There’s a new judge on the Nunavut Court of Justice.

Faiyaz Alibhai, former acting general counsel at the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, has been appointed to the role. Arif Virani, Canada’s attorney general and justice minister, made the announcement Tuesday.

Alibhai replaces former justice Bonnie Tulloch, who resigned in October 2022.

His appointment came a week after the Federal Court ruled the large number of judicial vacancies left by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet were failing Canadians seeking timely justice.

Alibhai began his legal career in private practice, then joined the Iqaluit office of the federal public prosecution service in 2003, according to the federal Department of Justice.

After two years he left for Ottawa to join the International Assistance Group, an alliance of private assistance companies, but continued to return to Nunavut to assist the Nunavut regional office of the public prosecution service.

Alibhai moved to Toronto in 2006 and spent 17 years there as a prosecutor for cases involving criminal organizations, wiretaps, international investigations and illegal drugs.

“I wish Justice Alibhai every success as he takes on his new role. I am confident he will serve the people of Nunavut well as a member of the Nunavut Court of Justice,” said Virani in his announcement.

Nunavut’s territorial budget will be the main focus of the winter sitting of the Nunavut legislative assembly, which begins Thursday in Iqaluit.

The sitting is scheduled for 11 business days from Feb. 22 to March 7, ending three days before the Arctic Winter Games begin in Alaska.

Government House Leader David Joanasie said in a statement the sitting will focus on the government’s main estimates for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

“The government plans to introduce four money bills this sitting,” Joanasie said.

“There are no government bills being introduced this sitting.”

The budget is to be tabled Monday afternoon when Finance Minister Lorne Kusugak delivers the budget address.

Arviat South MLA Joe Savikataaq, one of the deputy chairs of the committee of the whole, said in an interview that he and his fellow non-cabinet MLAs are keeping a close eye on the budget and will be eager to voice constituency concerns, despite not having much time to do so.

Savikataaq said he hopes the government will focus on measures to ease the cost of living in the territory.

“I know there’s a big push back now from Canada-wide about the carbon tax, and I think the government should be pushing more to try to get Nunavut exempt from all carbon tax as everything is really higher here,” Savikataaq said.

“I’m thankful right now that the federal government did exempt home heating fuel, so that’s helping out Nunavummiut right now.”

Savikataaq, who was premier from 2018 to 2021, expressed some frustration over what he said will be the “shortest winter sitting in Nunavut’s history.”

Savikataaq said that with all of Nunavut’s needs to be addressed, he’s “appalled” the government isn’t bringing any bills forward other than its budget bills.

“The length of the sitting is determined and dictated a lot by what the government brings forward in bills and other stuff it wants to do,” he said.

MLAs are elected to legislate, and setting a short sitting period means there’s less time for them to help their constituents, he said.

“We are more than halfway through this assembly and Nunavummiut need all the assistance they can get from this government,” Savikataaq said.

“All of the MLAs and ministers and the premier, we all ran to help Nunavummiut, and we should not forget why we ran.”

With experts and NWT managers, we've examined the biggest of 2023's fires in detail. What made them so bad? Which firefighting decisions were made, and why?

NWT wildfire staff and equipment will be readied earlier than usual this year because a significant number of fires have continued to burn through the winter.

The NWT's politicians will begin considering the draft of a Missing Persons Act on Friday, legislation campaigners have sought but which was delayed last year.

The NWT's health minister says she will seek advice from counterparts across Canada in a bid to reduce the territory's need for agency nurses.

The winter road connecting Gamètì to the NWT's highway network opened on Wednesday, just in time for a weekend hand games tournament in Behchokǫ̀.

Yukon River chinook salmon competing against teaming hatchery pinks for food in the ocean, the territorial and the federal governments passing the buck to each other and mining and hydroelectric dams killing the fish — those are just a few of the problems delegates raised.

MLAs in the N.W.T. vote Thursday on a motion to call a public inquiry into the territory's handling of the 2023 wildfires. CBC reached out to each MLA to ask how they planned to vote.

