July 27, 2007
Around Nunavut
Harper to visit Nunavut this August?
Stephen Harper, the prime minister, will likely visit Nunavut in early August, sources say, to take part in events planned for Iqaluit, Resolute Bay and possibly other places.
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A spokesperson for the prime minister's office, however, could not confirm the visit when contacted this week by Nunatsiaq News.
"I cannot confirm or deny where the prime minister is until the media advisory is sent out," the PMO spokesperson said.
Such media advisories are not normally sent out until 24 to 48 hours prior to a prime ministerial visit.
But other sources say Harper will likely visit Resolute Bay on or about Aug. 5 and will likely visit Iqaluit on or about Aug. 8.
If it happens, this visit would overlap with Operation Nanook, a naval exercise that Canadian forces are planning to conduct in Hudson Strait.
Harper last visited Nunavut in August of 2006, when he launched a military exercise in North Baffin called Operation Lancaster, issued a policy statement on Arctic sovereignty, and met for nearly four hours with Nunavut premier Paul Okalik.
It's not clear if Harper will use this visit to announce the location of a deep water port in the Arctic to support the six ice-strengthened naval vessels he announced two weeks ago.
Anti-Okalik mood goes online
Calls for Premier Paul Okalik to resign have turned up on the addictive social networking site Facebook.
A group called "Paul Okalik for resignation" has turned up on the site, and had 35 members as of last week.
Okalik has been under pressure to resign his job as premier since late June, when he was overheard calling Lynda Gunn, executive director of the Nunavut Association of Municipalities, an offensive name at a dinner in Labrador.
"Please step down, move on, your job is done and people are fed up with you," writes one person on the group's message board.
But others are not so sure.
"I don't think it's fair what you guys are doing," wrote another group member. "Is this the only time someone cares? Does anyone in this group actually know what Paul has done for us as Nunavummiut? I am not agreeing with him calling Gunn a bitch but that is minor."
Operation Nanook to be drug bust exercise
The Canadian military will return to the Baffin region for an Arctic sovereignty exercise starting Aug. 9.
Operation Nanook is to be a "drug interdiction and environmental protection scenario" according to the military's Joint Task Force North, which is organizing the proceedings. The operation will also include Canadian Coast Guard, Canadian Border Services Agency, Transport Canada, Public Safety Canada, RCMP ‘V' Division and the Government of Nunavut.
The submarine HMCS Halifax will ply the waters of Frobisher Bay as part of the exercise and the Canadian Coast Guard ship Martha L. Black will host a boarding party exercise August 13 before heading to JTFN plans a community day in Iqaluit for Aug. 10.
Nunavut issues securities alert
The governments of Nunavut and Newfoundland and Labrador are warning people not to do business with three related U.S. companies that have been soliciting stock investments.
Infinity Medical Group, Inc., Royal Alliance Entertainment Inc., or Iceberg Corporation of America have been trying to get Nunavummiut to invest in their companies while falsely claiming to be based in Newfoundland, said Jennifer Dalton, acting director of communications with the Department of Government Services there.
She said there's no indication the companies have sold anything to anyone and that the department has not received any complaints from the public.
The Newfoundland government issued a notice to consumers last week saying the three companies are banned from doing business and trading in stocks in the province.
Dalton said Nunavut Legal Registries, which regulates securities trading in Nunavut, gave Newfoundland officials the heads up.
Record rain drowns Kugluktuk
A calm creek transformed itself into a roaring river last weekend as a record-breaking rainfall soaked Kugluktuk.
On July 21, the community received 178.2 millimetres, or seven inches of rain.
By morning, streams of water washed out roads and even undermined the supports under two houses, which police had to evacuate.
Derek Powers, Kugluktuk's mayor, said hamlet crews took out several culvert pipes to allow huge flows of water to run downhill more easily. The crews then worked all Sunday to repair damage around town.
Environment Canada says a low-pressure centre developed near Fort Liard in the Northwest Territories on Friday and slowly tracked to the northeast, settling over Victoria Island late in the day Saturday.
The heavy rain associated with this system lasted for about 24 hours.
The previous record for daily rainfall in Kugluktuk was set nearly 25 years ago on Aug. 12, 1982 when 53.7 mm or 2.2 inches of rain fell.
There is only one other daily rainfall in Kugluktuk where 40 mm. or more (about one and a half inches) were recorded - on Aug. 2, 2003 when 40 mm of rain fell.
Kugluktuk residentsfound last week's extreme rain unusual, but the rainfall was nowhere near a world record-setter.
This month, China and Britain have both suffered disastrous flooding this month with near record-setting rainfalls.
A new study, published this week in the journal Nature, produced the first confirmation that global warming appears to be affecting the world's rainfall patterns, bringing more precipitation to northern Europe, Canada and northern Russia.
Several other circumpolar regions have experienced out-of-the-ordinary levels of precipitation this summer. Iceland has been in the throes of a drought, while southern Norway has seen the wettest summer since 1883.
Cops nab escaped youth
An inmate from the Isumaqsunngittuq Youth Centre in Iqaluit was on the lam for about two hours before being captured July 22.
Youth at the centre were preparing to go on a regular "supervised outing" when the young man made a break for it, said Const. Jay Rasmussen of the Iqaluit RCMP.
The offender, who is being held on attempted murder charges, was spotted running onto the tundra near the Road to Nowhere after police circulated his picture around the community. Mounties followed on foot and arrested him, Rasmusssen said.
The youth will face additional charges, Rasmussen said, though those charges hadn't been formally laid before Nunatsiaq News' press-time this week. Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, he cannot be named.
Butt burns duplex
Two Arctic Bay families are homeless after a weekend fire burned their duplex to the ground.
RCMP believe the fire started when a lit cigarette flew into a pile of boxes outside the building and caught fire. High winds fanned the flames which spread to the building.
Police credited local volunteer firefighters, water truck drivers, a contractor and other volunteers with keeping the fire from spreading to nearby houses.
No one was injured.
