Iqaluit Christmas Lights

1st Place

Each year the city holds a Christmas light competition. 

2nd Place

Tinah, Lisa and I drove around on judging night checking out the houses. 

4th Place

The entries were not listing anywhere so we tried to hit every street and I took some photos of our favourites.

6th Place

The results were posted on facebook this week, we learn a lot from facebook up here :-)

Winter Solstice

On December 21, 2011 the sun rose over Iqaluit at 0922, it will set at 1342 this afternoon. This photo was taken at 12 noon. It had been snowing all morning and the clouds were just starting to clear enough to make out the sun. I am happy to note that the ice looks to be reaching further out to sea.

Hello Ron

This morning we decided to check the snow cover. I was not feeling bold enough to drive my sled and Blaine's sporty little number doesn't take passengers so we headed out along the beach on my sled. We left the dogs at home to reduce the number of variables that could stress me out and we made it as far as the FOL (the military Forward Operating Location just the other side of the airport) before deciding to turn back due to lack of snow. Back home we took pity on the puppies and decided to take them to the beach for a run. Blaine drove Sage down on the sled and I walked Johnny.

About half way down, just by the kids' playground Johnny and I were surprised to see a big black dog running at us. Sage had evidently decided to leave her master and come looking for the weaker members of her pack. We continued towards the beach when Sage spotted a man in a black Canada Goose parka and, failing to notice that 90% of the population look the same all winter, assumed that must be daddy so she kept running off with me yelling at her to come back. Finally the excitement was too much and she bolted across the road and went bounding up to the unsuspecting pedestrian. 

Embarrassed, I apologized profusely. The happily unscathed gent said "you must be Emma, I'm Ron" I just said hello and carried on in search of Blaine. My brain must have been affected by the cold or perhaps the petrol fumes from my sled as I utterly failed to make a very simple connection until about 5 minutes later... Ron is, I assume, my fellow blogger Ron Wassink and I missed an opportunity to congratulate him in person on his awesome photography and commitment to this odd form of communication. Please accept this public apology for my rudeness!

Christmas Craft Fair

On Saturday December 3 we went to the Innuksuk High School craft fair. I was so busy shopping that I didn't take any photos of the three rooms packed with tables overflowing with goodies. Items for sale included:

Photos of local wildlife and scenery

Carvings by local artists

Lots of sealskin mittens and kamiks

Christmas tree decorations

Cakes, cookies and bannock (but no hot dogs)

Handmade jewelry

Christmas cards

Paintings, block prints and sketches

I cannot divulge my purchases here as that would spoil the surprise for the recipients!

Ice Puppies NU

With the windchill it is -37C (-35F) this evening but there is not enough snow for skidoos yet so we are still playing on the quads. My skidoo has heated grips, my quad does not. I layered up with thermal socks and Sorel glacier boots, fleece track pants under my snowboard pants, a long sleeve T-shirt and a hoodie under my trusty Canada Goose jacket, a fleece toque under my full face helmet, and finally fleece mittens under my sealskin mittens. Johnny has been pretty pathetic recently so he too got dressed up in his Muttluk boots and padded jacket, Sage is hardcore so she went naked. Blaine is fairly hardcore so he wore normal clothes under his snow pants and CG jacket.

Suitably attired we drove the two blocks down to the beach where we let Sage off to run the kilometer or so down to sealift beach. Sage was so excited when we got there that Johnny's feet hadn't even hit the ground before she had him by the neck for some canine wrestling. The dogs played while Blaine did donuts on the ice then we took a moment to admire the broad green smear of the Aurora Borealis. Johnny has learned the hard way that is he wants up on the quad or the skidoo he needs to come jump on my foot, he gave the signal and I hauled him up then we drove home. Now we are nice and warm on the couch watching Ice Pilots NWT - laughing at how we used to think they were insane for living in the north.

November Road Trip

During the first week of November Blaine was out in Vancouver taking a course at JIBC, the third week of November I am attending a conference in Toronto. We took the second week as a vacation and met up in Ottawa for a road trip south.

