RCMP say they have seized drugs in two separate incidents: one involving a silent 9-1-1 call in Norman Wells, the other following an apartment search in Inuvik.

An Iqaluit courtroom was a site of ceremony Monday where, for the first time, a Nunavut appeals court chief justice was sworn into the role in territory.

Chief Justice Ritu Khullar was appointed Chief Justice of Alberta in November 2022. As Alberta’s chief justice, she also takes on the role as chief justice of the appeals courts in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

Several judges, lawyers, court staff, dignitaries and other members of the public attended ceremony at the courthouse.

Chief Justice Neil Sharkey remarked on the significance of the event in his opening remarks, calling it “historic.”

Premier P.J. Akeeagok shared his praise for Khullar as well.

He spoke of Khullar, whose parents are teachers from India, as a woman of colour from rural Alberta. That life experience will help her handle sensitive files related to vulnerable Inuit from Nunavut’s hamlets, Akeeagok said.

“I am confident you will excel in your role,” he said.

“May your wisdom always guide your decisions.”

Dignitaries gathered for the swearing in of Nunavut Court of Appeals Chief Justice Ritu Khullar in Iqaluit Monday. From left: Premier P.J. Akeeagok, Justice Christian Lyons, Commissioner Eva Aariak, Khullar, Justice Jo’Anne Strekaf, Justice Minister David Akeeagok, Justice Kevin Feth and Chief Justice Neil Sharkey. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)

Joanne Smith, president of the Law Society of Nunavut, also praised Khullar’s appointment, calling it a “great achievement” for any lawyer or judge.

She encouraged Khullar to engage with Nunavut’s community of lawyers.

A question and answer session is scheduled for later this week between Khullar, along with appeals court justices Jo’Anne Strekaf and Kevin Feth, and law society members.

Khullar delivered a brief series of remarks after the ceremony, saying she was happy to be there and excited for the opportunity to continue her work in Nunavut.

“I’m hoping that the light of the qulliq will guide me,” she said.

“Becoming chief justice is the greatest honour of my life.”

Khullar has been practising law since 1998, according to a biographical handout from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office. She was appointed to the Court of Queen’s bench in Alberta in 2017 and joined Alberta’s court of appeals as a justice in 2018, which also hears cases from the N.W.T. and Nunavut.

She was born in Fort Vermilion, in northern Alberta, and spent her childhood in Morinville, Alta., which is just north of Edmonton.

Métis fiddler and master storyteller Angus Beaulieu has passed away. His music "gave people permission to be happy for two or three hours. That was his magic."

The City of Yellowknife has called on the GNWT to invest in the street outreach program. The NWT's health minister says she's prepared to discuss the matter.

NWT musicians will join the Toronto Symphony Orchestra concertmaster and a 2023 classical Juno winner for a "genre-crossing" Yellowknife concert on Saturday.

A former teacher in the Northwest Territories has lost his bid to have sexual assault and sexual exploitation charges against him thrown out.

RCMP in Yellowknife say they have closed an investigation into the October death of a 31-year-old man after the sole suspect passed away.

Police in Yellowknife have concluded a homicide investigation into the death of man in the city on Oct. 15, and say no charges will be laid.

In a news release on Monday, RCMP say 27-year-old Alison Sanguez has been charged with manslaughter after another woman was found dead last month in Fort Simpson, N.W.T.

Angus Beaulieu died on Saturday at age 89. His nephew said he had cancer, and his death was peaceful.

RCMP in Fort Simpson say they have charged a 27-year-old from Jean Marie River with manslaughter over a woman's death last month.

An Ottawa school board will elect its first-ever Indigenous student trustee for the upcoming academic year.

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board will introduce the new position for the 2024-25 school year following a motion approved by trustees, board spokesperson Darcy Knoll said in a news release.

It will be the first school board in Ottawa to have an Indigenous student trustee at the board table.

The Indigenous student trustee will help highlight the perspectives of Indigenous students during important conversations at the board, Knoll said.