The winter sitting of the Nunavut Legislative Assembly begins Thursday, with MLAs set to debate the next territorial budget in this session.

As members of the N.W.T. Legislative Assembly prepare to vote Thursday on whether the territory should call a public inquiry last summer's wildfire response, some experts are also weighing in on the question. 

A man faces charges of robbery, uttering threats and obstructing a police officer after reported knifepoint robberies at two Yellowknife stores.

There were fewer crimes involving violence, theft and mischief last year in Nunavik and fewer people were taken into custody, according to a year-end report presented by Nunavik Police Service.

Nunavik police Chief Jean-Pierre Larose presented the statistics for 2023 were presented to Kativik Regional Government members Wednesday during the third day of the regional council’s meeting being held this week in Kuujjuaq.

Incidents of assault from level one to level three were down sharply, to 2,410 incident last year compared to 3,003 in 2022. Assaults on police officers also dropped, to 239 last year from 298 in 2022.

There were 245 incidents of sexual assault last year, down from 271 in the previous year.

However, cases of sexual assault with a weapon increased to nine last year from seven in 2022, and there were three incidents of aggravated sexual assault compared to one case in 2022.

There were seven homicides in Nunavik last year, up from four in 2022 but even with the seven recorded in 2021.

Incidents of impaired driving in the communities dropped to 467 in 2023 from 662 the previous year, a 29 per cent decrease. However, impaired driving causing bodily harm cases rose to 30 from 21 the previous year and there were 29 hit-and-run incidents in Nunavik last year, up from 25 the year before.

There were 19 suicides across Nunavik in 2023, two more than were recorded in 2022 — but a sharp drop from 2021 when 28 people died by suicide.

Thefts, mischief-related crimes and the issuing of bylaw tickets all fell last year.

Statistics released by Nunavik police also showed officers took fewer people into custody in 2023 compared to 2022.

Last year, 3,205 adults were detained on criminal charges compared to 4,334 the year before. It was the same for youths, where 67 were detained for criminal matters last year compared to 101 in 2022.

Concerning arrests, most of the workload went to officers on the joint task force involving Nunavik police and Quebec provincial police officers, which was formed in 2021, said Deputy Chief Jean-François Morin.

“Since its creation, the team has successfully executed numerous investigations and substance control operations,” said Morin.

“The team has proven to be very effective, improving response time of investigators deployed on major events.”

Morin said that among the numerous operations they were a part of in Hudson coast and Ungava coast communities, the biggest was one that went through Canada Post.

Two operations have been conducted since November, Morin said, and they involved illegal smuggling or sale of alcohol, methamphetamines, cannabis, hashish, mushrooms and contraband cigarettes.

All told, the items seized carried a black market value of about $490,000.

Currently, the Nunavik Police Service has 107 active officers in the region. 11 new student employees were hired and started their training at the RCMP police academy, and three students graduated from the academy and began working in Nunavik.

The academy is a way for Nunavik Police Services to accept candidates who do not have a diploma from the Quebec Police Academy.

Recruits are sent to an RCMP depot police academy in Regina, Sask., where they go through a 26-week training program. After graduation, recruits sign a five-year contract to work with the Nunavik Police Service.

After intermittent power outages, parts of Sanirajak, Nunavut, went without power for hours Wednesday as temperatures hovered below –30 C, with wind chill of –51 C.

Wildlife officers opened an investigation after photos posted online appeared to show the remains of multiple caribou discarded on an NWT winter road.

Iqaluit could get 40 to 60 new single-family homes in a city plan to open two plots of land to a privately developed subdivision.

The land between Abe Okpik Crescent and Nanuq Crescent and a plot behind École des Trois-Soleils, also known as the French school, are the areas under consideration.

Mathew Dodds, the city’s director of planning and development, presented details of the plan during Tuesday’s meeting of the Iqaluit planning and development committee.

