When will Nunavik homes be heated through electricity?

Interest in the topic among regional and provincial leaders is growing, but the road to electrification is not as easy as it seems.

This was one of the main conclusions of this month’s housing meeting in Kuujjuaq, said Nunavik Housing Board director Lupin Daignault.

“The majority of the people at the table agreed that we are heading into a wall when it comes to heating, which will represent important costs,” he said in a French interview.

“We made sure it was mentioned multiple times in the meeting for the elected officials to understand.”

The majority of Nunavik’s buildings are heated by oil, which comes with high costs. The main hurdle in changing to electric, Daignault said, is that current Hydro-Quebec infrastructure doesn’t offer the amount of electricity required to support electric heating.

“For the time being, fuel is a more efficient and economical energy source than electricity for space and water heating,” said Lynn St-Laurent, a spokesperson for Hydro-Quebec, in a French email.

She said the amount of electricity required to heat every home through any Nunavik community’s central generator would take “quadruple the power of the diesel centrals, and triple the quantity of fuel used.”

The prospect of moving to electric heating “is a complex question and will not be solved immediately,” she said, pointing to another challenge: moving every Nunavik community off diesel for its power generation.

Hydro-Quebec is deploying multiple initiatives aimed to reduce diesel dependency.

St-Laurent said further analysis must be made to integrate wind power with other sources, because wind is not a constant, stable source of energy like hydroelectricity.

Inukjuak is one community moving off diesel — it’s partly powered by the Innavik Hydro dam. With that infrastructure in place, Hydro-Quebec was able to create a conversion program to allow heating to be supplied by both electricity and diesel.

According to Tarquti Energy Inc., the leading organization in promoting and supporting clean energy projects in Nunavik communities, 27.7 million litres of diesel is burned each year to keep people warm in the region.

Heating is the most important aspect to address when developing clean energy projects, said Joë Lance, a director with Tarquti.

“We designed our project not only to displace the diesel used for electricity production, but also to enable electrical heating in the homes,” he said Wednesday during a panel presentation at the Aqsarniit Trade Show and Conference in Ottawa.

Currently, there are two wind projects nearing completion. One three-megawatt wind turbine is expected to be ready for operation in Quaqtaq by 2027 and three wind turbines of the same power in Puvirnituq by 2028.

Those two projects required a $165-million investment, but are estimated to generate $350 million in revenue over 25 years and will displace more than 3.5 million litres of diesel a year.

The excess electricity generated by the windmills can be used to help heat buildings in those communities, Lance said.

"Months went by and nothing." A resident of a Yellowknife building that burned in 2023 described their quest to be compensated for items they could not recover.

An agrifood group wants the GNWT to speed up the introduction of regulations that will allow animals raised in the NWT to be processed within the territory.

Djely Tapa returns to Yellowknife to headline this year's Black History Month Gala on March 8 – an event that will also celebrate International Women's Day.

Know someone who'd love a paid broadcast internship at Cabin Radio between June and September? Send them this link. Deadline to apply: March 16.

A group that uses land-based programming to address mental health challenges is heading to Fort Simpson to train much-needed facilitators.

Three new public housing buildings in Behchoko will become homes for families, singles and elders as early as next month. 

Members of the Canadian Armed Forces and soldiers from allied countries are training in Inuvik until March 9 as part of Operation Nanook-Nunalivut.

The operators of Yellowknife's forthcoming Ricky’s All Day Grill say "construction and equipment delays" have forced them to open later than planned.

The principal of two Hay River schools was named the town's citizen of the year as an awards gala that celebrates community spirit returned for its second year.

Homeowners in Ndılǫ, Dettah, Łútsël K'é and Fort Resolution are being given access to free home inspections, the communities' MLA said.

Country food processing facilities in Sachs Harbour and Inuvik are among the beneficiaries of federal funding announced on Friday.

Some Kwanlin Dün First Nation citizens are learning to speak Southern Tutchone for the first time.

Ndidi Cascade, one of the hip-hop artists who performed, said she found it very fulfilling to be singing for youths and helping them to discover African culture.

"This is the prize for us." On March 2, a team from Hay River will compete at curling's Brier for the first time. The town held a party for the team on Friday.

Five people known in the North for their work in areas like reconciliation, mental health and education were presented King Charles III Coronation Medals this week by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon.

