stabbed multiple times" on the weekend.

"It's more electrifying, more intense." Meet some of the competitors at the huge Ediwa Weyallon hand games tournament in Behchokǫ̀.

Nunavut RCMP’s commanding officer says he “wholeheartedly” agrees the RCMP needs to be “de-tasked” of non-police-related duties in the territory.

“The things that we’ve been criticized for over the years are probably non-police functions,” Chief Supt. Andrew Blackadar said in an interview Friday at the Iqaluit detachment.

The idea of “de-tasking” the RCMP — or taking away duties police in other jurisdictions typically don’t have to perform — came up in the 2022-23 report on policing published Feb. 6 by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the organization mandated to protect the rights of Inuit in Nunavut.

“The fact that the police are already overtasked and overstretched is well-established and deserving of understanding, compassion and action,” the report said.

“Nunavut RCMP are being forced onto the front line of reconciliation between the federal government and Inuit.”

Nunatsiaq News contacted NTI for comment for this story, but did not receive a response Monday.

The report said NTI’s long-term goal for de-tasking is to eventually have Nunavut served by an Inuit-led police service, with the RCMP or another police agency supporting it “upon request and under agreement.”

The report offers 13 recommendations for Inuit organizations, RCMP and governments, including conducting research and consultations to create a strategy to “transitioning policing under NTI jurisdiction.”

Currently, the territorial government contracts the RCMP to provide policing services. The most recent 20-year contract was signed in 2012.

Nunavut Justice Minister David Akeeagok rejects the idea of making major changes to the RCMP’s role or its relationship to the Government of Nunavut.

“We use the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to defend our communities, and I don’t see that changing,” he said in an interview at the legislative assembly on March 10.

The RCMP is the only police service in Nunavut contracted by the territorial government. For the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the GN budgeted just under $70 million for law enforcement.

NTI’s report finds the current system of policing in the territory “broken” and calls for a “brand-new approach.”

It says the federal government is making RCMP the “front-line agents” in its Arctic policies and reconciliation, which creates a “toxic environment” for the officers and is unfair both to the RCMP and Inuit.

Blackadar said he doesn’t agree with NTI’s characterization of the RCMP’s role, but didn’t say whether he sees a future where the RCMP would no longer be the main police force in Nunavut.

However, he accepts that officers in Nunavut do take on more responsibilities than they would in other areas of the country.

Nunavut RCMP responds to about 38,000 calls for service a year in a territory of approximately 40,000 people, Blackadar said, adding that officers usually end up being the first responders to mental health calls.

Also, the police often perform the role of an ambulance service and even the funeral service in smaller communities.

“The police are expected to help out because oftentimes we may have the only truck that’s available,” Blackadar said.

He called it a “brave move” by NTI to publish the report.

“I see it as NTI really opening the door,” Blackadar said. “And I’m certainly well prepared to walk through that door and start some discussions with NTI in improving service delivery of policing in the territory.”

A Nunavik beneficiary student living in Montreal is facing homelessness and has been un-enrolled from her studies because, she says, Kativik Ilisarniliriniq mishandled her file.

“It has been such a mess, so disorganized,” Adamina Partridge said of the school board’s post-secondary sponsorship program that should be paying for her tuition and housing.

“Everything has been done on a whim on [KI’s] part, and it really just messed up everything in my life.”

Partridge moved into her student housing — an apartment in Dorval — in October 2024 when she started a business program at West Island Career Centre.

Within the first few weeks of living there, Partridge realized the unit was “basically unliveable,” she said in an interview.

The apartment was infested with mice, there were problems with mould, and at one point her bathroom flooded with sewage.

“I threw a load of laundry and I guess that was the last straw for the whole plumbing system,” she said.

While the landlord worked to mitigate the problems, Partridge inadvertently found herself entrenched in a much bigger situation when trying to access her mail.

Upon investigation, she learned her apartment was not registered with the City of Dorval and was, in fact, an illegal rental unit.

Partridge’s apartment, a basement unit in a townhouse duplex, goes against the city’s zoning bylaws that do not allow dwellings in a cellar or basement. Once the city was made aware of the problem, it sent an eviction notice to Partridge’s landlords.

The notice, dated Feb. 24, was passed along to Partridge on March 10. Now, she has until March 26 to vacate her unit.

“I am very curious to know exactly how and when that [lease] agreement was made,” Partridge said.

Under typical circumstances, Kativik Ilisarniliriniq would be responsible for finding Partridge a new place to live.

But partway through the year, Partridge decided to transfer to a similar program at the University of Montreal, which caused a whole different set of problems.