Those include community engagement on the new subdivision, completion of a land survey sketch of the areas, and amending the city’s general plan and zoning bylaws to allow for the development.

The area in red is the proposed space for a new subdivision between Abe Okpik Crescent and Nanuq Crescent. (Photo courtesy of the City of Iqaluit)

The city would issue a call for proposals for developers to lead the project.

The proposal comes from a planning and development committee meeting last November, where members directed city staff to look into requirements for trucked services in the Abe Okpik Crescent area, as well as a recommendation on the potential for a trucked services subdivision in Tundra Valley East.

Historically, the City of Iqaluit has facilitated construction of roads and lots for new subdivisions through a ballot draw system that designates who gets each lot and is allowed to develop on it, Dodds said.

However, there is a municipal bylaw that allows the city to transfer these lands to a developer who would build roads, trucked-services infrastructure and houses and sell those houses to the public.

The benefit, said Dodds, is this is a streamlined approach to building more family housing in Iqaluit.

The area in red is the proposed space for a new subdivision behind École des Trois-Soleils. (Photo courtesy of the City of Iqaluit)

It comes with risks too, as this approach has never been tested in Iqaluit, he said.

The call for proposals would include stipulations that the developer be an Inuit firm and the housing would be offered first to Inuit.

Dodds said that aligns with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.’s housing action plan, which calls for housing that is “for Inuit, by Inuit.”

The committee voted to recommend that council approve Dodds’s proposals. Several councillors noted their excitement for the project, including Deputy Mayor Kim Smith and Coun. Kyle Sheppard.

In response to questions about affordability, Dodds said that calculating affordable housing in Iqaluit is difficult because of the amount of government housing in the city.

He said he hopes to come back to council with a figure that likely would be a percentage below market value.

“It’s something we’re still figuring out,” Dodds said.

It’s too early to say when construction on a subdivision might begin, Dodds told Nunatsiaq News.

“We’re taking it step-by-step,” he said.

The plan will now head to council for approval, possibly as early as its next meeting on Feb. 27 according to city spokesperson Aleksey Cameron.

Pangnirtung has secured $5.4 million from the federal Jordan’s Principle program to launch a food voucher program, the hamlet announced recently.

The money will be used for vouchers to provide children up to age 18 with nutritious meals, baby formula and diapers and other necessary supplies. Families must register in advance to be part of the program.

Registration is at the wellness centre and at Sailivik drop-in centre, according to notices posted to the hamlet’s Facebook page. The vouchers can be used at the Northern Store and at the Pangnirtung Inuit Co-op.

The rollout of the food voucher program started Feb. 16 and vouchers were being given out alphabetically last week and continuing this week, the Hamlet of Pangnirtung posted on its Facebook page.

A schedule for March will be provided to families explaining how the program will continue for the next 14 months, according to the hamlet’s post.

The Inuit Child First Initiative, which supports Jordan’s Principle, is a federal program created to ensure Inuit children have access to essential education, health and social services and products, according to its website.

Jordan’s Principle was named in honour of Jordan River Anderson, a boy from Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba.

He was born in 1999 with multiple disabilities, but after disputes between different levels of government over who should pay for his care he died at the age of five, according to a federal government website.

The Ivakkak dogsled race has a last-minute change to its route due to safety concerns.

This year’s route was previously set from Umiujaq south to Chisasibi but mild winter conditions have rendered that route unsafe for travel, organizers announced Tuesday in a news release.

The route will now head north from Umiujaq to Puvirnituq with a stop in Inukjuak.

It follows the Hudson Coast shoreline from Umiujaq to Inukjuak, which is approximately 240 kilometres. After that, racers will head another 170 kilometres to Puvirnituq.

The former route was 385 kilometres in length, with one stop in Kuujjuaraapik.

The race, which follows a different route every year, has a start date set for Feb. 26.

“We understand the importance of prioritizing the safety of our participants and support staff,” said Andy Moorhouse, Makivvik Corp.’s vice-president of economic development, in the release.