They were among 52 recipients honoured Thursday during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

The five northerners in the group are:

• Rev. Canon Aigah Attagutsiak, from Arctic Bay, for “offering dedicated and compassionate pastoral care” and for offering a communal space for meals and gatherings, according to a news release from the Governor General’s office;
• Leena Tatiggag Evic, of Iqaluit, for her work on retaining and revitalizing Inuktut;
• Lisa Koperqualuk, from Puvirnituq. She is the president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada and an Arctic anthropologist who advocates for Inuit rights and education;
• Adriana Kusugak, from Rankin Inlet, for developing training programs that combine essential skills with traditional Inuit knowledge;
• Mary Piercey-Lewis, of Iqaluit. She’s a musician and teacher honoured for “adopting ethnomusicology and education as a means to celebrate and explore Inuit identity and tradition in innovative ways.”

The Coronation Medal program, launched to honour the coronation of King Charles in 2023, recognizes people who have made a “significant contribution to a particular province, territory, region or community in Canada,” according to the Governor General’s website.

See photos of the winners in the slideshow below.

Ready for the quiz? Five questions to see if you were paying attention to the North’s news last week? Hike!

1. The Government of Nunavut, which employs more than 6,000 people, is bringing in a new computer system to manage information for areas such as payroll and human resources. What is this new system called?

A. Phoenix
B. Oracle
C. Sunrise

2. Nunavut singer-songwriter Susan Aglukark is hitting the road this week to start a cross-Canada tour marking the 30^th anniversary of the release of the album that included her biggest hit, O Siem. Which album was it?

A. Arctic Rose
B. Blood Red Earth
C. This Child

3. A third-party investigation revealed a long list of deficiencies and poor government oversight at a medical care home where two residents died and a third was hospitalized between October 2023 and January 2024. Where was it located?

A. Igloolik
B. Chesterfield Inlet
C. Arviat

4. The TV sitcom North of North wrapped up its first (but hopefully not last) season on Tuesday night. Filmed in Iqaluit but set in the fictional hamlet of Ice Cove, what big development was lead character Siaja and her co-workers working all season to bring there?

A. Research station
B. Arctic fishery
C. Arctic Winter Games

5. Nunavut isn’t the only Arctic region hoping to build a lot more homes over the next few years. Recently, a report found that Nunavik, with a population of about 14,000 people, also needs more homes. How many is it short by?

A. 750
B. 1,600
C. 1,000

Susan Aglukark is hitting the road later this month on a tour marking the 30th anniversary of the release of one of her albums. (File photo)

Answers

1. B — In full, its name is the Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning Platform. So, Oracle.
2. C — Susan Aglukark’s album This Child came out in 1995, and she says her upcoming tour will include several songs from that release in its playlist, including of course O Siem.
3. B — The Naja Isabelle Medical Home was located in Chesterfield Inlet.
4. A — They wanted to have a research station built there. No spoilers here, though, you’ll have to watch the show to see if they were successful.
5. C — With a population projected to grow by one per cent every year until 2041, the report said Nunavik already falls short by 1,000 housing units

The talk of tariffs and of Canada becoming the 51^st state has made for a bleak winter across the country. Yet Arctic businesses are brimming with confidence, based on the way people were talking at the Aqsarniit Trade Show and Conference this week in Ottawa.

Nunavut Economic Development and Transportation Minister David Akeeagok and Makivvik president Pita Aatami were some of the leaders sounding positively bullish about the opportunities for economic growth in Nunavut and Nunavik.

“We’re ready to do business, but it has to be a partnership,” Aatami, the head of the Inuit rights-holding organization in Nunavik, said at least three times during a keynote speech on Wednesday.

The Aqsarniit Trade Show and Conference was a gathering of business and government representatives. It replaced the Northern Lights Trade Show and Conference, a similar event that had run every two years since 2008.

It brought together hundreds of businesspeople to share what they’re doing and to look for ways to work together.

Aatami’s keynote speech was a broad overview of Makivvik’s business activities, from plans to bring wind turbines to Nunavik as part of a clean energy initiative to pursuing a shrimp fishery.

Aatami signalled Makivvik is eager to do business but “not at any cost.”

Makivvik wants to take back control of Nunavik for Inuit, he said, calling the relationship governments have had with Inuit “one-sided.”