West Island Career Centre gave Partridge guidelines about how to go about with the school transfer, which led her to be un-enrolled from her program too early.

This led Kativik Ilisarniliriniq to temporarily revoke her sponsorship Jan. 15 under suspicion of fraud. She appealed the decision on Jan. 29 but that appeal was rejected two days later, on Jan. 31.

On Feb. 5, Partridge asked the school board’s appointed ombudsperson, Caroline Lemay, to get involved. According to Lemay’s report on the situation, which was provided to Partridge Feb. 24, West Island gave “unclear and misleading guidelines” about how to transfer her studies.

At the time, Partridge had been accepted to the University of Montreal, but due to her sponsorship being revoked she had to drop those classes as well.

Her sponsorship was reinstated Feb. 11. In a letter from Kativik Ilisarniliriniq, provided by Partridge to Nunatsiaq News, the school board blamed “miscommunication on both sides.”

By then, though, Partridge, who was un-enrolled from both schools, was ineligible for support offered through the sponsorship, including housing.

Kativik Ilisarniliriniq spokesperson Jade Bernier declined a request for an interview about the situation and offered a written statement instead. She did not explain how the school board enters into agreements with landlords in Montreal.

“In an apartment rental market where affordable housing is scarce, we always strive to find the best available options,” Bernier said in an email.

“Before entering into a lease agreement, [KI] always visits the premises to assess its general condition and determine its suitability.”

Bernier said building code compliance is the responsibility of the landlord.

Nunatsiaq News contacted the building’s landlords via social media, but they did not respond.

Meanwhile, Partridge is downsizing by selling her furniture and trying to find a new place to live. She said she is going find a job and is considering studying part-time on her own dime.

From construction of a water treatment plant to demolition of a former mill, here's what's expected to happen at the Giant Mine Remediation Project in 2025.

"We are lucky we got this small place." With the building of a mosque pushed back, Yellowknife's Islamic community relies on various venues for Ramadan prayers.

With the help of Elder Eileen Beaver, Connected North – a program that brings interactive virtual field trips to northern students – has seen explosive growth.

"People will lift you up." During a visit to the NWT, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen urged students in four communities to set goals and share them.

A new colouring book and affirmation cards "help us reconnect with a part of ourselves that is always there," said the friendship centre group launching them.

A team from the federal government will hold a session in Yellowknife on Tuesday about work on a new national action plan for open government.

RCMP have charged an 18-year-old from Quebec with murder in connection with a death last month in Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., and say the accused is part of the drug trade. 

A shooting in Fort Providence, N.W.T., that killed one person and injured two others over the weekend is linked to the drug trade, according to an update from RCMP. 

RCMP say the person suspected of shootings in Fort Providence that killed one person and injured two others may have left the territory. Here's the latest.

Since her teenage days spent assisting nurses at the hospital in Iqaluit, Udloriak (Udlu) Hanson has embraced volunteerism.

For her dedication, she was recognized Thursday with the 2024 national Thérèse Casgrain Lifelong Achievement Award, announced by Jenna Sudds, then the federal minister of families, children and social development.

“It’s a complete honour that I’ve been awarded this recognition,” said Hanson, who is the vice-president of community and strategic development with Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.

The award is named for Thérèse Casgrain, a leader in the fight for women’s right to vote and the first female leader of a Canadian political party during the 1950s, the Quebec wing of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, now known as the New Democratic Party.

Hanson’s selection recognizes her work with the Annauma Community Foundation, which she cofounded, among many other charitable initiatives over the years.

Annauma is short for the Inuktitut word Annaumakkaijiit, which means “helping people to stay ahead.”

It is the first community foundation in Nunavut and is launching its inaugural $10-million Caring North campaign to support community-led initiatives that directly impact and improve the lives of Inuit in Nunavut.

Hanson also led development of the Qaujisaqtiit Society, Nunavut’s first charitable consortium of Inuit non-profit organizations, and currently serves as director emeritus for the Rideau Hall Foundation after serving six years as a director.

Hanson credits her parents, Ann Hanson and the late Robert Hanson, with showing her the pleasure and importance of giving back to her community.

“My parents have always been amazing examples of community-minded individuals,” Hanson said. “Mom was always creating boards and organizations and trying to create social impact in a positive way, and Dad was always flying off to different communities to do the same.”

Earning this national award allows her to highlight the importance of volunteerism and mutual care and aid she said is a part of what it means to be Nunavummiut.

“This award coming to the North is a clear demonstration that there are a lot of people in the North who contribute in such a meaningful way,” she said.