“After thorough assessment and consultation with mushers and our crew, we have made the decision to adjust the route.

“We recognize the importance of community involvement in making Ivakkak a success.”

This is the 22nd year for the Ivakkak race. Organizers voted this year for mushers to compete solo, instead of with partners.

Six teams competed in last year’s race. The winners were Willie Cain and Itsaja Arnatuk, from Tasiujaq.

Food prices in the NWT are no longer skyrocketing in quite the way they did for much of 2022 and 2023, new data suggests.

The Teslin Tlingit Council in Yukon is moving toward establishing its own court and corrections system. The First Nation has jurisdiction under its self-government agreement to write laws related to land management.

A Fort Simpson resident called on parents to keep their kids out of school for a day after one family alleged their eight-year-old had been struck by a teacher.

Mike Couvrette lost his animals in a nightmare scenario, trapped in a wildfire south of Hay River. He barely survived. This is the kind of inquiry he wants.

Two Puvirnituq elders recently sat in front of two Grade 6 classes at their community’s school to share what their community looked like when they were young.

With that knowledge, the 17 students wrote and illustrated a book that will be published and sold throughout Quebec.

Author and educator Isabelle Larouche helped the students throughout the writing process. It’s her second time writing a book alongside a classroom of kids in Nunavik.

This project took four weeks to complete, she said in a phone interview.

Elder Tillie Alasuak shared her perspective of how it was to live in Puvirnituq when she was young. (Photo courtesy of Isabelle Larouche)

In the first week, the kids met the elders, Jackusie Ittukallak and Tillie Alasuak.

“They spoke of their childhood, where they were born and the activities they did,” Larouche said. “But they also spoke of the changes that occurred over the years.”

The second week, putting pen to paper the kids wrote the story in groups of two.

As of Feb. 16, the students were into their third week, working on the book with illustrator Stéphanie Heendrickxen.

The art style they use is similar to linocutting, but instead of linoleum they use styrofoam as their surface to engrave. Afterward, they pass an ink roller over the engravings, and then it’s printed.

Teachers Roxanne Lefebvre-Girouard and Alexandra Labarre say they can see the impact the project has had on their students.

“It is beautiful to see students surpass themselves to complete a project like this,” the pair said in a joint statement.

The first edition of this project is called Attaque sur la Tundra, or Attack on the Tundra, and was based in Kuujjuaraapik last year.

Elder Jackusie Ittukallak told students about his past living in Puvirnituq. (Photo courtesy of Isabelle Larouche)

Sophie Painchaud, pedagogical adviser with school board Kativik Ilisarniliriniq, is leading the initiative.

“We don’t have books that are accessible to kids that have French as their third language,” she said.

“Often, they only speak it in class. So it was about finding books that were accessible, and their image, where they can find themselves and their culture.”

Creating the books opened a whole new avenue for the students, Painchaud said.

“We fell into another dimension of creation, motivation, pride,” she said.

Painchaud said she hopes this project will reach every corner of Nunavik. However, that’s far from simple to organize due to a high staff turnover at the school board.

“Sometimes there are projects that launch that are really promising, but then there is a change of employees in multiple key positions of these projects,” said board spokesperson Jade Duchesneau Bernier.

“Consistency and uniformity across the region for projects like these is a real challenge we are facing.”

There will be no layoffs at Stanton Territorial Hospital as Covid-19 funding ends, the NWT's health minister said, in part because some positions remain vacant.

"There is no progress in history without Black people." Inemesit Graham's portraits of leading Black figures go on show at the Racquet Club later this month.

N.W.T. Health and Social Services Minister Lesa Semmler is not expecting lay offs at Stanton Hospital as a result of COVID-era funding coming to an end next month. She says that's because the department wasn't able to staff the additional positions in the first place.

Two Finnish urban planners from the “winter cycling capital of the world" are in Whitehorse to offer feedback on the city's active transportation infrastructure. They say it's possible to cycle year-round north of 60 — because they do it too.

