Materials intended for use in a new health centre in Tulı́t'a, N.W.T., have become mouldy and warped from weather and moisture damage and are now unusable for the facility.

Maxwell Joy, the director of programs for the Nunavut Fury Hockey Association, said the new non-profit aims to “change the game” for girls hockey in Nunavut. A recent hockey camp in Rankin Inlet is one example of how it's doing that. 

Nunavut’s privacy commissioner says the Workers Safety and Compensation Commission should release a report about its investigation into the death of a University of Alberta researcher who had been doing field work near Grise Fiord, Nunavut. 

Nunavik’s  health board picked executive committee member Victoria Tukkiapik as the organization’s new chairperson, following the resignation of Shirley White-Dupuis last week. 

Formerly the council member from Quaqtaq, Tukkiapik now takes up the role of chairperson at the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services, following a board vote on Feb. 11.

Tukkiapik’s vacant position will be filled by Mary Johannes, according to a press release by the health board Monday.

Tukkiapik’s experience includes being a council member for the Northern Village of Quaqtaq and a first responder there, a biography the health board provided said. She was the secretary-treasurer for the audit committee, led by the health board’s board of directors. She was also a dental assistant and an elder’s coordinator. 

She speaks three languages — Inuktitut, English and French. 

Her approach to being chairperson of the health board will focus on the needs of youth and elders, continuing positive change in respect to Inuit way and Inuit knowledge.

Tukkiapik’s board-issued biography said she wants to set an example for youth by showing that participation and being ambitious is not gated by age, pointing that one of her greatest gifts given by her parents was her critical thinking. 

RCMP said the two incidents happened minutes apart early on Saturday morning and are believed to be linked, and related to the local drug trade.

The chief of Pedzéh Kı̨ First Nation says his community does not oppose the highway but takes issue with the current proposed route, which enters moose habitat and runs over unstable landslide-prone areas.

RCMP in Fort Smith are asking for the public’s assistance related to two incidents in the community on the morning of February 15.

Patricia Lamha and Kevin Chaput started the petition after Lamha was seriously injured in a crash last month in the Swift River area, between Watson Lake and Teslin, Yukon.

RCMP in Hay River are asking for the public's help locating a suspect charged with several firearms-related offences.

The Ottawa Police Service is asking for the public’s help to find a missing 36-year-old woman.

Susan Tagak was last seen Feb. 5 in downtown Ottawa with Police and her family concerned for her well-being, Ottawa police said in a press release on Friday.

Police described Tagak as an Indigenous woman five feet two inches tall with dark, curly hair that has been dyed blue. She has a heavy build and wears glasses, the police statement said.

She has been seen wearing a beige winter vest, green army style jacket, green fleece pants and black shoes, the police release says.

Anyone with information on Tagak’s whereabouts is asked to call the Ottawa Police at 613-236-1222 or to submit an anonymous tip by calling Crime Stoppers toll-free at 1-800-222-8477 or at crimestoppers.ca.

The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt near Inukjuak may well be the oldest accessible volcanic rock formation on Earth, but increased scientific interest in the region is causing irreparable damage to the land.

And that has forced residents to put their foot down to find a solution.

As a place where scientific research meets the will of Inuit as stewards of the land, the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt — 40 kilometres south of Inukjuak — captured interest from researchers around the world after scientists theorized that it could contain some of the oldest rocks on Earth in 2008.

Further research by University of Ottawa professor Jonathan O’Neil in 2017 suggests parts of the rock formation, which includes garnet, quartz and biotite, are 4.3 billion years old.

Scarred land

After that, excitement rose among geologists around the world. They wanted to visit Inukjuak to validate for themselves whether this was truly the oldest rock on Earth, and benefit from the potentially groundbreaking research that could come from that.

But that excitement was to the detriment of Inukjuak residents.

“The amount of rock that was taken throughout the years, drilled and excavated, really made the environment look not appealing anymore,” said Tommy Palliser, president of the Pituvik Landholding Corp., in a phone interview.

