A “disturbing” message about a spotlight being shone into the flight deck of an incoming aircraft has prompted Pangnirtung hamlet council to issue a safety warning.

“We want to let people know that this happened and discuss the potential implications of disorienting or blinding pilots during their approach into Pangnirtung, so that it never occurs again in the future,” Jack Hicks, the hamlet’s SAO, told Nunatsiaq News.

The incident happened on the afternoon of Nov. 23, according to a message the hamlet office received from Canadian North airline.

In the message, Canadian North said someone on a boat in the fjord several times directed a spotlight into the Canadian North cockpit as the plane was landing.

“While both the captain and first officer recovered from the incidents and were able to land successfully, the intense glare could have jeopardized the crew’s ability to operate safely,” the message said, according to the hamlet’s Facebook post.

The message did not say how many people were on the plane.

According to the federal Aeronautics Act, penalties of up to $100,000 in fines and five years in prison can be levied against anyone convicted of shining a light into the flight deck of an aircraft.

Hicks said he believes this is the first allegation of lights being shone toward a landing plane that the hamlet has been informed of. He said he is not aware of any other investigations taking place.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is aware of the incident but is not investigating, a spokesperson told Nunatsiaq News.

“After verifying with our regional managers, they confirmed that this occurrence is not considered a reportable occurrence under the Transportation Safety Board regulations,”said spokesperson Hugo Fontaine.

Canadian North has not responded to a request for comment.

The family of a Resolute Bay woman allegedly murdered by her son remembered her this month as a “gentle one,” a master of coil bannock, a music holder, an accordion lover and one “full of love.”

Babah Kalluk, 44, was charged Nov. 23 with first-degree murder, assault and indignity to human remains, according to court documents.

Zipporah Kalluk is identified in the documents as the victim.

RCMP announced the charges Nov. 25 in a news release, which said police arrested Babah Kalluk on Nov. 22 after they were called to a home to check on someone’s well-being.

Zipporah Kalluk’s family raised money online after her death to bring extended family to her funeral. The GoFundMe page, dated Nov. 29, was organized by Sandra Kunuk Inutiq, on behalf of Celine Kalluk.

“Our family is devastated to share that she did not pass peacefully, but violently,” the fundraiser’s description said.

“Violently by the hands of her own son.”

It goes on to call a lack of mental health care a “scourge” on Nunavut communities and that Zipporah Kalluk’s son needed this help.

The fundraiser, which intended to raise money so family could travel to Resolute Bay for the funeral, has received close to $43,000 as of Thursday.

Any additional funds are to be donated to an unspecified mental health cause.

No members of the Kalluk family offered comment on Zipporah Kalluk, her funeral, or the fundraiser, when asked by Nunatsiaq News.

Babah Kalluk was flown to Iqaluit and remains in custody. His next court date is set for Jan. 7, 2025.

Nancy Karetak-Lindell is Nunavut’s new senator, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday in a news release.

Karetak-Lindell is a former Nunavut MP who was elected in 1997 and played an important role in negotiations that led to the establishment of Nunavut as a territory in 1999.

As a Liberal MP, she represented Nunavut for more than a decade. Karetak-Lindell also previously served as a councillor in Arviat and in 2023 she was named to the Order of Canada.

The territory’s lone seat in the Senate has been vacant since the retirement of Dennis Patterson last December.

Check back for updates to this developing story.

NNSL, which prints the NWT's only English-language newspapers, is closing down the Inuvik Drum's print edition. The company said online coverage will continue.

The general manager of the store in Sachs Harbour, N.W.T. says she is hoping for mail to start arriving again on Thursday.

It's December and a fire near Norman Wells (temperature last night -41C) is keeping crews occupied. The GNWT may take extra steps if it burns into the new year.

In some of this winter's coldest weather yet, students at a Yellowknife high school shuttled boxes of food from their gym to the Salvation Army. Take a look.

A new book featuring 60 Indigenous archaeologists from around the world includes a contribution from Tłı̨chǫ Government senior advisor John B Zoe.

The winter roads connecting Fort Smith to Fort McMurray via Fort Chipewyan are now open for the 2024-25 season.

The Town of Hay River is not increasing residential property taxes this year — but the municipal budget does include a new fee for waste management.

Behchokǫ̀'s government began work on a residential expansion north of Rae, asking residents to fill out a survey about the housing and amenities they'd like.