U.S. President Donald Trump’s talk about imposing tariffs on Canadian goods coming into his country, and about annexing Canada, cast a shadow over the trade show.

Aatami tied in Trump’s controversial renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” saying Makivvik’s own geomatics subsidiary is working to put more traditional Inuit names on the map of northern Quebec.

At a speech to people attending a meet-and-greet reception Monday night, Akeeagok said there’s a “vast” opportunity ahead for northern businesses in entrepreneurship, infrastructure development, fisheries, natural resource development and tourism.

“It’s inspiring to see the ideas and partnerships that emerge from these gatherings,” Akeeagok said.

It’s hard to separate the economic optimism at the trade show and conference from the sudden surge of Canadian pride and buy-Canadian sentiment that have swept the country this month.

Canadians’ response to the economic threats from the United States has been the kind of coming together that’s rarely seen. Canadians are galvanized and united in their resistance to whatever Trump throws at them.

The optimism wasn’t just at the podium. It could be felt throughout the convention centre.

On the trade show floor, delegates and exhibitors talked optimistically about their plans. They milled about, making contacts and laying the groundwork for future deals.

In the hallways, casual conversations turned to talk about Inuit resiliency, exemplified in Igloolik, where the community quickly built an outdoor ice rink just days after fire destroyed the hamlet’s arena.

That optimism stands in stark contrast to the steady stream of bad business news that has been flowing out of Washington, D.C., in the past month and since Trump was elected president in November.

The timing is good for Nunavut and Nunavik businesses to come on strong. Canada will need it in this period of unprecedented uncertainty.

A Tuktoyaktuk composting project that began last July is slowly becoming a success story – and could grow into something larger if funding can be found.

Approach this with a clear mind and an open heart. The NWT's legislature has a vacancy for someone to review MLA and minister pay.

Traditionally, Inuit often settled disputes through song contests, events in which one party would sometimes mercilessly deride in verse the shortcomings and vices of another.

These were verbal duels in which each tried to outdo the other. They were often accompanied by fisticuffs.

These songs were tersely sung, expressed almost in a kind of abbreviated form to a local audience familiar with the language and the speaking and singing styles of the participants.

Local geographic references were all understood by the audience, as were the names of family and village members and their relationships to each other.

The audience also would be quite familiar with the events described, including personal mistakes and shortcomings of the participants. To an outsider, if one were present at all, these details were often impenetrable, and some explanation was required before the meaning became clear.

Among the inland Inuit, the so-called Caribou Eskimos of the Kivalliq region, two men were famous song rivals almost a century ago.

Utahaania, who generally lived at Qamanerjuaq near the great lake Hikoligjuaq, was one participant. His rival Kanaihuaq lived nearby.

When Kanaihuaq exposed Utahaania’s sexual indiscretions with close relatives for all to hear, Utahaania retaliated by relating how Kanaihuaq and his wife had come to blows in a fight in which the wife thoroughly thrashed her husband.

Utahaania then went on to sing another song in which he made fun of Kanaihuaq’s ability to write in the new syllabic orthography.

Kanaihuaq had learned to write what his opponent described as the “sign alphabet of the missionaries.”

Perhaps he had been to Chesterfield Inlet, where Father Turquetil had established a mission some years before and taught the skill of writing to Inuit who visited his post.

Or perhaps he had visited the whalers who had frequented the coast in years past. Some coastal Inuit had learned writing from them, or from the Baffin Island Inuit whom the whalers periodically recruited to accompany them to the Kivalliq coast.

With syllabics being so easy to learn, it was passed on from one Inuk to another, so that one was able to learn the system without even meeting a white man.

By whatever means, Kanaihuaq had become proficient in writing. Utahaania didn’t like this. He thought that his rival was putting on airs, that he was “making up to the white man in a snobbish fashion.”

And that he now thought of himself as a great man, a chief, “One who thinks for others and can order his neighbours about.”

And so Utahaania decided to lampoon his rival in the traditional manner, through song. The song, sung of course in Inuktitut, is given here in English translation.

                Ivmaiya – ayai

                Is there any sort of reason

                Aya,

                Why the Lord of the White Men

                Should pay heed to your words?

                Ivmaiya,

                Is he to put any trust in your words

                Because you and you Tupialaaq

                Drove him up to those

                Who dwell to the east of us?