Inukjuak residents found some of the excavated rocks for sale online, a few going for as much as $20,000.

“There was no real benefit to us to have geologists come in and just drill, do what they want to the land and take what they want,” Palliser said.

Researchers were bringing power tools and generators to excavate, “doing a lot of damage to the land, without any repercussions.”

“No information was shared with us, no consent given. It left a bad taste in our mouth,” he said.

This prompted Inukjuammiut to take action. In spring 2024, they barred geologists from accessing the community until regulations could be implemented.

“We felt like we wanted to put everything on hold until we proceed with proper policies,” Palliser said. “We don’t want any more destruction to our land, and I guess non-consensual selling of rocks as well.”

For now, the region is closed to researchers, with only visitors allowed.

Protecting the land from research

Currently, Pituvik is looking for ways to protect the land from rock extraction and sampling. It has floated the idea of having Nuvvuagittuq designated as a provincial park.

That way, funding could be secured to establish infrastructure to monitor research within its boundaries, and to hire staff to accommodate tourists and researchers alike.

“We were not organized, we were caught off guard,” Palliser acknowledged.

Closing the region to researchers was a way for Pituvik to buy some time. Currently, it is looking into permits and securing funding so it can make its pitch to the Quebec government to make it a provincial park.

“We were taken advantage of by being so welcoming. We didn’t know that the researchers, the geologists, would take such large amounts, bring in such heavy tools,” he said.

Palliser expects it will take about two years to get everything ready. “Probably by 2027, we should have it formally open again,” he said.

Importance of good scientific practices

Trust needs to be established between Inuit and the scientific community to acquire the best results and build lasting partnerships.

“We are following [the Nuvvuagituq] situation closely because of the precedent it sets,” said Jean-Éric Tremblay, director of the Institut Nordique du Québec, or Centre for Northern Studies, in a French interview.

Building trust in communities is “extremely important, and we work on it a lot,” he said. Founded in 2014 and led by Laval University in Quebec City, the institute has 250 researchers working across the north of Quebec.

What happened in Inukjuak “ just goes to show how important it is to get it right when searching in the North,” Tremblay said.

“It is not just about consultations done at the beginning, it is about real partnership in the research where all parameters of the research are discussed openly beforehand.”

Tremblay said a distinction must be made between university scientists and researchers, and private researchers who might not be led by scientific guidelines.

“There are other organizations that took massive samples that are not scientists as such,” he said, adding no real scientist would sell rocks after sampling them.

Tremblay pointed to the Atanniuvik project — started by Nunavik organizations to establish research governance in the region — as the direction research regulation should take in the North.

According to its latest news release, Atanniuvik will engage with communities across Nunavik to create research review committees in each village.

“This [organization] will help a lot in avoiding these problems” Tremblay said.

The Nunavut government is rolling out new software to manage invoice payments, job competitions and — eventually — payroll.

The Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning Platform is scheduled to go into effect at the Government of Nunavut this month, said Hala Duale, spokesperson with the Finance Department.

“This will replace the aging financial and [human resources] systems we have been using for over 20 years,” she said Friday in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

The government will use the system to manage internal day-to-day operations, such as paying invoices, collecting revenues, managing assets and tracking job competitions.

“We are not releasing anything to do with payroll now,” Duale said.

“Later, many months from now, the GN plans to release modules related to payroll, time, and attendance. These are complex, and it is important we give ourselves the time to develop and test them thoroughly.”

Oracle is a U.S.-based cloud computing company.

Several government organizations use Oracle for data management, including Ontario and Nova Scotia’s health systems. Other customers include the cities of San Francisco, Tampa and Memphis, the Panama Canal, and Port Authority of Jamaica, according to the Oracle website.

“This is a big change,” Duale said of the government’s adoption of the new software.

“It will take a while for the GN to get comfortable with the system.”

The Nunavut Employees Union is monitoring the rollout of the new system.