My flight arrived at 5pm and I took a taxi to the Hilton Garden Inn where I picked up our truck then headed over to Bayshore Mall for a cut and colour. I had a couple of hours to kill so watched Puss in Boots in 3D then headed back to the airport to collect Blaine from his flight. Soon we were on the road and arrived at the Thousand Islands border crossing around 1:30am. As usual they were very confused by the Nunavut plates and couldn't wrap their heads around the idea that we had travelled to Ottawa from different locations but the one thing they kept asking about was money. We sat inside for an hour while the whole night shift pulled apart our truck looking for the bag full of cash that Blaine was going to use to buy cigarettes to smuggle back into Canada. We later discovered that they had taken a knife to one of Blaine's bags. Of course they didn't find anything so instead of apologizing for holding us up for an hour the duchebag guard covered up his embarrassment by telling us over and over and over that we should buy a new truck in the US. Asshole. The next place of any size was Watertown NY where we found the cheap motel to be full. To my continued annoyance I paid $130 to stay in a shitty ass Comfort Inn because I was too exhausted to argue or go to another hotel.

Sunday morning we consumed as much free breakfast as humanly possible then jumped in the truck and continued south. Our ultimate destination was Atlanta GA but we were fairly flexible about how to get there so with a combination of maps, sat navs and our awesome brains we devised the route on the fly and headed for the Appalachian Mountains. The clock change and mother nature combined forces to make it dark as we approached the range and after a few hours dodging deer we decided to stop at the Red Roof Inn near Roanoke WV. We had planned to drive to Lynchburg TN to visit the Jack Daniels distillery but since it is in the middle of a dry county the idea became less attractive. Some googling taught us that the entire state of Tennessee is by default dry, counties and cities can opt out and choose to sell liquor by the drink or retail. The JD distillery can sell JD retail but you can't drink it. Since Mr Daniels' product is widely available and our time in Ireland and scotland had taught us all we need to know about making the stuff we elected to skip the tour on this trip.

Monday we filled up the truck and headed to Bristol Motor Speedway where we were allowed to roam around the track all on our own. We inspected the safer barriers, stood in victory lane, ran across the finish line and marveled at the angle of the banking. The guy in the gift store recommended Cracker Barrel for lunch. Unconvinced we went along for lack of a better idea and were pretty impressed. I had chicken and dumplings which was poached white chicken meat served with thick pieces of pasta like dough about the size of a gnocchi, covered in a white sauce. Really simple and really good. Because Blaine is such an awesome husband and driver we made it all the way to Douglasville GA where we went to Hooters for dinner. This was my first Hooters experience and Blaine tells me it was not as good as the one in Texas. I liked the deep fried pickle slices and am thinking of basing my 2012 Burning Man costume on the Hooters uniform.

Tuesday morning we drove to the very well hidden Tactical Armour Group workshop to get the Tahoe fitted with a custom rear bumper. Originally we were to arrive on Wednesday but it turns out that we needed that extra day... he asked us to come back at noon as it wasn't ready yet so we drove down to Atlanta Motor Speedway which is an enormous track. We couldn't get on the track itself but we did go in the stands and drive around the outside. I wanted to eat a peach but I guess November is a little late and we didn't see any roadside peach stands to satisfy my craving. Back in Douglasville we left the truck and took Kyle's car to the disappointing mall, then for some disappointing BBQ. Liquor stores here are called package stores, we found one and got some JD honey and a big bottle of Gentleman Jack. Dominic asked me to report on prices... 750ml is around $25, 1.75l is around $60. Back at TAG we hung around trying to be unobtrusive but hoping they would hurry up. We walked to the gas station and bought some "World Famous Boiled Peanuts" which are presumably famous for being so vile. Around 4pm we learned that there was a problem with the bumper and that they would have to completely rebuild the whole thing which would take 8 hours. Strangely enough we were quite happy because by this point we had decided to visit as many NASCAR tracks as possible so we took our bumper less truck to Talladega AB. We arrived just before dusk and drove down to the security booth near the track where the old man security guard (who we later learned is called Crowbar) informed us that we were trespassing. We took this information and drove on to the bizarre town of Talladega which is populated almost exclusively by fas food restaurants. Embracing the cards we had been dealt we checked into the Super 8 and bought a bucket of chicken from the KFC across the street.

Wednesday morning we breakfasted at a BBQ place next door to the RBC and pondered the presence of the Royal Bank of Canada in Alabama. Both of us failed to consider that we were in the US so ended up with enormous plates of meat and carbs, all of which was delicious. At the Talladega Super Speedway we paid $8 each to be driven around the track by a charming chap. We were allowed out to take pictures at Victory Lane but no track or stands access. As you might expect the bumper installation was not without issues but we did get on the road and drove to Charlotte NC where we ate at the DDD featured Cabo Fish Taco then checked in to a hotel near the track so we could visit as soon as they opened in the morning.