Inuit, Métis and First Nations students who will be in grades 11 or 12 in September 2024 can run in an election for the position.

All Indigenous secondary students are eligible to vote for the Indigenous student trustee on Feb. 28.

“Many of the issues we discuss as a board concern how we can better support Indigenous students to reach their full potential. Adding an Indigenous student voice to these conversations will benefit our discussions,” board chairperson Lynn Scott said in the announcement.

“The [board] is moving forward in our commitments to reconciliation. Increasing Indigenous representation is an important part of this process.”

Currently, the board has 12 elected adult trustees and two student trustees.

Ottawa is situated on the unceded homelands of the Algonquin Nation and also has the largest population of Inuit in Ontario, the school board’s land acknowledgement says.

Approximately 1,500 students, or two per cent of the student population of the Ottawa-Carleton board, have self-identified as First Nations, Métis or Inuit.

According to the board website, student trustees receive an honorarium of $2,500 for each complete year they hold office.

The NWT government says its new "fiscal sustainability strategy" will aim to save or generate an extra $150 million per year over the next four years.

A youth faces charges including robbery with a firearm after a supposed Yellowknife Facebook Marketplace exchange led to a resident reporting a crime.

The NWT government is increasing the price of some fuels in the Beaufort Delta and Fort Good Hope, attributing most of the hike to extra transportation costs.

The N.W.T. Government is looking for a combination of spending cuts and revenue increases totalling $150 million annually, starting next fiscal year. 

Three people face drug trafficking charges, RCMP say, after an investigation into what police called "local dial-a-dope operations within Yellowknife."

Shalom Dawson said it was a painful discovery that the territory lacks a full-time oral surgeon, and won't pay for surgeries it doesn't consider "medical". She's sharing her story in the hope others won't suffer too.

The push to make Nunavut 3000 a reality has begun with $240 million worth of contracts out to build 316 units across the territory.

Nunavut Housing Corp. and NCC Development Ltd. announced late last month they’d come to a $134.7-million design-build agreement for NCC to construct 166 units in 17 communities.

That’s on top of a $105.3-million contract NCC already has to build 150 units in eight communities, including Iqaluit. That contract was announced in May 2023, with construction expected to start that fall.

Construction indeed started in Iqaluit in August, said Clarence Synard, NCC Development president and CEO, in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

Construction is ongoing in the remaining seven communities of Gjoa Haven, Taloyoak, Cambridge Bay, Rankin Inlet, Arviat, Baker Lake and Arctic Bay, he said.

“Ten to 12 months from now will see the completion of these,” Synard said of all 150 units from the May 2023 announcement.

NCC Development’s first Housing 3000 build is expected to be complete in July, according to Synard. It’s an 18-unit affordable-housing structure in lower Iqaluit.

Last year’s contract paid NCC $600 per square foot on these units. That price went up to $670 per square foot in last month’s announcement.

“Budgets are tight but achievable,” Synard said of the work.

The Nunavut government and Nunavut Housing Corp. announced Nunavut 3000 in 2022. It’s a plan to build 3,000 units across the territory by 2030.

The project is estimated to cost $2.6 billion, with $900 million from the private sector and the rest covered by the public sector and Inuit organizations.

NCC is tasked with building 2,000 of these units.

This year’s agreement to build 166 units puts NCC Development to work in all of Nunavut’s 25 communities.

The complete list of projects includes:

• 18 units in Iqaluit;
• 20 units in Rankin Inlet, Arviat, Baker Lake, Arctic Bay, Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak;
• 12 units in Cambridge Bay;
• 16 units in Pangnirtung;
• 20 units in Igloolik and Kinngait;
• 12 units in Coral Harbour and Kugluktuk;
• Six units in Grise Fiord, Kimmirut, Resolute Bay, Qikiqtarjuaq and Whale Cove;
• Eight units in Chesterfield Inlet, Clyde River, Kugaaruk, Naujaat, Pond Inlet, Sanirajak and Sanikiluaq.