“We advocated for training on the new system and were told no jobs would be lost in its implementation by the employer,” said Jason Rochon, the union’s president, in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

“While we cannot comment on the new payroll system, which is yet to be implemented, our hopes are that it better supports GN employees, many of whom are our members, instead of making things more difficult like the Phoenix system did federally.”

The Phoenix system is a software platform for managing payroll implemented by the federal government in spring 2016. Its introduction almost immediately caused many tens of thousands of federal workers to be paid incorrectly over two years, including unionized public servants in Nunavut.

The union plans to listen to its members as the payroll system rolls out and will take “necessary action” if the system fails government employees, Rochon said.

The Nunavut Employees Union represents more than 4,000 of the territory’s public servants, excluding teachers, who have their own agreement with the government.

Human Resources Minister Pamela Gross announced the change Nov. 1. At the time, she heralded the new software as “state of the art” and a “milestone.”

In addition to cutting back on paperwork, Gross said the system will “significantly improve the quality, quantity and timeliness” of workforce data management.

We're days from a change 10 years in the making: NTPC taking over Hay River's power franchise. Multiple outages are planned and a debate about rates is ongoing.

After the upheaval of the past week's clinic closure, Yellowknife's veterinarians are talking about the possibility of closer collaboration within the industry.

Who tracks the track? The City of Yellowknife said it had lost access to monthly data that could show the impact of ending fees at its fieldhouse walking track.

Chiefs gathered in Délı̨nę for a Dene Nation special assembly to discuss topics like the future of child and family services and access to cash for housing.

Amber Bracken and Kiliii Yuyan are among the star photographers appearing at Yellowknife's 2025 Far North Photo Festival later this month. Here's the schedule.

The Yellowknife Car Share Co-op says a newly acquired 2023 Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle is now stationed outside a downtown apartment block.

A number of teachers have resigned in Naujaat, Nunavut, leaving half of the positions at the community's high school unfilled. 

Drivers on Highway 5 to and from Fort Smith can expect to see a bison collaring operation by the roadside in Wood Buffalo National Park this week.

The closure of Yellowknife’s Great Slave Animal Hospital has left both pet owners and animal care non-profits in N.W.T. scrambling to find veterinary care.

Yellowknife Elks Lodge will donate $250,000 to the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation over the coming decade, the foundation said on Saturday.

Minnie's Hope is now in larger building. With support from major donors, the expansion allows for specialized services ensuring children receive care within their community rather than having to travel south.

The National Advisory Committee on Residential Schools Missing Children and Unmarked Burials supports Indigenous communities through efforts to identify, locate and commemorate children who died at residential schools.

The Yellowknife veterinarian whose team lost access to Great Slave Animal Hospital on Friday wants pet owners to know: "We have a plan." This is that plan.

A vehicle fire on Friday evening was part of a "targeted situation related to criminal activity," the Town of Fort Smith said, adding police are investigating.

The Council of Yukon First Nations has finished work on a new temporary housing facility for Indigenous women and children in Whitehorse, and expects to welcome the first clients next week.

Once Calvin Gillings coaxed his car into charging, it began smoking under the hood. 'And then it actually caught fire underneath my wife’s seat,' he said.

Happy Saturday and welcome back to the quiz! Five questions to see if you were following the North’s news over the past week.

1. Nolinor Aviation said recently it wants to expand its service to the North by adding to its fleet of planes by the end of the decade. What is unique about the planes it wants to buy?

A. They have a blended-wing-body design.
B. They are designed to efficiently land on ice.
C. Their larger-than-usual windows provide improved views for passengers.

2. Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. saw its voter turnout skyrocket in December when it offered $100 gift cards to everyone who showed up to vote. Turnout rose to 66.7 per cent, compared to 17 per cent in 2021. Makivvik did not offer incentives when it held elections for two positions last week. What percentage of eligible voters showed up to cast a ballot?