The meeting was organized by Dene Ā́ Nezen, a group which formed in October to address concerns around Charlie's leadership. This month, two of the group's organizers were fired for publicly criticizing the First Nation's governance. 

The only airline operating in Fort Smith, N.W.T., has announced it will stop offering scheduled flights as of Jan. 16.

Dawson City, Yukon, planned to shutdown its publicly-owned cable service at the end of this month. But the new town council has yet to vote on the resolution, and that won't happen until the new year.

Fort Smith-based Northwestern Air Lease said its final scheduled flight will take place on January 16. What will happen to the town's air service isn't clear.

Yukon MP Brendan Hanley is joining more than a dozen of his Liberal caucus colleagues who say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should step down.

The corporation responsible for energy in Nunavut is asking the territorial government to increase its power rates and monthly service charges. 

Iqaluit municipal workers are welcoming new safety measures added to their new collective agreement.

Nunavut Employees Union Local 06 — which includes the city’s water truck operators, firefighters, paramedics, mechanics, road workers and municipal workers — ratified the four-year deal Dec. 11.

City councillors voted to approve the then-tentative agreement after a lengthy in-camera portion of their Dec. 10 meeting.

Wage details included in the new collective agreement are not clear. Council did not discuss the contract during the public portion of the meeting, and neither the city nor union would comment on what wage increases are included.

Nunavut Employees Union president Jason Rochon said in an email that the pay increase is “substantial,” but did not provide specifics.

“We got a lot of good benefits and we didn’t have to make any concessions for that,” said Alex Storring, the Local 06 vice-president and firefighter, in an interview.

He and Local 06 president Quinlin Iredale spoke of some of the worker safety measures included in the deal. There is now a line of duty death clause, as well as measures to prevent firefighters from being exposed to cancer-causing substances.

“We have a lot of young members on our fire team now, so this will go a long way in keeping them healthy and safe for longer careers,” said Iredale, who works as a mechanic at a municipal garage.

Inuit employees now have four “traditional” days — up from two days in the previous agreement — to hunt and take part in other traditional activities, said firefighter Solomon Tagak.

“I thought that was a pretty important acknowledgement,” Tagak said, adding it shows the city’s commitment to Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, or traditional principles.

The new agreement takes effect Jan. 1, 2025, the day after the current one expires, and runs until Dec. 31, 2028.

The ice road connecting Dettah and Yellowknife appears set to open on time this winter. Last year, it was delayed by more than a month.

"It's the thing I seem to have been destined to do." Lesley Paulette was appointed to the Order of Canada for her longtime advocacy on behalf of NWT midwives.

Cases of avian flu have been confirmed in two ringed seals near Resolute Bay.

The Department of Health issued a public advisory about the discovery, made in October, on Dec. 13.

The report follows a previously confirmed case involving a northern fulmar, or glaucous gull, in the area that same month.

Avian influenza, also known as bird flu, is a highly contagious viral infection that can be found in domestic poultry and wild birds.

Nunatsiaq News emailed the Department of Health to ask how the disease was detected in the seals, what symptoms the seals were exhibiting, and how other animals can contract avian flu, but did not receive answers by press time.

The advisory notes that signs of infection in wildlife can include nervousness; trembling or lack of co-ordination; swelling around the head, neck, and eyes; and diarrhea or sudden death.

Multiple dead birds or mammals in one location could be a sign that avian flu is present in the area.

“The GN will not continue reporting subsequent confirmed cases,” the advisory states, adding the public can access the Government of Canada’s avian flu tracker for live data on spread of the disease.

The risk of transmission from animals to humans is low. Generally human cases of avian influenza are caused by close, prolonged contact with infected live or dead wildlife or contaminated environments.

There is no evidence that the virus can be transmitted to humans through consumption of fully cooked mammals, eggs or game birds.

To help prevent the spread of avian flu, the Health Department recommends Nunavummiut take precautions when handling wild birds.

That includes wearing gloves, washing hands with soap and warm water, and cleaning soiled clothing and equipment as soon as possible.

Anyone who notices unusual deaths or illness in wildlife is advised to contact their local conservation officer. Anyone who feels sick after handling wildlife should contact their local health centre.

A Kuujjuaq man will get a new murder trial after Quebec’s Court of Appeal overturned his conviction earlier this month.