Apprentice builders in Rankin Inlet turned over a three-bedroom home to the housing corporation in December as part of a pilot project to give Inuit the skills needed to contribute to building efforts.

That home was announced as a Nunavut 3000 build.

The contract with NCC Development includes a goal to complete its projects with a 30 per cent Inuit workforce.

What does Aurora College's incoming president think about Tin Can Hill? Where does she plan to live? What's her vision for a polytechnic university? We asked.

It remains unclear who will operate a new Rankin Inlet elder care home that’s expected to be completed sometime within the next few months.

Two proposals from companies interested in winning the 10-year contract are currently under review, according to tendering documents on a Government of Nunavut website.

There was no indication from the Department of Health when the contract to operate the facility will be awarded.

In June 2023, the government issued a request for proposals from companies interested in running the facility. That request came with a deadline of Aug. 25.

One applicant requested an extension to Sept. 29, which was granted; later, another applicant sought more time to register to operate in the territory and create a more comprehensive proposal.

The deadline was extended to Oct. 31, 2023.

The government’s original request for proposals said the contract would begin Jan. 2, 2024 and indicated operations would take effect Feb. 1, though the document noted the timetable was tentative and may be changed by the GN.

Work on the facility was originally slated to begin in 2020 and for it to be opened by 2023. Later, due to unspecified construction delays the completion date was pushed back to early 2024.

The 24-bed facility is one of three elder care homes planned for Nunavut. The other two are in Iqaluit and Cambridge Bay.

The Cambridge Bay and Iqaluit facilities are in the planning stages and the Health department has made funding for design, the next stage, available for this fiscal year, Hala Duale, a Community and Government Services Department spokesperson, said last week.

The design phase is estimated to take 18 months per project, with Cambridge Bay expected to start in early 2024 and Iqaluit in 2025.

The ongoing argument over whether to stage a public inquiry into last year's wildfires isn't as simple as yes or no, the new Frame Lake MLA says.

Hay River and the Kátł’odeeche First Nation agreed to work together on finding a new landfill site. The existing dump is decades old and practically full.

Whitehorse’s Derek Deuling secured a historic second gold medal for Canada in under a week at the under-23 Nordic World Ski Championship in Slovenia., as part of Canada's

Filmed in Alberta and the N.W.T, Dene filmmaker Kevin Redvers’ newly-released thriller Cold Road is entirely written, directed and produced by Indigenous creatives.

A backcountry avalanche forecast released by the Haines Avalanche Center on Feb. 10 reported ‘considerable’ danger above 450 m in the Chilkat Pass area and ‘moderate’ danger below. Avalanche Canada also reported risk near Carcross.

RCMP say officers carried out an early Sunday search at an Inuvik apartment complex as part of a drug trafficking investigation.

With the norovirus stomach ailment circulating through Igloolik, residents there are being advised on ways to protect themselves.

The illness, which is not uncommon early in the year, is easily spread from person to person and could quickly move through the entire community, the Health Department warned in an advisory issued Friday afternoon.

Symptoms include nausea and vomiting, stomach pain, fever and diarrhea.

To avoid the norovirus, people are urged to wash their hands often, especially before preparing food or after changing a baby’s diaper or using the washroom.

Surfaces like countertops, doorknobs and in bathrooms should be washed with hot, soapy water and people should avoid contact with others who are sick, the department advised.

As well, children should be helped to wash their hands and their toys can be cleaned along with the other surfaces. Kissing and touching babies can also spread germs.

The health department advised people suffering severe symptoms to seek medical care. More information on the norovirus is on the Department of Health webpage.

"She blossomed into this wonderful person." Meet Simara Wilson, a fiddle teacher and cultural advocate who just won Hay River's youth volunteer award.

The federal government is disputing claims made by a Yukon First Nation that work to clean up the Mount Nansen mine site is riddled with problems.

The warming and cooling shelter will open when the temperature is below -40 C or above 31 C, or when smoke levels are deemed “high risk” by Environment Canada.

The N.W.T.’s wolf management program will collar its final group of wolves this March.

