In the Northwest Territories, reindogs are an important part of Santa's travel plan for the big night. Check out his dog team on a Yellowknife training run.

The ice road connecting Dettah and Yellowknife has opened to light traffic, the territorial government said. It's the road's earliest opening in a decade.

Dustin Milligan, the Hot Frosty star who grew up in Yellowknife, joined Cabin Radio's Clams 'n' Moose to talk about life at the centre of a Netflix hit.

The cloud of uncertainty over Parliament Hill this week stretches all the way to the Arctic.

With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government in shambles from its bungled fall economic statement and the stunning resignation of Chrystia Freeland as finance minister, there’s some unfinished business related to Canada’s North that needs tending to.

As Canadians head into the holidays, Trudeau is clinging onto the prime minister’s job. (Check your phone. That might have changed between the writing of this editorial and its publication.)

For a few hours on Monday, Canadians were left wondering if the country indeed had a finance minister and if so, who it was. The government was scheduled to update its financial position, but the woman of the hour had resigned from cabinet over a spat with the prime minister.

It fueled speculation Trudeau might resign as Liberal leader, plunging his party into a leadership race. Or that he might call a snap election. Or that he might ask Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to prorogue Parliament — essentially calling a timeout in parliamentary business — for a few months.

Any of those options would have been a setback for Nunavut or Nunavik. At the end of 2024, there are a few key pieces of government business that would be nice to wrap up before the next scheduled election in October 2025.

With U.S. president-elect Donald Trump threatening to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods coming into the States, Premier P.J. Akeeagok warned the effects of such a move would be felt across the country.

After meeting with premiers, Trudeau touted a “Team Canada” approach toward U.S.-Canada relations, a sentiment now undermined by political infighting.

Another federal project that will affect northerners is the review of the Nutrition North subsidy program that Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal announced in October before he himself announced he will step down from cabinet after a replacement is named.

The plan, Vandal said then, was for the government to appoint a representative early in 2025 to begin a review of the program.

And just last week, Nunavut MP Lori Idlout heralded a parliamentary committee’s recommendation to put Inuktitut on the ballot in the next federal election. That recommendation moved on to the Senate, but if Parliament grinds to a halt — due to proroguing or an election — progress on that front will stall too.

Shenanigans in Ottawa can only serve as distractions from this kind of business.

Finally, it seems likely that Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative party is poised to form the government after the next election — whenever that is.

A Conservative government hell-bent on cutting public spending and bringing down Canada’s deficit might be less generous with funding for issues affecting the North, such as the lack of housing and the high cost of groceries.

It was a messy end to 2024 on Parliament Hill. Here’s hoping there won’t be a hangover in the new year.

Welcome to the quiz. Put aside all thoughts of Christmas for a few minutes and challenge your brain with these five questions on current events.

1. Kuujjuaq’s veterinary clinic has been operating for a year now and is housed in its own permanent building. Where did it get its start?

A. In an organizer’s closet.
B. In a dressing room at the arena.
C. In an unused room at the Kuujjuaq fire hall.

2. Kevin Iksiktaaryuk resigned as mayor of Baker Lake on Dec. 10, citing workload and stress on his family life. According to Nunavut election rules, the hamlet council has two options for finding a new mayor. Which of these is not an option?

A. Council can appoint one of its own members.
B. Council can take applications from the public and choose a mayor.
C. Council can schedule a byelection.

3. Some Nunavut hamlets have adopted alcohol restrictions over the Christmas holidays. Rankin Inlet councillors took a unique approach to that — what did they do?

A. They banned alcohol sales outright for all of December.
B. Decreed that anyone purchasing alcohol in December must also donate a toy to a local charity.
C. They pledged to avoid alcohol for 12 days over Christmas.

4. A pertussis outbreak was declared in Igloolik on Monday by the Department of Health. What is pertussis better known as?

A. Tuberculosis.
B. Whooping cough.
C. Dysentery.

5. The late Kinngait artist Pitseolak Ashoona was a finalist as the Bank of Canada considered which Canadian should adorn the newly designed $5 bill. Ashoona wasn’t selected. Who was?