An Iqaluit man was handed a 12-year sentence for the 2020 attempted murder of a young woman and forcible confinement of two other people.

Mosesee Nakashook, 54, appeared emotional and tearful in an Iqaluit courtroom Tuesday afternoon as Chief Justice Neil Sharkey read his sentencing decision aloud.

At a previous appearance, Nakashook pleaded guilty to the charges.

According to the facts Sharkey presented, Nakashook attacked the victim with a meat cleaver while she and two others were visiting his apartment early on Feb. 9, 2020.

The fact that the victim was a vulnerable Indigenous woman warranted a harsher sentence, Sharkey said.

Crown prosecutor Stephanie Boydell and Nakashook’s defence lawyer, Alison Crowe, jointly submitted that Nakashook should serve seven years.

Court was told Nakashook had been drinking heavily in the hours before the attack. At one point, the victim had refused to have sex with him.

After the attack, he confined the woman and the two others — a man and a woman — in a bedroom and took away their phones so they couldn’t call for help.

However, they were able to escape through a window and get to hospital in a taxi. Nakashook was arrested the next day.

Sharkey described the images of the victim as the “worst [he has] ever seen.”

As a result, Sharkey placed the images under a sealed order preventing them from being released unless the court lifts the ban.

The attack left the victim with “severe lacerations,” requiring more than 100 stitches and multiple blood transfusions.

“I just want my skull back,” Sharkey read from her impact statement, stating that she had been “scalped” in the attack.

The two people Nakashook had confined escaped without injuries, though Nakashook had threatened to kill them.

Sharkey also shed light on Nakashook’s personal circumstances, describing him as someone who “has been behind the eight ball” his entire life.

As a teenager in Kimmirut, Nakashook was abused by a teacher. In his later teens, Nakashook became addicted to drugs and alcohol and was expelled from school.

Sharkey outlined a period of Nakashook’s life from his late teens to early 40s when he was in and out of jail and unable to secure housing and employment. Eventually, he did find stability with housing.

Nakashook has been in jail since his arrest four years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic caused his trial to be delayed and brought on additional health-related restrictions while he was in custody.

However, over the past four years, Sharkey said, Nakashook “has been extremely productive” while in custody. He has undergone addiction and mental health counselling, been active with the inmate community and participated in work programs.

In his final remarks on sentencing, Sharkey said seven years, as suggested by the lawyers, was not enough jail time and would represent a “breakdown of the system.”

The sentence of 12 years includes 10 years for the attempted murder and two years for the forcible confinement charges to be served consecutively.

For his progress while in custody, Sharkey gave Nakashook 1.5 days of remand credit for each day he has served. Using that formula, Sharkey counted the more than four years Nakashook has already spent in jail as equal to just over six years.

That means Nakashook still has just under six years left to serve on his sentence.

Typically, sentences of more than two years on federal crimes are to be served in a penitentiary in the south.

Sharkey recommended Nakashook serve the remainder of his sentence at the Aaqqigiarvik Correctional Healing Facility in Iqaluit; however, that decision lies with the Correctional Service of Canada.

Speaking to Nunatsiaq News after proceedings ended, Crowe said it’s a policy for Nunavut judges to recommend to the Correctional Service of Canada that Nunavummiut serve their sentences in the territory.

She said the three-year-old facility located next to the Iqaluit Airport has a larger capacity than southern penitentiaries.

Before escorting Nakashook to the cells after proceedings ended, court sheriffs allowed him to hug two family members who showed up to witness the end of his case.

N.W.T. MLAs say a strong economic foundation, affordable housing, access to health care and safe communities will be their priorities for the next four years. 

The NWT's MLAs just published their priority list for the four years ahead. (Don't worry, this article is going to take less time to read than you think.)

The latest NWT climate change reporting shows ministers are still evaluating more ambitious emissions reduction goals that might match Canada's targets.