A. 64 per cent
B. 51.1 per cent
C. 19.4 per cent

3. In Iqaluit last week, Audley Coley was honoured by the Nunavut Black History Society with a lifetime achievement award. What did he do to receive the award?

A. He’s an author specializing in Arctic history.
B. He’s a well-known actor who appeared in several Hollywood movies.
C. He’s a professional dancer and mental health advocate.

4. Canada is dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats, and our Arctic friends in Greenland can feel our pain. Two of the following three scenarios actually did play out this week regarding Greenland’s future. Which one is fiction?

A. A bill was introduced in Congress for the U.S. to acquire Greenland and rename it Red White and Blueland.
B. The Make Greenland Great Again Act was sponsored in the House of Representatives authorizing Trump to negotiate the acquisition of Greenland.
C. Trump offered to contribute the first million dollars himself so the U.S. can purchase Greenland in a cash deal.

5. Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok joined Canada’s other premiers in Washington D.C. this week to convince Trump administration officials to back off on their threats to impose tariffs on Canadian imports. Which premier led the charge?

A. Quebec’s François Legault
B. Ontario’s Doug Ford
C. Alberta’s Danielle Smith

Audley Coley is this year’s recipient of the Sankofa Lifetime Achievement Award from the Nunavut Black History Society on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Audley Coley)

Answers

1. A — The blended-wing-body is considered hyper-efficient, according to Nolinor, so it can work with a smaller engine than most other planes of similar size.
2. C — It was 19.4 per cent, meaning four out of five voters couldn’t be bothered to cast a ballot.
3. C — Audley Coley is all of that, and he also established a dance program for young people in Iqaluit and volunteered to teach dance in schools there.
4. C — Trump didn’t offer to spend his own money to buy Greenland. Not yet, at least. Incredibly, answers A and B actually did happen.
5. B — Ontario Premier Doug Ford led the trip as chairperson of the Council of the Federation whose membership includes all the premiers with an aim to promote co-operation between the provinces and territories.

Indigenous women in Fort Smith are growing businesses ranging from medical travel support to pottery classes. Here's how they're getting help to do that.

Yellowknife's mayor urged residents to fly the flag on Saturday, marking 60 years since Canada’s red and white maple leaf was first raised on Parliament Hill.

The entire world needs to understand that U.S. President Donald Trump’s talk about annexing Canada is a non-starter, and the time has come to stand up and say so.

What seemed months ago as a quip about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau becoming the governor of America’s 51^st state has morphed into Trumpian foreign policy that now makes headlines on a daily basis.

How serious is it? Trudeau told a hastily arranged meeting of business leaders last week that he believes Trump’s desire to annex Canada is a “real thing.”

Trump confirmed, in an interview with Fox News before Sunday’s Super Bowl game, that his talk is real.

“Canada would be much better off being the 51^st state,” he said in that television interview.

On Wednesday, Trudeau repeated in a press conference his line that “there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell” of that happening.

Trump has not clearly spelled out why he believes Canada should be the 51^st state. He has cited the American trade deficit with Canada, Canada’s shortfall on defence spending, and more recently its abundance of critical minerals — much of which is located underneath Nunavut and other parts of the Canadian North.

Whatever the reason, Canadians have been left stunned by how our country’s historically close relationship with the U.S. has soured so quickly. We’re hurt, angry, confused.

Canadian political leaders, including Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok and his Quebec counterpart François Legault, travelled to Washington this week in a bid to head off the looming trade war that would happen if Trump imposes 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods coming into his country.

A 25 per cent surcharge on aluminium and steel is now also on the docket for all countries, including Canada, which if imposed will add up to 50 per cent tariffs on those Canadian goods.

But while premiers gird for a trade war, Canada could use help fending off Trump’s unwanted “51^st state” advances. It would help if other world leaders could echo Trudeau’s oft-used “snowball’s chance” sentiment.

That rhetoric has been heated up to the point that it’s time for the international community to step in and cool it off. Canada could really use some trusted world leaders — France’s Emmanuel Macron or the U.K.’s Keir Starmer — to come to our aid and tell Americans and their president annexation is a non-starter.