Pita Aatami is popular among Inuit beneficiaries who voted in last week’s Makivvik presidential election. Makivvik itself … not so much.

Aatami, a boardroom veteran, was re-elected handily to another term as the head of the corporation created in 1978 to serve Inuit beneficiaries of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.

He got 1,862 votes — more than double the combined total of his two challengers. That’s more than 71 per cent of the votes that were cast.

However, only one in four eligible voters — 26.5 per cent — actually voted. That’s down from 41 per cent in 2021 and 47 per cent in 2018.

Coincidentally, that turnout is comparable to Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.’s 2021 presidential election, where Aluki Kotierk was re-elected but only 17.5 per cent of Nunavut eligible beneficiaries voted.

Maybe more people would care about Makivvik if they understood how important it is and how it matters to them.

The president of Makivvik is not only an important leader for Nunavik’s Inuit. He’s a powerful business leader and a significant player on the national political stage.

Makivvik is part-owner of Canadian North airline and whole-owner of Air Inuit. Makivvik is at the forefront of talks with the Quebec government about Inuit self-determination in Nunavik.

But there’s a lot of work to be done for the average person to understand Makivvik.

One thing people do remember is how Aatami and the board of directors of Makivvik-owned First Air gave themselves bonuses, based on Nunatsiaq readers’ comments on news stories during the campaign.

It has been 16 years since that controversy erupted in 2008. But people have long memories.

Another thing that would help people better understand Makivvik would be for the corporation to tell the public how much the president gets paid.

In the days leading up to the election, Makivvik would not disclose what the president’s salary is, telling a Nunatsiaq News reporter who dared to ask, “The remuneration of Makivvik elected officials and employees constitutes confidential information that cannot be shared publicly.”

That’s a hard pill to swallow, considering Makivvik exists to serve people. It should be easier to know how it works.

Makivvik issued a news release Feb. 5 that included a three-sentence quote attributed to Aatami, calling the corporation’s accord with the Quebec government “a significant journey towards self-determination.”

“[I] am committed to ensuring that the voices of our people are heard in the decision-making process,” Aatami said.

Ironically, the people haven’t really heard Aatami’s voice since his re-election, despite several interview requests Nunatsiaq News made through the corporation’s headquarters in Kuujjuaq.

So, as Aaatmi begins his second consecutive term at the corporation’s helm, here’s an offer from Nunatsiaq News: Let us help you convey Makivvik’s significance to the 73.5 per cent of beneficiaries who don’t understand what it does or, worse, who don’t care.

The media are here to help readers understand the community, the region, the world they live in. Coverage will be critical but fair.

Best of all, it will help the three-quarters of beneficiaries who have tuned Makivvik out.

In 1986, I wrote and self-published my book Give Me My Father’s Body: The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo.

It told the story of six Inughuit, Inuit from the far north of Greenland, who were taken by the American explorer Robert Peary to the United States in 1897 to be exhibited in a museum.

Four of the six died in New York. One returned to Greenland the following year.

But one, Minik, was kept in New York for the next 12 years and educated there. My book told his story.

The book was published again in English by American publisher Steerforth Press in 2000. It was published in Danish in 1986 and again in 2000. Many bilingual Greenlanders read the Danish edition. It was also published in Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) in 2001, bringing it to an even wider Greenlandic audience.

The story forms part of the heritage of the Inughuit, who are sometimes referred to as the Polar Inuit. In 2017, the book was published again in English in an expanded paperback edition with a new title, simply: Minik, the New York Eskimo.

Minik very quickly took a prominent place in Greenlandic popular culture.

In 2014, the students of Greenland’s National School of Theatre wrote and produced a play titled Minik and it was performed in Greenland and Europe.

In 2016, the production, which featured only four actors, was presented for the first time in North America at the Alianait Arts Festival in Iqaluit.

Susanne Andreasen, tour manager and director, said, “[The play] is about having your identity stolen, having the responsibility for your own life taken away from you. It’s about not knowing who you are and where you come from.”

She said that “being alone, being scared, we have all the spectrum of feelings in the play.”