A. Gordon Lightfoot.
B. Gordie Howe.
C. Terry Fox.

Whose image will soon replace Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Canada’s seventh prime minister, on the $5 bill? (File photo)

Answers

1. A — Liam Callaghan worked for 12 years to see a veterinary clinic opened in Kuujjuaq, and once hosted veterinary services in his closet.
2. B — Taking applications is not an option, probably because that would lead to an unelected person running council.
3. C — It will be a dry Christmas for Rankin Inlet hamlet council members, and they encouraged other local residents to make a similar commitment against drinking.
4. B — Whooping cough. After announcing on Dec. 13 that a case had been confirmed in Igloolik, on Dec. 16 the Health Department said it had declared an outbreak there.
5. C — The image of Terry Fox, the young Canadian whose heroic Marathon of Hope in 1980 inspired millions of people to donate money to fight cancer, and continues to inspire donations from around the world, will replace Sir Wilfrid Laurier on the new $5 bill.

Siila Watt-Cloutier could have been the first-ever Inuk Nobel Prize winner.

She was nominated by two Norwegian parliamentarians for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, along with the former U.S. vice-president Al Gore and the United Nation’s climate change panel.

Watt-Cloutier is an author and Indigenous climate change activist with more than a dozen honorary degrees from different universities and a recipient of national and international prizes for her work.

Among other things, Watt-Cloutier was the international chairperson for the Inuit Circumpolar Council, corporate secretary for Makivvik Corp. and a public speaker.

She says her goal was to “humanize” the climate northern climates. Literally.

“When it came to the Arctic, what you saw were polar bears and ice, you never saw the human faces,” she said.

“You can’t just focus on the wildlife and not the people.”

However, Watt-Cloutier didn’t get the chance to make history as Nobel laureate. Gore and the UN did.

“Everybody was disappointed and angry for me,” she said, adding she felt the nomination alone was a still a victory.

“All eyes were on the Arctic, and to me that’s a win.”

Watt-Cloutier recently talked to Nunatsiaq News from her home in Montreal to answer the Proust Questionnaire.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

I don’t know if there’s perfect happiness, because I think life is meant to be somewhat of a struggle. It’s within those struggles that you find yourself if you stick with it and not give up.

What is your greatest fear?

Overcoming the internal politics and sticking to my values and principles of what I felt was the right thing to do.

But that wasn’t always the case with fellow leaders. That’s why I left elected politics, really. Politics are paralyzing. So I would say that the biggest challenge and accomplishment that I have felt I have made was to stick to principles.

On what occasions do you lie?

If this goes public, it might be detrimental to my international travels, but sometimes going through customs. I feel like as Indigenous people, when we’re passing through other countries, if we had the right papers we probably would get away better with bringing in like our ivory earrings or our sealskin products.

But I try to live a truthful life.

What do you most dislike about your appearance?

If you read my book, there was a time in my life as I was growing up about looking so white but yet feeling so Inuk.

People would say, “Oh, well, you don’t look Inuk.” But I was raised very traditionally. I travelled only by dog teams, didn’t know any English until I was 10 and then went to residential school.

There’s always a reason for why we look the way we look.

But in the end, it kind of helped some of the negotiations [with governments and international organizations]. I wasn’t so different from them, and the barrier was a little bit easier to cut through in that sense.

What is your greatest regret?

I think in the last several years it’s that I have left that connection I had with Iqaluit.

Connection is extremely, extremely important, and when you’ve lost that connection you start to lose your sense of direction, your sense of grounding, your sense of peace.

I know that it has led to the challenges that I’ve had here with health and emotions.

Nunatsiaq News is borrowing the old Proust Questionnaire parlour game to get to know people who are in the news. If you know someone in your community who our readers should get to know by taking this questionnaire, let us know by email: [email protected].

Gwichyà Gwich’in historian Crystal Gail Fraser's new book documents the strength of people forced into the residential school system in the Mackenzie Delta.

The Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation says it's spending almost $69,000 on a range of new furnishings and equipment for the NWT's main hospital.

Nunatsiaq News reporter Arty Sarkisian (File photo)

In this year-end series, Nunatsiaq News reporters look back on their most memorable stories from 2024.

Before landing in Kinngait in the middle of July, I definitely knew about the housing crisis in Nunavut.

Well at least I definitely thought I knew.

I’m in my first year living in Nunavut but I had read reports about housing being the government’s “top priority.”

I listened to MLAs talk about the territory’s “unique needs” in housing and heard people who described old, mouldy and overcrowded households.