Iqalummiut can mark it on their calendars — this year’s Toonik Tyme spring festival will run from April 5 to 14, organizers say.

Pitseolak Alainga, who leads 123Go, the organizing committee that took over the event nine years ago, said a schedule of daily activities is being worked on to mark the 59^th anniversary of Toonik Tyme.

“This year, we will be inviting organizations like the City of Iqaluit, Government of Nunavut and others to organize their own games,” said Alainga, in an interview in Inuktut.

Pitseolak Alainga, a leader with the 123Go organizing committee, says Toonik Tyme wll run from April 5 to 14 this year. (File photo)

“On the day of the opening ceremonies, we’ll announce who will be playing. As well, we will announce who will be this year’s honourary Toonik.”

People in the community such as Alainga’s late father, Simeonie Alainga, helped shaped the festival as a way to come out of winter and enjoy spring with activities in 1965.

One of the founders, the late Bryan Pearson, played a key role in bestowing the first title of honourary Toonik on former prime minister John Diefenbaker.

Since then, other notable honourary Tooniks have included King Charles, who was the Prince of Wales at the time, former governor general Roland Michener, and former Northwest Territories commissioners Bent Sivertz, Stuart Hodgson and John Parker.

Where did the name Toonik Tyme come from?

It is named after the Toonik, an individual of the Tuniit. Known to archeologists as the Dorsets, the Tuniit lived in Greenland and the eastern Canadian Arctic before the ancestors of today’s Inuit, known as the Thule.

According to Inuit history, Tuniit were superb hunters and possessed almost superhuman strength and speed. Tuniit disappeared from Greenland and the Canadian Arctic about 600 years ago, but their ancient stories live on.

“We are welcoming everyone to come out and get out of winter blues. We don’t want people just to stay indoors and do nothing, but to participate,” Alainga said.

He added that over the years, more people from around the world come to Iqaluit where “events like the iglumiutautiluni (igloo-making contest), snowmobile races, dogsledding are just one of the popular events.

“It is always good to see people from other communities and all walks of life in the capital during the days of Toonik Tyme.”

The hamlet of Enterprise, N.W.T., is in some political turmoil after several of the hamlet's councillors resigned, seemingly unwilling to work with the newly-elected mayor.

Kativik Regional Government has adopted a plan giving it greater control over the way non-Inuit organizations use land in Nunavik.

A new bylaw approved by regional council Tuesday is a “legally enforceable tool” the regional government can use to oversee activities happening across the region, said lands and environment assistant director Veronique Gilbert.

Gilbert said it ensures “Kativik region users and residents are meaningfully engaged on the land-use and social environment protection to ensure that the project applicants are accountable.”

With this bylaw, “KRG has the power to say no,” she said during the council’s quarterly meeting being held in Kuujjuaq this week.

Among the other powers it provides KRG is the authority to enforce a cleanup at a company’s cost if environmental contaminants are left behind.

The bylaw applies to non-Inuit-beneficiary land users.

“KRG does camp inspections every summer,” Gilbert said. “Sometimes we see contamination that is happening at non-beneficiary camps.”

Those camps are usually owned by mining exploration companies or outfitting camps for tourists.

People who want to do projects in the Kativik region, outside of municipal boundaries, will need to qualify based on land-use classification, safe oil storage, usage of bodies of water and wetlands, and construction standards in the North.

Proposals will be analyzed by a 21-member committee, including three permanent members designated by the council. The other 18 positions will be rotated from among organizations that are frequent land users.

An interactive map will be made available to show the different constraints that exist across Nunavik. Projects will be judged based on their applicants’ ability to work within those constraints.

The map was created with input from Nunavimmiut knowledge holders. Such constraints include areas designated for conservation, caribou calving, historical and cultural interest and other factors.

When the map is completed, it will be available on the KRG website.

The bylaw was first considered in the KRG regional master plan that was released in 2020, then made possible through amendments last year to the Kativik Act.