The cover of the 2017 edition of Minik, the New York Eskimo, published by Steerforth Press.

In 2011, Atlantic Music Studio in Greenland produced a CD for the local Amarok Theatre. It too was titled simply Minik. The cover art featured the iconic picture of Minik with his bicycle.

Described as experimental pop, the CD depicted the life of Minik in 11 songs.

Greenland keeps detailed records of personal names. The name Minik was rarely used prior to the publication of Give Me My Father’s Body in 1986.

One hunter in Thule, Minik Daorana, bore the name, as did Greenlandic geologist Minik Rosing. But there were almost no other people named Minik in the 1950s, ’60s, or ’70s.

That changed starting in the mid-1980s. In the book, Kalaallit aqqi (Greenlandic Personal Names), the Greenlandic scholar Nuka Møller documents that by 2015, there were 152 people in Greenland and 72 in Denmark who bore the name Minik. Many Inuit names can be used for boys or girls, and four of those with the name Minik were girls.

One person bearing the name is Prince Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander, son of King Frederik X and Queen Mary and third in line to the throne of Denmark.

Shortly after the birth, his father, then the crown prince, joked that he might name the boy Elvis as he was born on Elvis Presley’s birthday.

However, Elvis didn’t make the cut — the boy was given the name Minik because of his father’s love of Greenland, where he had travelled extensively.

The origin of the name Minik is uncertain. Nuka Møller, citing the writings of Samuel Kleinschmidt in 1871, claims it means “a fatty viscous glue-like substance used to paste the seams of a skin boat.”

He explained: “A significant portion of Greenlandic names have their origin in daily life, some of them dealing with the household and its tools, as well as hunting life and its equipment.”

The Danish newspaper Berlingske claimed the name means “earwax.”

One reason for the name’s popularity, aside from its connection to an important story of the Inughuit, is that it is short and easy to pronounce.

The name Minik is not used only a personal name. The Royal Arctic Line, a Greenland shipping company, took delivery of a new freight-hauling ship in September of 2016. Its name? Minik Arctica.

Today, the name Minik is firmly entrenched in Greenlandic popular culture.

Taissumani is an occasional column that recalls events of historical interest. Kenn Harper is a historian and writer who lived in the Arctic for more than 50 years. He is the author of “Minik: The New York Eskimo” and “Thou Shalt Do No Murder,” among other books. Feedback? Send your comments and questions to ke********@ho*****.com.

"Students today aren't like students when I started." Yellowknife's Stephen Richardson, up for a teaching award, says he's excited by modern music class.

The Gwich'in Tribal Council is planning to build 20 homes across its four communities this year in the first phase of a $51.5-million project.

The Arctic Winter Games are just weeks away, but many athletes in the N.W.T. and Nunavut don't yet have passports in order to travel to Alaska for the event.

The NWT's premier and finance minister will jointly launch a new "fiscal sustainability plan" for the territory at a Monday press conference.

Two groups organized a conference in Yellowknife this week where business owners were invited to learn how they could hire French-speaking people to fill their job vacancies — a situation one organization described as "desperate." 

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy wants to establish a “long overdue” relationship with the Yukon, starting with a request for funding for Alaska Highway improvements.

Eight Iqaluit residents have signed up, hoping to be appointed to fill a city council seat that has been vacant for three months.

The deadline to register to be considered for the seat was Thursday, and the City of Iqaluit released a list of candidates late Friday afternoon.

City council is expected to review the applications at its next meeting Tuesday night, which will be livestreamed, and inform the successful candidate Wednesday.

The seat on the eight-member council became vacant when Jack Anawak, who was elected in the Oct. 23 municipal election, resigned Nov. 6 after he was charged with impaired driving.

The candidates to replace him are Amber Aglukark, Colin Allooloo, Lili Weemen, Matthew Clark, Nicole Giles, Swany Amarapala, Noah Papatsie and Lewis Falkiner-MacKay.

Falkiner-MacKay finished in ninth place in the October election, earning 525 votes compared to 635 for eighth-place Anawak.