But when I was in Kinngait, the community with the greatest need for new public housing according to Nunavut Housing Corp., I wanted to actually see this crisis.

As soon as I landed in the hamlet at around 7 p.m., I started walking around town knocking on door after door.

For some reason, nobody embraced the idea of inviting me — a random stranger on their doorstep — to come into their home, walk around and take pictures.

By the end of the night I was sure that all of the 1,400 Kinngait residents would get to know the weirdo knocking on doors and asking to come in. But not a single one said yes.

Finally, I got lucky.

I walked up to a burgundy, one-storey house across from the hamlet’s Northern store.

I told Sarah Samayualie and Qiatsuq Ragee the same thing I told the others and, finally, I didn’t hear the standard “no,” or “we’re busy,” or “come later.”

Ragee simply asked, “Why?”

As in, why would anyone be interested in learning about us?

“We are like everyone else,” he kept saying, as he welcomed me inside.

As soon as I walked in, it was clear I really did have no idea what the housing crisis was like.

Despite all my pleas not to worry, Ragee and Samayualie tried to quickly clean up the place. But there was nothing they could do about the cracks and holes in the walls, kitchen cabinet doors that wouldn’t close, and very old queen-size mattresses that filled the entirety of their three tiny bedrooms.

And, of course, there was nothing they could do about the smell of mould in this 1960s house.

On any given night, there could be 11 people sleeping in the house: Samayualie and Ragee, their three grandchildren, three of their adult children and their partners.

“And there was another grandkid on the way,” Ragee said.

Neither Samayualie nor Ragee had a full-time job, and both said they felt like there wasn’t enough space for the three generations of their family.

The most surprising thing for me was that living in such conditions didn’t make them angry or disappointed. Yes, they wanted a bigger space, but overall they seemed to be feeling … OK.

Another person who lived in Kinngait her entire life chuckled when I told her this.

To her, the existence of overcrowded households in Nunavut was obvious. Almost normal.

It’s the Qallunaat who are shocked by those conditions, she said.

Well, maybe.

In 2013, the authors of the Qikiqtani Truth Commission’s report wrote that for Inuit in the 1970s settlement life often imposed “a new form of poverty.”

A footnote for “poverty” explained that the word should be considered in the “context of the period.” It said it was possible for Inuit to feel like they were living comfortably, while by western standards they would be considered “extremely poor.”

I guess the context has changed little since then.

The seventh annual Kakpik Fashion show took place last Sunday in Arviat, Nunavut, featuring 97 handmade garments made by 22 seamstresses in the community. 

According to Statistics Canada, 25 per cent of Canadians are "dissatisfied" with their sleep. And some clinicians say the challenges of getting good sleep may be greater for people living in the North.

METCAN is a collaboration between the Hay River Métis Nation and ARCAN Construction. They pride themselves on creating high-quality homes designed specifically for the challenges of northern living.

Parts of the Mackenzie Valley Winter Road are opening ahead of what is expected to be an extraordinarily busy resupply season after the summer barges failed.

The City of Yellowknife and Naka Power said they had reached an agreement on how Naka Power's share of residents' power rates will change this year and next.

After several years in development, the cellphone service went live last Sunday in the remote northern town of Atlin, B.C. — just in time to be a "festive seasonal gift for the community," according to the local First Nation. 

RCMP officers faced harsh winter conditions while arresting a suspect following an incident early Wednesday in Clyde River.

On Wednesday at about 1:25 a.m., officers were called to a residence in the 200 block. With a blizzard reducing visibility and poor road conditions, they used snowmobiles to reach the location, the RCMP said in a news release Friday.

After the officers arrived, they arrested a 36-year-old male suspect. In the release, RCMP say the man attempted to resist arrest and disabled the officers’ snowmobile.

Efforts to walk the suspect back to the detachment failed, as police say he continued to resist and attempted to escape.

With weather conditions deteriorating, the officers sought refuge in a nearby home with the assistance of a local resident.

With help from a hamlet official and a heavy equipment operator, one officer retrieved a police vehicle using a snowplow. The officer then transported the other officer and the suspect back to the detachment.

After the storm subsided, a resident helped repair the damaged snowmobile.