                And yet all the same he listened to you

                (and thought you were wise)

                Because you could write down speaking signs

                With “writing hand,”

                And make your speech

                Like that of a chieftain.

                And now I sing

                Just to be nasty,

                A song such as that a bird sings

                With its beak

                Here in the qaggje.

Kanaihuaq’s response, unfortunately, was not recorded.

Taissumani is an occasional column that recalls events of historical interest. Kenn Harper is a historian and writer who lived in the Arctic for over 50 years. He is the author of Give Me Winter, Give Me Dogs: Knud Rasmussen and the Fifth Thule Expedition, and Thou Shalt Do No Murder, among other books. Feedback? Send your comments and questions to [email protected].

Wildfire officials in Yukon and the N.W.T. are heralding the Canadian Space Agency's plans for a new $72-million WildFireSat constellation, announced earlier this month.

The Nunavik Police Service wants to equip its holding cells with devices that would allow them to remoelyprovide real-time vital health metrics.

A statement of claim filed before the Court of King’s Bench in Manitoba earlier this month calls the multinational Canadian grocery company with stores in northern Canada “outrageous” and “predatory” for not passing 100 per cent of a federal subsidy on to consumers like it’s supposed to.

An RCMP investigation has found no evidence of criminal actions in the deaths of two residents at the Naja Isabelle Medical Home in Chesterfield Inlet, the Government of Nunavut has announced.

A 19-year-old resident died Oct. 17, 2023, and less than three months later, a 12-year-old resident died on Jan. 6, 2024, both after being hospitalized.

In a news release issued after 5 p.m. Friday, the GN announced that after asking the RCMP to assist with a third-party review of the incidents last February, results show “no evidence was found to suggest any criminality in the deaths of two clients who were in the care of the Naja Isabelle Home.”

On Thursday, Nunatsiaq News reported that the third-party review of care provided at Naja Isabelle did not address specifically what the Department of Family Services called “critical incidents” at the home, but found numerous problems generally.

Prepared by Knowledge Council Inc., the report made 26 recommendations to improve service there.

The review found, among other things, that evidence of “delayed access to medical care and inappropriate medical interventions for respiratory issues when health conditions were escalating.”

It also found issues with the way medications were stored and secured, a lack of internet access at the home, and poor management interaction with staff.

The same article noted that on Feb. 11, Nunavut RCMP told Nunatsiaq News it “needed time” to determine the status of its investigation.

Naja Isabelle Medical Home was a residence for children and adults with specialized medical needs, run by Pimakslirvik Corp. since 2004.

The GN declined to renew its contract with Pimakslirvik after it expired March 31, 2024. Earlier this week, the corporation’s CEO Marc Ippiak declined to comment.

Planning documents filed with the City of Yellowknife suggest a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen is coming in the near future.

Construction on Clyde River’s small craft harbour will be wrapped at the end of this season, says a representative from the engineering consulting firm working on the project.

David Parsons, a senior civil engineer with CBCL Ltd., gave an update on the project Thursday at the Aqsarniit Trade Show and Conference in Ottawa during a session on infrastructure as a driver for northern economic development.

“Nunavut has got one of the longest coastlines in the country, 24 out of 25 communities are on the coast,” said Parsons.

“Yet right now, there’s only around two communities that currently have small craft harbours.”

Work on the harbour started in early summer 2023 after the federal government awarded the nearly $38-million contract to Pilitak Enterprises Ltd. of Iqaluit.

Clyde River was one of four north Baffin Island communities the federal government identified in 2019 for plans to build small craft harbours, Parsons noted. The others were Arctic Bay, Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay.

“During our first visit, we sat down with elders and we got to talk to them about the need for this infrastructure,” he said. “They’ve been talking about this for decades.”

Parsons played a time-lapse video of the last construction season for attendees and noted how the seasons and weather are a challenge to work around in that area of the North.

The four-day Aqsarniit trade show wrapped up Thursday.

Nunavut communities are announcing the end of their administration of the Inuit Child First Imitative as they wait to hear whether the program will be extended beyond its March 31 end date. 

Jack Anawak faces a new driving-related charge just weeks after he was handed a conditional sentence for his involvement in a 2023 crash.

The 74-year-old former MP and Iqaluit city councillor is accused of operating a snowmobile while under a driving suspension, according to court documents.