“And I’m grateful that we’re able to highlight them as well, and to demonstrate to the rest of Canada how we are still so community-oriented and likeminded that way.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh seems to be on board with Nunavut MP Lori Idlout’s remarks that the territory’s voters still lean orange.

Idlout called Nunavut “an NDP stronghold” last week when speaking about the 33 Nunavut Liberals who voted in that party’s leadership race, which Mark Carney won.

“To me, it means that Nunavummiut are impressed with my work,” Idlout said last week.

Singh, while in Iqaluit Sunday, was asked by a reporter if he also viewed Nunavut as an NDP “stronghold.”

Idlout has shown her “commitment” to serving the territory in Parliament, and that he has done the same, Singh replied.

“I want Nunavummiut to know that you matter and that coming here is my way of showing that you matter,” he said, adding that he’s “committed” to investing in housing, energy and infrastructure.

Singh is one of several federal politicians, including Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and a handful of Liberal cabinet ministers, who visited the Nunavut capital over the last two months for announcements and meetings.

Speculation of an early election is in the air following Carney swearing-in as prime minister.

Carney is also scheduled to visit Iqaluit Tuesday on his way back from Europe.

So far, Idlout is the only major party candidate announced to be running in Nunavut. She was first elected in 2021 and in 2023 got her party’s nomination to seek re-election.

“We need to make sure that there is a huge focus on investing in northerners, and northerners being engaged in Arctic sovereignty,” Idlout said in an interview Sunday.

With a potential spring election, she said, now is the time for Nunavummiut “to make sure that their voice is heard.”

Sasha Bena, 18, has been charged with murder in connection to the death of a 29-year-old man in Fort Good Hope late last month.

If any hamlet’s volunteer search and rescue team lacks equipment — such as first-aid supplies and GPS tracker devices — there is a simple solution.

Call the GN.

“There is funding available for us to support ground search and rescue teams and municipalities in having these things on hand,” said Jessica Young, deputy minister for Nunavut’s Department of Community and Government Services.

“We do have mechanisms for that.”

Uqqummiut MLA Mary Killiktee raised concerns earlier this month in the legislative assembly about what she referred to as a lack of search and rescue supplies in Clyde River and Qikiqtarjuaq, among other small communities.

She spoke out following the Feb. 11 death of hunter Jusua Kautuq Ilauq on the land outside Clyde River.

The territorial government is now working with Clyde River’s search and rescue co-ordinator Gina Paniloo to ensure her team’s supplies are fully stocked.

The government is not just waiting for other communities to call, however, said Young.

Two “go-bags” — large duffel bags that contain equipment ranging from tarps and sleeping bags to Coleman stoves and first-aid supplies — are being sent to all 25 communities this spring at a cost of $50,000. Procurement is underway.

The effort to top-up search and rescue supplies across the territory is not a new initiative, Young said.

“In terms of the search and rescue program, we’ve been working quite significantly and hands-on over the last two years on that,” she said.

The department met in Iqaluit with representatives from most of the territory’s 25 hamlets in November for a search and rescue roundtable as part of the ongoing effort to improve local emergency management and co-ordination in the territory.

Search and rescue co-ordinators from Clyde River, Pond Inlet and Pangnirtung planned to attend, but could not due to weather and emergencies.

Those communities did attend a subsequent search and rescue exchange in Nova Scotia last month. The three communities’ representatives were briefed on what they missed at the November roundtable.

Previous regional roundtables were convened in 2020 and 2022, during which search and rescue team co-ordinators were encouraged to share challenges and concerns, suggest improvements, and learn best practices from one another and from other partners, such as the Canadian Coast Guard and Joint Task Force North.

While all search and rescue teams were encouraged to communicate needs for any equipment they require during November’s meetings in Iqaluit, only five communities followed up, Young said. The department has continued to extend its invitation through subsequent email correspondence.

Community and Government Services has also strengthened collaboration with RCMP detachments, she said, which has brought search dogs and drones into the fold in recent years.

A new search and rescue manager is now positioned in Cambridge Bay, as well.

“We move at the speed of trust,” Young said, quoting her department’s driving maxim.

“That trust that we build, between our team, the local search and rescue team, and our RCMP detachments is so significant to make sure that our response is quick and appropriate to any search and rescue operation.”

Nunavut saw five search and rescue operations between March 7 and 13. They were in Igloolik, Cambridge Bay, Gjoa Haven, Baker Lake and Resolute Bay. That brings the total number of operations so far this fiscal year — which ends March 31 — to 144.

With federal funding for a program covering Nunavut Inuit’s medical travel costs set to end at the end of this month, Health Minister John Main says turning administration of it back to Ottawa remains an “option.”