The suspect is charged with assault causing bodily harm, resisting arrest, mischief, and escaping lawful custody. He was released and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 24 in Clyde River.

The release did not explain the reasons for the initial call for assistance that the officers responded to.

Environment Canada reported blizzard conditions during the incident with -17 C temperatures, a wind chill of -33 C, and gusts up to 80 km/h creating near-zero visibility.

In the news release, the Clyde River RCMP expressed gratitude to the hamlet, its heavy equipment operator and local residents who offered assistance.

Some NWT MLAs say the GNWT's new Indigenous employment policy gets it wrong. The territory says it's part of a bigger set of changes. Listen to the full story.

An RCMP search at Yukon's economic development department on Friday follows another that happened in June at the same department, though police would not confirm whether it's part of the same investigation.   

A woman died following a snowmobile crash in Kuujjuaq on Wednesday, police say.

Nunavik Police Service officers responded to a call of a single-vehicle crash shortly after 8 p.m. and found a 37-year-old female who was driving the snowmobile unresponsive and injured, Deputy Chief Jean-François Morin said in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

He said she was the only rider on the snowmobile.

“She was transported to the local hospital where she unfortunately was pronounced dead shortly after,” Morin said, adding the incident remains under investigation.

In the dead of night, a caller told RCMP they were hurt on a trail near Enterprise – then the call dropped. Now, police want the public's help.

Gary Anandasangaree, the federal Crown-Indigenous relations minister, has taken on a second job as northern affairs minister following a cabinet shuffle announced Friday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Anandasangaree was sworn in by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon at Rideau Hall. He was one of the four minister to get new portfolios, with eight new faces added to Trudeau’s cabinet.

“Our team is focused on the things that matter most to you — making life more affordable, growing the economy and creating good jobs for the middle class,” Trudeau said in a government news release announcing the changes.

“Together, we will keep building a strong future for the middle class, and for all Canadians.”

Previously, responsibilities for the department of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada were divided between two ministers — Anandasangaree with Crown-Indigenous relations and Dan Vandal on Northern Affairs and the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.

But in October, Vandal announced he will not seek re-election and would leave the cabinet once his replacement was named.

In recent months, Vandal was one of eight ministers who have either quit cabinet or announced they won’t run in the next federal election.

That list includes former deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland, whose resignation Monday — the day she was to deliver the fall economic update — rocked the government.

In her resignation letter, Freeland said she and Trudeau were “at odds about the best path forward for Canada.”

Since then, calls for Trudeau to step down have intensified including from several members of his own caucus.

On Friday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party will introduce a motion of non-confidence to bring down the Trudeau government in the next sitting of the House of Commons in January.

In addition to changes in the Crown-Indigenous relations and northern affairs department, the cabinet includes eight new faces and three more ministers changing their portfolios:

• Anita Anand remains minister of transport, also taking on the internal trade portfolio;
• Steven MacKinnon becomes minister of employment, workforce development and labour;
• Ginette Petitpas Taylor becomes Treasury Board president;
• Quebec MP Rachel Bendayan becomes minister of official languages and associate minister of public safety;
• Quebec MP Élisabeth Brière is minister of national revenue;
• Winnipeg MP Terry Duguid is minister of sport and minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada;
• Ontario MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith is minister of housing, infrastructure and communities;
• Nova Scotia MP Darren Fisher is now veterans affairs minister and associate minister of national defence;
• Ontario MP David McGuinty is public safety minister;
• Ontario MP Ruby Sahota becomes minister of democratic institutions and minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario;
• Newfoundland and Labrador MP Joanne Thompson becomes minister for seniors.

A small cluster of trailers along the Ingraham Trail near Yellowknife is the focus of a battle over Indigenous land rights.

Not allowing a police officer’s incident reports to be used in his own assault trial “would undermine public confidence in our system of justice,” a Nunavut judge says.

Justice Christian Lyons released a written copy of his decision Dec. 17, explaining why he allowed Crown prosecutor Yoni Rahamim to use two incident reports filed by Const. Luke Tomkinson while cross-examining the officer last month.

Tomkinson faces charges of assault with a weapon and uttering threats, stemming from a Feb. 15, 2020, incident in Arctic Bay.

The officer is accused of pointing his stun gun at Andrew Muckpa, a man positioned a few metres away from him, while Tomkinson and another officer were making an arrest.