The incident is alleged to have occurred Feb. 15 in Iqaluit, the documents read.

That’s approximately two weeks after Jan. 31, when he was handed a six-month conditional sentence for operating a vehicle with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit.

Anawak pleaded guilty to that charge, which stems from a crash on Nov. 4, 2023, days after he was sworn in as an Iqaluit city councillor. He resigned from council the next week.

One of the conditions of his sentence was a 10-year ban from operating vehicles.

Anawak did not respond to a request for comment about the new charge via voicemail or Facebook message.

Craig Rogers, Anawak’s lawyer during his impaired driving-related case, declined to comment.

Anawak appeared in court Monday and is due back March 3, according to the court docket.

He has been convicted of impaired driving three times. He pleaded guilty to offences in 2013 and 2018, and served jail time in the second case.

The program was originally supposed to reopen last month, but unexpected federal reductions to the number of people the N.W.T. could accept forced it to delay reopening.

A committee of Fort Good Hope leaders says it doesn't trust Imperial Oil's operations in Norman Wells, N.W.T., and it's opposing the company's application for a three-year water licence renewal. 

Sherlyn Kadjuk’s journey from designing garments in Arviat to supplying custom-made parkas for Parks Canada is an example of the way research can create opportunities for Inuit businesses.

Kadjuk’s success story was mentioned Wednesday during the Aqsarniit Trade Show and Conference in Ottawa, where a panel discussed how date-driven research can lead to economic opportunities, especially within local communities.

The National Research Centre’s testing facilities on the East Coast helped ensure Kadjuk’s garments — which are meant for park workers to wear — meet safety standards.

It’s one of many partnerships across the country opening new markets for Indigenous producers, many of whom are women.

“Inuit and the research economy come from two different types of experiences,” said Katherine Minich, senior researcher with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami’s Inuit Research Network.

“There’s different values, philosophies and capacities that don’t necessarily reconcile easily, so that’s where the gaps show up.”

Minich spoke on a panel alongside Anne Barker, program director of the National Research Centre’s Arctic and Northern Challenge Program; Carolann Harding, founder of SmartICE; and Scott Grant, Qikiqtaaluk Corp. chair in Qikiqtani inshore fisheries science and education training.

The discussion was moderated by Jimi Onalik, president of CanNor.

Progress has been made by Inuit negotiating research gaps through collaboration, Minich said, as well as through the establishment of new programs.

For example, Sikuttiaq, a sea-ice travel safety and monitoring project, has helped establish long-term employment opportunities in the North, said Barker, with the National Research Centre.

“These are tangible economic benefits that extend beyond the projects themselves,” she said.

Barker emphasized how research into government procurement policies identified barriers to successful Indigenous bids. One of those barriers was access to testing.

For years, National Research Centre has been looking into the use of Indigenous clothing as personal protective equipment for federal workers, she said.

But many Inuit lacked the resources required to meet federal safety standards, so the National Research Centre filled that gap.

Harding, CEO of SmartICE, a social enterprise that offers climate change adaptation tools, emphasized communities must control their own information.

“We are custodians of that data for the community,” Harding said, adding his organization’s role is to safeguard that data until local members are equipped to interpret it and leverage it for commercial use.

SmartICE has also developed two remote environmental monitoring systems to measure ice thickness, including SmartQAMUTIK, a device towed behind a snowmobile that provides real-time ice and snow thickness readings.

During the session, an audience member asked Harding about safety while on the ice with the SmartQAMUTIK.

“Has anybody ever gone through the ice?”

“Not on my watch — none of our staff have ever gone through the ice,” Harding replied, mentioning SmartICE integrates local and traditional knowledge before using technology. She acknowledged that community members have fallen through, but rely on SmartICE data as a safety tool.

“It’s interesting that after all the money spent on technology, we first ask for traditional knowledge to see if the ice is thick enough before going in with the machine,” the attendee noted.

The four-day Aqsarniit trade show wrapped up Thursday at Rogers Centre Ottawa.

Two Nunavut MLAs asked questions at the Legislative Assembly this week about infrastructure projects that – amid rising tensions between Canada and the U.S. – the territory's premier has described recently as "nation-building." 

The NWT Nominee Program, a key immigration stream, reopens on February 27. It'll accept 90 new applicants at random after pre-screening. Here are the details.