“Time’s running out,” Main said March 11 of the Non-Insured Health Benefits program during an interview.

“We really want to have an agreement in place [with Indigenous Services Canada] so we can plan properly, so we don’t have this huge gap or a huge hole in our budget.”

The NIHB is funded by Indigenous Services Canada and administered by the Government of Nunavut. For Inuit in Nunavut, the program covers costs for medical travel and services including vision and dental care.

Main also suggested the possibility of turning administration of the program over to the federal government in February 2024, before the GN and federal government reached a $190-million interim deal in May of that year. That agreement was retroactive to 2023, and expires March 31.

“I understand the federal political landscape is shifting and quite uncertain currently, but that’s not, that should not be an excuse for delay tactics and for the refusal to come to the negotiating table,” Main said.

On letting Ottawa administer the program, he said, “They can be the service provider for Nunavut Inuit as they do in some other parts of the country for other Indigenous Canadians.”

Asked how much in funding the GN is seeking from the federal government through a new agreement, the Health Department did not provide an answer as of late Friday afternoon.

Indigenous Services Canada is working with the GN and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. to “ensure Nunavummiut have seamless access to the health supports they need” through the territory’s health system, Jacinthe Goulet, a spokesperson with the federal department, said March 13 in an email.

A senator who has sponsored a bill to make forced or coerced sterilization a criminal offence in Canada says 12,000 cases of the procedure have been counted by her office, but she believes the actual number is much higher.

Sen. Yvonne Boyer, from Ontario, made the remarks in her keynote address March 7 on the first day of a national gathering of survivors of coerced and forced sterilization, hosted by the non-profit group The Survivors Circle for Reproductive Justice.

“I’ve done speaking events all across Canada, and people are absolutely shocked to learn that this is still happening in Canada,” Boyer said in her speech.

The Survivors Circle held workshops from March 7 to 9 in Gatineau, Que., to provide support and healing for participants. Survivors were also given the opportunity to tell their stories.

Approximately 400 people came to the gathering from as far away as Rankin Inlet and Fort Smith, N.W.T. Some also attended virtually.

Boyer has been working since 2015 to bring awareness of the issue of forced and coerced sterilization to the Canadian public. In March 2018, she was appointed to the Senate by prime minister Justin Trudeau.

The Survivors Circle was formed in the wake of a 2021-22 investigation by the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights into forced and coerced sterilization of Indigenous people in Canada. The investigation was spearheaded by Boyer.

Going back to the 1930s and up until the 1970s, Alberta and British Columbia had laws requiring sterilization of those who were considered to be “mentally defective,” the first of two reports produced by the Senate Human Rights Committee states.

While not law in other jurisdictions, the practice of forced or coerced sterilization of Indigenous women continued in federally operated “Indian hospitals,” according to research cited in the report. For a 10-year period until the early 1970s, 1,150 Indigenous women were sterilized in these hospitals.

“It was assumed that the eugenics-inspired practice had stopped with the changes to legislation in the 1970s,” the report said.

“However, the committee learned that it still persists despite legislative changes and significant media attention.”

There were 117 recorded sterilizations on Baffin Island from 1970 to 1975, according to research by Dr. Karen Stote in her book An Act of Genocide: Colonialism and the Sterilization of Aborginal Women, which is included in the Senate report.

The Senate committee also learned cases of forced or coerced sterilization continued to be reported as recently as 2018.

“[The topic] received national media attention and shock and disbelief from my colleagues in the Senate who thought that it was just a thing of the past,” Boyer said.

“I introduced the topic of modern day … sterilization to Canada and indeed, the world.”

Over the years, she said, many women and men have contacted her about the issue.

Boyer introduced Bill S-250, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code Sterilization Procedures, in June 2022. It would make forced sterilization an offence under the Criminal Code.

The bill made its way to the House of Commons in October 2024 for review. The bill’s progress stopped there with the prorogation of Parliament in January and a possibly imminent federal election.

“[The bill] isn’t dead, it’s only been delayed,” Boyer said, adding she intends to re-introduce the legislation at the earliest opportunity.

A survivor registry and healing fund support registry were also available at the gathering. Thirty-two people had added their names and contact details to the handwritten registry as of March 7.

“Forced sterilization is a form of genocide that goes to the most basic, primal, basic human right,” said Harmony Redfern, executive director for the Survivor’s Circle, during the gathering.

“There’s no greater way to cause harm in the form of genocide against a nation or many nations, than to sever that ability within the nation to reproduce.”

Will there be enough water for the NWT's barges to run this summer? The Sahtu's MLA thinks the signs are not good, though the GNWT is holding out hope.