A jury convicted Randy Koneak of first-degree murder and indignity to human remains four years ago in the 2018 gun killing of Chloé Labrie, a 28-year-old medical technician who had been working in Kuujjuaq for four years.

Superior Court of Quebec judge Guy de Blois sentenced Koneak to life in prison in December 2020 with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Chloé Labrie, 28, was killed in her Kuujjuaq home early June 12, 2018. (Photo Courtesy of Grégoire & Desrochers)

Koneak, who was then 22, was accused of shooting Labrie twice while she was alone at home, killing her instantly, then sexually assaulting her.

He testified that he recalled drinking, smoking cannabis and using cocaine early that evening but didn’t remember much after. A police officer testified Koneak confessed to the crime.

In a decision, written in French and dated Dec. 11, 2024, appeal court judge Simon Ruel wrote that de Blois erred in his instructions to the jury.

Ruel said de Blois did not isolate specific facts of the case and link them to the legal test needed to demonstrate that the killing was premeditated and deliberate — key factors in determining guilt of first-degree murder.

As a result, the jury was not properly equipped to make its decision.

It’s unacceptable for anyone to spend their life in prison without a fair and equitable trial, said Maude Pagé-Arpin, Koneak’s lawyer, in an email written in French.

Koneak’s next court date has not yet been set, Pagé-Arpin said.

Pitseolak Ashoona, the late Kinngait artist, received many honours during her lifetime, but appearing on the $5 bill will not be one of them more than 40 years after her death.

Instead, the image of Terry Fox, the Canadian icon known for his fundraising efforts to find a cure for cancer, will appear on the bill’s next design.

The plan to redesign the $5 bill with Fox’s image was outlined in Monday’s fall economic statement, tabled in Parliament by Liberal House leader Karina Gould.

Fox and Ashoona were among eight finalists shortlisted for the honour in 2020 by an advisory council for the Bank of Canada, working from a list of 600 nominees submitted by Canadians.

The late Kinngait artist Pitseolak Ashoona appeared on a stamp released by Canada Post in 1993. She received the Order of Canada in 1977. (Image courtesy of famouscanadianwomen.com)

In 1980, with one leg amputated due to cancer, Fox embarked on an east-to-west cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research, starting from St. John’s, N.L.

He died in 1981 at age 22, after reaching Thunder Bay, Ont., a distance of more than 5,300 kilometres.

“By February 1981, the Marathon of Hope had raised $24.7 million or $1 for every Canadian,” Monday’s economic statement said.

“Through his efforts, the 22-year-old showed Canadians the difference that an ordinary person could make through sheer willpower and determination.”

Ashoona, a Nunavut artist, was in her late 70s when she died in 1983. In 1971, the National Film Board produced a film about her titled Pitseolak: Pictures Out of My Life.

In 1974, she was elected as a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and received the Order of Canada in 1977. Canada Post honoured her with a stamp, issued in 1993.

Other contenders to be on the $5 bill included Francis Pegahmagabow, the most highly-decorated Indigenous soldier in Canadian history, who died in 1952; and Isapo-muxika, a Crowfoot leader of the Blackfoot Confederacy who died in 1890.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Canada’s seventh prime minister, will move from the $5 bill to appear on the next version of the $50 bill.

The GNWT invited journalists to its new on-the-land camp outside Yellowknife. Here's what we heard – and how another NGO in the city sees the project.

A consultant briefing a committee of NWT MLAs said creating regulated online gaming in the territory would bring in revenue and might curb illegal gambling.

Tune in from 7pm on Wednesday as Yellowknife's Dustin Milligan, star of Netflix hit Hot Frosty, joins Sarah Erasmus and Camilla MacEachern on the air.

Vehicles lined the streets of Fort Providence for a holiday parade that organizers say was among the largest in the history of the hamlet of 700 people.

The First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun has called on the Auditor General of Canada to launch a performance audit of the territorial and federal governments, to uncover underlying systemic problems that led to the failure, which saw roughly four million tonnes of ore being treated with cyanide solution slide off a heap at the mine site, with about half the material leaving containment. 

Residents in Aupaluk, Que., say they have to draw fishy-smelling water from a lake. The regional government says there’s no water quality issue in Aupaluk, rather a water quantity issue, and it's investing $2.9 million for a new reservoir.

The N.W.T. has overhauled its decades-old affirmative action hiring policy, in an attempt to see more Indigenous employees in the territorial government workforce.