After the incident, Tomkinson filed two reports — a supplementary occurrence report and a subject behaviour/officer response report — which were mandatory RCMP filings.

Tomkinson’s defence argued that the two reports were compelled statements and that using them in trial would violate his rights against self-incrimination. The Crown argued the opposite.

“Prohibiting cross-examination on Const. Tomkinson’s reports would have the potential effect of hamstringing the truth-seeking function of the trial, as Const. Tomkinson could testify in a way that deviates from what was recorded in his reports and not be impeached in any way,” Lyons wrote in his decision.

“Const. Tomkinson was not coerced by the state to write his reports, and was not in an adversarial relationship with the state when he wrote them,” Lyons wrote.

“If he is cross-examined on his reports at trial, the risks that future police reports would be less reliable, or that future state abuse would result, are minimal.”

This “evidentiary issue,” as Crown prosecutor Rahamim described it in 2023, put Tomkinson’s trial at a standstill for more than a year.

The trial started Oct. 17, 2023, and was halted three days later.

Crown and defence lawyers deliberated in September over whether or not the reports were admissible, before resuming and concluding Tomkinson’s trial in November.

During the November trial, Rahamim scrutinized Tomkinson’s memory of the 2020 incident, drawing upon discrepancies between the reports, video evidence and his recollection of how things unfolded.

Lyons is yet to deliver his verdict on the case as a whole.

Tomkinson is due back in court Jan. 6, 2025.

The government permit issued for Santa's reindeer to cross into Canada this year suggests St Nick has taken a position on an ages-old Christmas controversy.

Ed Picco has seven grandchildren ranging in age from 18 months to 14 years old. Thanks to them, Picco became an award-winning Christmas decorator.

“We are doing this for them,” he said, talking about three of his grandkids who were playing around the indoor Christmas tree at his house in Iqaluit.

Each holiday season for the past 14 years, Picco has spent three weekends in a row putting up two Christmas trees, several toy Santas and countless lights outside his house.

Ed Picco shows some of the old family Christmas decorations at his house, which won second place in the Iqaluit Holiday Lights Contest. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)

“People will call my wife and say, ‘It doesn’t seem like Christmas ’til there are lights on your house,'” Picco told Nunatsiaq News, after yet again being named one of the winners of the City of Iqaluit’s annual Christmas lights contest.

“We’re quite excited about that,” he said, adding their house has never earned the first-place prize, always coming in second or third.

This year, they won second place.

The Holiday Lights Contest is an annual event in which Iqaluit elders determine the best-decorated home in the city. Prizes are awarded to the top three finishers.

To judge the 2023 lights contest, elders were driven around on a bus with Santa Claus to see the houses in person.

This year, though, the bus was out of service so city staff took photos of each decorated home and met with the elders to help them choose the winners, City of Iqaluit spokesperson Geoffrey Byrne said in an email.

The top three finishers in this year’s contest are: 317-2 Ataani Lane (first); 2428 Paurngaq Cres. (second); and 5177-B Qajisarvik Rd. (third).

The top prize is a round-trip ticket to Ottawa, the second-place finisher wins a $500 Arctic Ventures gift card, and for third place there is a $200 Arctic Ventures gift card. The names of the first-place and third-place finishers were not available.

Picco said he is happy with the outcome, both with the second-place finish and the not-so-in-person judging.

“There are a lot of nice houses decorated this year,” he said. “We were surprised.”

Vivian Rose Akpik-Picco, left, Astrid Akpik-Picco, Quatra Akpik-Picco and Ed Picco gather around their indoor Christmas tree. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)

He said cars still slow down as they pass his house, and decorations provide an opportunity for the whole family to gather together in early December to see the house light up.

Picco said they will keep some of the decorations on until spring, as they can become fragile and break because of the winter cold.

“It’s the labour of love,” he said, adding that next year the decorations will be up as usual but he might try to slightly change things up to keep the tradition going.

The Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services has announced its new leadership for the coming year.

Shirley White-Dupuis has been re-elected as chairperson, a role she will continue to hold from the 2023-24 term, said a news release Wednesday from the board.

The release contains the results of its Dec. 11 election, where elected Executive Members appointed new leaders from the 14 northern villages to the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services Board of Directors and sub-committees.

Claude Gadbois has been elected as vice-chairperson.