For more than a decade, the disused MV Merv Hardie has been a curiosity beached by the Mackenzie River. One MLA wants to give it a new lease of life.

As a fourth Filipino film prepares to debut in Yellowknife, the city's only movie theatre is adapting to meet rising demand for foreign-language features.

The GNWT said it will use its share of a huge payout from cigarette manufacturers to "support preventative care and enhance the efficiency" of healthcare.

A ceremony on Monday morning will remember Yellowknife firefighters Cyril Fyfe and Kevin Olson, who lost their lives in a building fire on March 17, 2005.

Students at a Yellowknife high school are organizing an "Eeze the Freeze" walk and clothing donation drive to help the city's vulnerable people.

Housing Minister Lucy Kuptana announced the plan to ban smoking in Housing N.W.T.-owned units in the legislative assembly on Thursday. An official with Housing N.W.T. says implementation is set to begin in the coming months.

Residents across Yellowknife reported losing power shortly after 5pm on Sunday in one of the city's lengthier outages of recent months.

An Iqaluit military base, increasing Canada’s defence budget and investing in major infrastructure projects are some of the key items on the New Democratic Party’s Arctic security agenda.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh unveiled his party’s defence plan Sunday morning during a press conference in Iqaluit alongside Nunavut MP Lori Idlout.

“We are living in some dangerous times,” Singh told reporters, pointing to U.S. President Donald Trump’s levying of tariffs on Canadian imports and his threats to make Canada the 51st state.

Singh’s platform commits to meeting the expectation that NATO members spend two per cent of their GDP on defence. He said that under an NDP government, Canada would do that by 2032.

In the current fiscal year, Canada is spending $41 billion on defence, which is 1.37 per cent of the country’s GDP, according to a Parliamentary Budget Officer report.

Singh also said he supports establishing a military base in Iqaluit, as well as seeing the completion of the Nanisivik Naval Facility near Arctic Bay. Then-prime minister Stephen Harper announced the Nanisivik base in 2007, but it was plagued by delays in the start of construction. Now, the project doesn’t have an estimated completion date.

Singh said that in addition to direct investments in the Canadian Forces, including an increase to members’ salaries and building more military housing, spending money on major infrastructure projects are key.

“When we talk about investing in Arctic defence, that means investing in Arctic communities,” he said.

Two of the projects he named were the Grays Bay Road and Port and the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link.

Those projects were on a joint Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. list of priority “nation-building” projects. Combined, the projects could cost billions of dollars according to their proponents.

When asked how he would secure the funding, Singh didn’t elaborate.

“You can’t make the North strong in terms of defense unless the North is strong in terms of community and infrastructure,” he said.

Singh voiced support for the Qikiqtarjuaq deepsea port, paving the Cambridge Bay airport runway, and building small craft harbours across Nunavut.

He also said that his government would “repatriate” Canada’s contract to buy F-35 fighter jets from U.S. company Lockheed Martin and would seek to buy aircraft from Canadian manufacturers such as Bombardier, rather than from an American company.

“Let’s go with the Canadian solution,” he said, saying it’s “better for our national security.”

Singh’s visit followed similar defence commitments from Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and Defence Minister Bill Blair.

On March 6, Liberal Defence Minister Bill Blair said his government is committed to building operational support hubs in Iqaluit, Inuvik, and Yellowknife to serve “critical military objectives” in the Arctic.

During a Feb. 10 visit to  Nunavut’s capital, Poilievre pledged a Conservative government would build a military base — CFB Iqaluit — within two years if his party forms the government after the next election.

Singh’s visit took place ahead of a planned visit on Tuesday from Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is expected to speak on Arctic security.

Following the press conference, Singh headed to a meeting with representatives from NTI and Qikiqtani Inuit Association, according to his itinerary.

On Saturday, as part of Singh’s two-day visit to Iqaluit, he and Idlout visited the Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced Sunday his party would cancel Canada's contract to buy F-35s from the U.S. and look for companies to build fighter jets in Canada — a proposal that some defence experts say comes with steep costs.

Polar Pond Hockey is Hay River's annual transformation of river ice into one giant arena. See what that looks like and meet some of the players and organizers.

Dressed in matching suspenders, white shirts and bowties, NDP MLA Lane Tredger and their four-month-old son, Bowen, spent the day together on the job this week — a first for the Yukon Legislative Assembly. 

Over four days, 29 carvers in teams of 10 turned giant blocks of snow into stunning sculptures on Yellowknife Bay. Check out the end result in video and photos.

Yellowknife's largest summer music festival has begun recruiting applicants for a contest that gives the winner a slot on the main stage. Enter here.