Thursday we had an ambitious day planned: Charlotte to Dover via Martinsville and Richmond. Charlotte Motor Speedway was another lock down location so we were only able to visit the gift shop and take some photos by the sign then head north into Virginia to visit Martinsville. the only souvenir left was a mug which we bought but it messed up our shot glass collection... Guess it is just a really big shot glass. The track was awesome, just like Bristol they let us wander around freely and Blaine even climbed up into the box over the finish line where the guy waves the flags. At Richmond International Raceway we climbed way up to the new Commonwealth Tower and looked down on the track but we couldn't get onto the track itself. We jumped back kin the truck and drove to Arlington for another DDD hit before continuing to Dover DE where we got to the gift store in the Casino 15 minutes before it closed. There were no rooms at the casino so we stayed across the way in the trusty Red Roof Inn where we hauled in all our bags to do a little repacking and to audit our collection of NASCAR hats, T-shirts, mugs and shot glasses.

Friday morning we drove over to the track and were intrigued to watch them preparing for a harness race. There is a horse race track running inside the oval, to access it they have poured a bridge of gravel across turn 4. We could only get onto the inside stands so were behind glass, around the far side we took our photo with the giant monster but were a little disappointed that there was no sign saying "Monster Mile" I guess maybe you are just supposed to know that. Blaine very sweetly drove around looking for welcome to Maryland and Delaware signs to humor me in my photographic quest, we didn't find any but we did get shakes from Hardee's then plugged Orange County Choppers into the sat nav and headed north through New Jersey and into New York state. I bought Johnny an awesome pleather biker jacket - can't wait to dress him up hee hee. Our accommodations for the evening were not a hotel, thanks to Facebook I learned that my school friend Lynne now lives in Garrison NY (alas not NJ as in Copland) so we spent the evening drinking wine and catching up.

Saturday morning we feasted on croissants and fruit salad then headed back to Ottawa. We decided to cross the border at Cornwall Island to check out the Mohawk blockade, to get there we drove through the beautiful Adirondack Mountains and the picturesque town of Lake Placid which has twice hosted the winter Olympics. Our border crossing was uneventful and there was no blockade for Blaine to join so we drove to Walmart and bought groceries for him to take home instead.

Sunday we dragged ourselves out of bed and Blaine just made the flight. I stayed in Ottawa for a couple of days doing more shopping. Last night something bit me on my finger, both arms and my left eyelid so I am swollen and itchy and feeling sorry for myself as I sit on the train bound for Toronto, I hope this doesn't impact my enjoyment of the waters at Body Blitz Spa this afternoon.

Aeroplan

My dislike of Air Canada is no secret. However, I am a fervent collector of Aeroplan points, signing up for offers at every opportunity. Why? Because 15,000 Aeroplan points gets you a 'short haul' return flight which is defined as to an adjacent province or territory. Nunavut is Ontario's northern neighbour so what is usually a $1,800 return flight can be had for as little as $37.56. 

Of course you pay in some way:

• You have to fly Air Canada at every opportunity to earn miles, 
• You have to plan way ahead and be very flexible with your dates (only 2 seats on each flight between Ottawa and Iqaluit are points seats)
• You have to endure the tedium of telephoning the aeroplan contact centre with the annoying voice recognition call handling computer,
• Finally after being told that it looks like you can book, you have to wait a nailbiting 48 hours to see if your flight is avialable

Happily I survived all these challenges and have a seat on a flight out of here en route to San Francisco for our annual snowboarding holiday at Heavenly in South Lake Tahoe. Yes I know it seems a little crazy to leave the arctic in the middle of winter to go snowboarding but we don't have hot tubs here, the snow is hard pack ice and it it ffffreezing whereas SLT will be mild, covered in pow and home to many steaming hot tubs. See you there!