So far, Trump has only threatened to use economic force to bend Canada to his will, which is bad enough. Things could be worse. Ask Greenland, a country Trump has publicly mused about using military force to take over because he sees it as part of America’s international security plans.

An American annexation of Canada would rock the world order and would have implications for Canada’s NATO allies and for the United Nations. That’s why other world leaders need to be the grown-ups in the room and tell Trump to knock off the 51^st-state talk.

Trump’s talk of annexing Canada is not only a betrayal of a 200-year peaceful, prosperous partnership between the two nations, it’s a betrayal of the principle of national self-determination — the idea that people should be free to choose how they’re governed and by whom.

It’s one of the ideas that made the United States great in the first place.

Natasha Simonee is a teacher, volunteer, environmentalist, researcher and avid seamstress from Pond Inlet.

She has worked as a high school teacher for six years and in the past year has also taken on the new role of offering career guidance to students.

Over the years, she has contributed to several scientific research projects including Niqivut (Our Food), an article for Canadian Science Publishing on the significance of country food in Nunavut, and worked with a McMaster University environmental researcher on Sila Qanuippa? (How’s the Weather?).

Recently, Simonee took time to answer the Proust Questionnaire.

What’s your idea of perfect happiness?

Spend time at my cabin, out camping, exploring nature and getting to sharing that time with my family and friends.

What is your greatest fear?

Sometimes it’s heights, sometimes it’s water, but above all my greatest fear would be not being able to go camping and enjoying nature.

I say that because I think of the effects of climate change and global warming, and I fear that I might not be able to have that experience within my lifetime.

What is your greatest achievement?

I think it’s having a family of my own. Working a full-time job and enjoying my job. Being able to stand on my own two feet and provide a safe home for my kids.

What is your current state of mind?

It’s good. I’m happy. The sun has finally risen over the horizon, and I’m looking forward to longer days.

It’s happy times.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

Like. I don’t know. LOL.

On what occasions do you lie?

When my students ask me about my age. They are always trying to guess my age. I started it in my first year of teaching because I pretty young, and in the beginning I feared that our age gap was too close.

It turned into a game. They try to use the amount of grey hair to be able to determine my age.

Which talent would you like to have?

I wish I could sing. I love singing, I love music. But I just don’t have a singing voice or ear. I could not tell you the difference between two notes.

What is your greatest regret?

I wish I’d started sewing and paying attention to cultural activity sooner.

I wish I had paid attention to my grandmother when she was sewing, or that I took the time to learn from her when she was still here.

I wish I had this eagerness or willingness to learn and try sooner.

Where would you like to live?

At my cabin. All the time.

If I didn’t need to have a job, pay bills and all of that, I’d 100 per cent live in my cabin.

What is your most treasured possession?

Two amautis that my mother carried me in when I was a baby. I wear them, but only on special occasions.

What do you most value in your friends?

Time. We don’t live in the same community, so when we do get together we try to spend as much time with each other as we can.

What is your motto?

Live in the moment. Live life to the fullest, smile and find happiness in whatever it is that you’re doing.

Once in front of God, what would you tell him?

Thank you.

Nunatsiaq News is borrowing the old Proust Questionnaire parlour game to get to know people who are in the news. If you know someone in your community who our readers should get to know by taking this questionnaire, let us know by email: [email protected].

Two youths in Umiujaq, Que., took their own lives within the span of several weeks in late 2024. Now, advocates are calling for mental health services oriented toward the Inuit way of doing things.

N.W.T.'s premier has responded to a proposed voting bloc by three regular MLAs by saying that the Legislative Assembly can only achieve its priorities through a "co-operative approach" where all members shape decision-making. 

Things have gotten a little weird lately with the U.S. and Canada, but one small-town mayor in Alaska hopes his town can still be Valentines with its neighbours across the border in the Yukon.