After Anawak’s resignation, Falkiner-MacKay said, “I would be happy to take on the position on council if chosen.”

Papatsie, who is legally blind, claimed in November he was unable to run in the municipal election due to the inaccessibility of the Elections Nunavut website. He is a former city councillor.

Amarapala was appointed to council in December 2022, filling Mayor Solomon Awa’s seat after he was appointed mayor due to the resignation of Kenny Bell. Amarapala ran for council in 2023 but finished in 10th place, behind Falkiner-MacKay, with 474 votes.

Under the Nunavut Elections Act, council had two options to fill the seat vacated by Anawak. Councillors can appoint the runner-up from the last election or issue a public call for applicants.

Last year, council directed city staff to formulate a proposal for a policy to be used in filling council vacancies.

Since then, council has rejected two policy proposals. Both drafts included a provision to allow council to appoint a candidate from the last election who was not elected.

Even without a permanent policy in place, council issued the callout for candidates on Jan. 29.

Canada’s highest court has ruled the federal government’s child welfare law is constitutional, affirming Indigenous Peoples’ jurisdiction over child and family services.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld Bill C-92, An Act Respecting First Nations, Métis and Inuit Children Youth and Families, reversing a 2022 Quebec Court of Appeal decision that declared the law partially unconstitutional.

Bill C-92 became law in 2019 and recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ inherent right of self-government over the protection of their children, grants Indigenous legislation the force of federal law and outlines national minimum standards of care.

In a Friday afternoon press conference, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Natan Obed spoke about the ongoing tragic reality of the overrepresentation of Inuit children in care across the country.

“Bill C-92 pushes back against those realities, pushes back against colonial attitudes towards taking children away from their families, and pushes the Canadian state to recognize representatives of Indigenous Peoples, Inuit rights-holding institutions and organizations along with First Nations and Metis to take care of our children and to implement self-determination in this field,” Obed said, speaking to reporters outside the House of Commons.

In its 2019 appeal of C-92, the Quebec government argued the law allowed Ottawa to overstep its authority, infringe on provincial jurisdiction and recognized Indigenous Peoples as a third order of government.

Nunavik Inuit organization Makivvik Corp. welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision, calling it a “major victory for Inuit and the well-being of our families, children and youth.”

“The decision reflects what we have always said and known, which is that we have an inherent right to self-determination, especially as it concerns child and family services,” Makivvik president Pita Aatami said in a news release.

“Today’s ruling reinforces the importance of implementing Indigenous rights and respecting our jurisdictions.”

There could be a new Pine Point mine operating in the N.W.T. in about six years, according to the company behind the project — and many South Slave residents are looking forward to it.

The hockey tournament season is returning to Nunavut as Rankin Inlet is set to host the 2024 Powerful Championship for under-13 teams this weekend.

“A lot of talent from out of town is coming, so I think a lot of these games will be close. I’m excited,” said tournament organizer A.J. Curley.

Eight teams are competing this year, in two divisions.

The ‘A’ division includes Coral Harbour, Naujaat, Baker Lake, Arviat and Rankin Rock Black. The ‘B’ division is made up of Rankin Rock White, Rankin Penguins, Rankin Rock U11 and a team of players from both Chesterfield Inlet and Arviat.

Tournament action runs from Friday afternoon until Sunday. Interdivisional round-robin games are set for Friday and Saturday, then the playoff will be held Sunday.

The games are being played at Agnico Eagle Arena.

Organizing the tournament and dealing with challenges like flight delays can be a hassle but in terms of the hockey itself, “it’s always been good,” Curley said.

The goal of a tournament like this is to brings youths from Rankin Inlet and other communities together for fun and competition, Curley said.

“[It’s] to make memories, make new friends, connect with others and ultimately have a good [tournament],” he said.

N.W.T. MLAs voted Friday to postpone a motion for a public inquiry into the territory's wildfire response. The inquiry would establish an independent board of four people to investigate the territorial government's response to the 2023 wildfire season.