The executive committee will include members Victoria Tukkiapik and Sally Nuktie, as well as Jennifer Munick-Watkins as secretary.

The audit committee comprises Gadbois, Nuktie, Tukkiapik, Peter Iyaituk and Annie K. Novalinga.

The governance and ethics committee includes Adamie Alayco, Larry Watt, Sarah Beaulne, Casey Mark and Munick-Watkins.

The watchdog of the service quality committee features Munick-Watkins, Alayco, Samuilie Qumaluk, and Gadbois, as well as the regional service quality and complaints commissioner.

While the board of directors consists of one representative from each northern village within the region, positions for representatives from Umiujaq, Inukjuak, Akulivik, Kangirsuk, Aupaluq and Kangiqsualujjuaq remain vacant.

The position for a representative from the Kativik Regional Government also remains vacant.

White-Dupuis expressed her honour in welcoming the newly elected colleagues.

“I am confident that this team will work on innovative solutions and uphold the values of accountability, collaboration, and service excellence for the benefit of all Nunavimmiut,” she said in the release.

Aircraft maintenance engineers at Calm Air are in the process of moving to a new union that specializes in the representation of aircraft maintenance crew.

The airline’s approximately 70 employees voted nearly 96 per cent in favour of the move, said Bret Oestreich, national president of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association which now represents them.

The Canada Industrial Relations Board certified their application on Dec. 11.

The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association represents licensed and unlicensed aircraft maintenance technicians, engineers and skilled trade groups in the aviation industry.

Calm Air workers approached the union in June for representation. At the time, they were represented by one of Canada’s largest private sector unions, Unifor.

They wanted representation that was more tailored to their specific employment circumstances and felt that Unifor, which represents employees in 24 different sectors of private industry, wasn’t prioritizing their needs, said Oestreich.

Unifor represents retail, wholesale, roads, transit, telecommunications, fishery, and food and beverage employees.

“There’s really not a lot of commonality with those other groups,” Oestreich said. “That’s why we have been extremely successful, because we only represent [aircraft maintenance engineers] and skilled professionals in aviation.”

Aircraft maintenance engineers and technicians work directly on aircraft and support equipment and facilities at airports.

Justin Gniposky, organizing director for Unifor, said in an email to Nunatsiaq News that “We refute that Unifor has a ‘one size fits all approach.’”

He said aircraft maintenance engineers are represented through Unifor’s aviation council, aerospace council and skilled trades group.

“For months, Unifor and the local fought for Calm Air maintenance workers by listening to their concerns and working with members to dispel misinformation by Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association circulating around their workplaces,” Gniposky said.

Oestreich said workers will continue to be represented by the new union under their current agreement, which expires at the end of the year.

While it is still too early to say exactly when collective bargaining will begin for a new contract — local representatives need to be elected, priorities must be determined, proposals need to be created — he said they would likely be ready to meet at the bargaining table in three to four months.

The employees and national representatives met after their move was certified.

They had “genuine smiles” on their faces, Oestreich said.

“I think the biggest thing for them is they were such a small group within Unifor, they never had any true representation.”

The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association already represents engineers, technicians and skilled trades unions for Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air, L3 Harris MAS, Spirit Airlines, Sun Country Airlines and WestJet Airlines.

Government of Nunavut offices are preparing to close for the holidays, but many services will remain open at full or reduced capacity.

All GN offices close at 5 p.m. on Dec. 23 and won’t reopen until 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 2, except for designated facilities that must stay open, the GN announced in a news release this week.

Facilities that will continue offering services are:

Qikiqtani General Hospital in Iqaluit will continue to have full inpatient, pharmacy and emergency services. Other city health services will be offered at reduced capacity, such as ambulatory care clinics, rehabilitation and laboratory services, home and community care service, and surgical services for emergencies only.

Qikiqtani, Kivalliq and Kitikmeot Region community health centres will still provide 24-7 on-call services for urgent and emergency care.

Prenatal clinics for high-risk clients, urgent and emergency appointments, and medical travel services at community health centres will remain open. Continuing care centres and elders’ facilities will be fully operational during the holiday period.

Tuberculosis care delivery will function at full capacity.

While Kivalliq and Qikiqtaaluk laboratory and diagnostic imaging services will remain fully operational, the same services in the Kitikmeot Region remain open for urgent and necessary testing requirements only.