Creation of the bylaw was a joint effort of an advisory committee between KRG, Makivvik Corp., Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach, Cree Nation Government and the Nunavik Landholding Corporations Association.

Yellowknife is working out how to spend millions of dollars in federal Reaching Home funding over the next two years. On the list: a new street outreach van.

Northwest Territories (1-3) came back from 7-0 down through three ends to beat Ontario's Danielle Inglis (2-3) by a score of 10-9 and earn its first victory at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary on Tuesday.

On Jan. 25, there was a spill of water and coolant at the Jackfish plant in Yellowknife. NTPC says the primary cause of that spill is wear on the equipment from increased reliance on the Jackfish facility.

The Yukon is receiving federal healthcare funding with the objective of streamlining the employment process for foreign-trained workers in health care.

N.W.T. athletes now have more time to submit their passport information in order to attend the Arctic Winter Games in Alaska.

After Chinese investment in Vital Metals' NWT mine rattled politicians in late 2023, the company's boss defended the move and promised "no surprises" in future.

The charity United Way NWT is launching a new fund that'll provide almost $600,000 to "address the continued impacts of last summer's wildfire season."

Kinngait artist Ningiukulu Teevee’s art has gone abroad.

The exhibit Stories from Kinngait is on display at Canada House in London, England, until June 1.

Teevee was there for the exhibit’s opening on Feb. 7.

“I’ve been to a few openings, and [this one] was really nice,” she told Nunatsiaq News.

The exhibit is the result of a collaboration between the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom and the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq.

Twenty-six of Teevee’s pieces are on display.

Her artwork includes drawings of Arctic animals as well as depictions of traditional Inuit stories.

One of Teevee’s favourite drawings represents a story of a girl who wished she could turn into a bird. The girl turned into a bird, but she tripped and her beak shortened.

“So she turned into an owl,” Teevee said.

Another memorable piece is of a red walrus, Teevee said, describing a creature her husband saw on top of an icepack that must have been sunburnt.

“That one I really like,” she said. “And I’m glad it was [at the exhibit].”

Teevee’s work is well-known. She has 47 artworks in the collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq.

In 2023, she won the Inuit Art Foundation’s biennial Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award. As a result, she will receive a solo exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq in the fall of 2025.

Teevee named family as her motivation for becoming an artist. Her grandfather was a carver and her father was both a carver and watercolour painter.

“I guess I picked it up from him,” she said of her father.

Art is also a good way to tell Inuit stories, Teevee said.

Asked what it means to have her work displayed abroad, Teevee said she is glad Inuit are getting noticed.

“There’s lots of [artworks] of Inuit to see,” she said.

Ralph Goodale, Canada’s high commissioner, said in a news release about the exhibit that Teevee’s art is a “profound” way to learn about Inuit culture and way of life.

“I hope many will come to experience this collection of vivacious imagery depicting Arctic animals, abstract natural forms, and stories passed down through generations,” he said.

Farmers from a range of countries head to Yellowknife this week for the second annual Grow NWT conference, which addresses farming in the age of climate change.

Canada's veterans' ombud is making her first trip to Yellowknife. Nishika Jardine will hold a town-hall meeting at JTFN on Tuesday evening.

A war thousands of miles away is causing heartache in Yellowknife. The death toll in Gaza includes members of three families in the N.W.T. city.

Residents of Colville Lake, N.W.T., say their community needs a new school, and they're wondering why it's taking so long for that to happen. In the meantime, some incoming portable buildings are being called a "Band-Aid solution."

The plant was originally supposed to open in 2020. Last Thursday, a spokesperson for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment told CBC by email that construction on the fish plant was in its final phase, but they couldn't say when it would actually open.

Yellowknife Education District No. 1 (YK1) has issued a public warning after having numerous cheque books stolen from École Įtłʼǫ̀ Elementary School this past weekend.

The NWT government says residents will continue to have access to gender-affirming care even if some services are restricted in Alberta.