Medical travel and boarding homes in Churchill, Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Yellowknife and Iqaluit will continue to operate at full capacity.

The Department of Family Services family wellness division will have on-call services available in all three regions.

The Department of Community and Government Services will operate at reduced capacity and on an emergency basis, such as the safety services division and facilities management.

Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet beer and wine stores will be closed from Dec. 25 to 27 and Jan. 1 and 2. Liquor import permits and community orders will not be processed from Dec. 23 to Jan 2.

The Nunavut Liquor and Cannabis Commission will continue selling low-alcohol content products through its Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet stores during the holiday closures, but with reduced hours.

The employee and family assistance program will be available by phone throughout the holidays.

The Nunavut Court of Justice and community justice offices will be closed, but legal registries will remain open except on Dec. 25, 26 and Jan. 1.

Emergency protection orders will be available by calling 1-844-534-1038 or contacting local RCMP detachments.

All correctional facilities in Nunavut will remain open.

Emergency wildlife and emergency spill response will be available 24 hours per day.

All airports in the territory will remain open, but the Nunavut Airports Division will be open for emergencies only.

Qulliq Energy Corp.’s customer care and employee offices will be closed Dec. 23 to Jan. 2, but essential service staff will continue delivering power supply.

Nunavut Housing Corp. can be contacted for emergencies.

Most Nunavut Arctic College buildings will be closed including the Kitikmeot Campus in Cambridge Bay, the Kivalliq Hall Offices in Rankin Inlet, the Sanatuliqsarvik Trades Training Centre in Rankin Inlet, the Nunatta Main Campus in Iqaluit and the Nunavut Research Institute.

However, Nunavut Arctic College family housing and some student residences will remain open in Cambridge Bay, Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit.

For the complete list of what GN services will remain open during the holidays, visit the GN website.

The North has nine more people ready to become seafarers. The Western Arctic Marine Training Centre celebrated graduates of its bridge watch rating program.

The Conservatives and NDP have NWT candidates named for the next federal election. The territory's Liberals defended the alternative approach they are taking.

The one-person bureau NNSL had sustained in Inuvik will end with the closure of the Drum newspaper, the company confirmed. Reporting will come from Yellowknife.

"This is by far our biggest haul." A giant delivery of donated toys arrived in Yellowknife, requiring a team effort to distribute them throughout the city.

Yukon homeowners can apply for a maximum of $24,000 per household. There are additional rebates available to install heat pumps in homes that use oil, propane or electric baseboards. The fund is intended for low- to median-income households.

The N.W.T. government's new Indigenous Employment Policy, announced this week and set to take effect in April, is a step in the wrong direction according to some MLAs.

Jordan's Principal cases are piling up in Eeyou Istchee, which may make obtaining funding for sports and recreation more difficult.

Nunavut’s electricity generation company is asking the territorial government for an increase to monthly service charges and rates.

Quilliq Energy Corp. submitted a general rate application on Wednesday, which will be reviewed by the minister responsible for QEC with input from the territory’s Utility Rates Review Council.

The proposed changes include an increase in monthly service charges for residential customers to $36 from $18, and for commercial customers to $16 from $8 per kilowatt hour.

QEC is also seeking to increase its electricity rate by 9.5 per cent.

If approved, the changes would go into effect April 1, 2025.

“The operational costs that are required to generate electricity in Nunavut currently are higher than the revenue that we’re collecting from our customers,” Ernest Douglas, president and CEO of QEC, said during a news conference Thursday.

Douglas cited inflation, maintenance of aging infrastructure, diesel fuel, transportation and other administration-related fees as reasons for the proposed increase.

He said there will be “minimal impact” to residential customers because the service charge is covered by the territory’s electricity subsidy program and that 50 per cent of the energy rate is also subsidized.

“We’re really trying to make the impact on Nunavummiut folks that are feeling the most pressures as little as possible,” Douglas said.

Nunatsiaq News contacted the territory’s Utility Rates Review Council but it is unable to comment on applications.

The council is seeking public feedback and invites Nunavummiut to submit their comments to [email protected] by 5 p.m. on Jan. 24.

Future infrastructure projects, like a deep sea port in the western Arctic, will add to the impact of increased vessel traffic on marine mammals, say researchers.