Iqaluit Swap / Sell

Iqalummiut don't use Craigslist, instead we have a Facebook page where people list items for sale. Often there is a colourful debate in the comments as to the quality and value of the item which provides endless entertainment, to me anyhow. Here are some of the more unusual things that we can buy (click on the images for a bigger picture)

bowhead whale baleen

A fresh walrus head

Two fat caribou

Hmm, typing those captions gave me an idea... maybe we could rewrite the lyrics to "A Partridge in a Pear Tree"

Getting ready for winter

Two weeks without an update, you could be forgiven for thinking we had lost our satellite again. The truth is I have been busy. Last weekend we were getting ready for winter which involved me standing in the sunshine drinking coffee (bundled in my Canada Goose jacket and wearing gloves) watching Blaine work:

He has converted the crate that our sealift came in into an insulated house for the puppies. Naturally they prefer to sit outside in the cold looking pathetic instead of enjoying the warmth of their palatial box.
We had lifted the back of my skidoo up to stop the track getting iced in, unfortunately we had not taken the same precautions with the skis. Many jugs of hot water and some effort later the sled was released from the ice and lengths of wood placed under the skis to prevent repetition.
Fred and Stephane arrived with Blaine's new sled so we reshuffled the toy parking. There is not enough snow to go out on the land yet and the sea is still liquid so the sleds are parked by the house with the quads in front.

Overnight on October 1 the snow fell heavily and covered Iqaluit with a white blanket which has remained. Since then we have had several cool days and more snow, warm days have only succeeded in melting the snow enough to turn the whole city into a skating rink. The forecast is for more snow this weekend and as I type the wind is blowing swirls of fresh snow into the porch where the dogs are barking and messing around instead of sheltering in their house. I am beginning to hear talk of the sea ice forming in November. We can't wait for it to be thick enough to get out on our sleds!

Ground Control to Major Tom...

All 28 communities in Nunavut rely entirely on satellite to connect with the outside world. For example, our Internet service is delivered through fibre optic cables here in Iqaluit, and our telephone service through wires. However the onwards connection is provided by satellite. There is no cabling running under Hudson Bay. 

Our communications are delivered through three of Telesat's Anik satellites. Anik means little brother in Inuktitut, there are four little brothers in the Anik family: F1 serves South America; F1R, F2 and F3 provide service to North America. The satellites broadcast on C, Ka and Ku bands. The lower frequency C band is the original frequency for communications satellites, Ku and Ka bands are higher frequency. As far as I can tell the three bands used together give a more reliable service as each has its own advantages and disadvantages, this Wikipedia article explains some of it. 

Early in the morning of Thursday October 6, 2011 Telesat's Anik F2 satellite malfunctioned. It soon became evident that most of our communications are routed through F2 as the entire Territory was without so many things that we take for granted. No Internet access, long distance telephone calls, cell phone service, ATMs, visa or debit payment, radar communications...

Air traffic ceased because air traffic control couldn't operate. Nobody could leave and no flights could land. This may not sound especially important but consider that we rely on daily flights to bring our mail and groceries, the hospital uses air cargo to bring in medical supplies. Qikiktani General Hospital cannot provide all services and patients are regularly Med-Evaced to Ottawa, similarly patients from hamlets are transported to Iqaluit for treatment at QGH.

Not knowing if the outage would last for hours or days, Nunavummiut began to reflect on their vulnerability:

• A friend was going on holiday and had no way of contacting the friend who was collecting her at her destination.
• Another friend celebrated his birthday with no phone calls from family.
• Banks closed as they couldn't access their banking systems.
• The RCMP broadcast a message on CBC radio asking detachments to call a sat phone number.
• Employers sweated it out wondering how employees could be paid, there was no way to initiate the normal payroll through direct deposit and even if there was no one could withdraw the cash, cheques couldn't be cashed as the banks were all closed.
• People raided their piggy banks to buy the ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner.
• Someone jokingly speculated that Russia was invading, first taking out communications then they would hit the power plant.

Just as we went to bed at 11pm our Internet service was restored, communications returned and by Friday morning everything was back to normal. We all got paid and we are not speaking Russian.

Our personal preparedness plan stood up well to this and other recent tests. Thanks to sealift we have lots of food both for us and the dogs, we have cash to buy things, a generator and gas to provide power and now that snow is plentiful the dogs won't go thirsty! Turns out the all hazards approach is a solid one, our BC training for earthquake, tsunami, flooding and storm threats works just fine in the Arctic too. 

Is your family prepared?

Mega High Tide

Thursday morning saw an unusually high tide, I was late for work because I was taking photographs. Alas I realize that I didn't get any shots of the hoards of gumboot clad Iqalummiut heading out on boats armed with buckets to harvest clams at low tide.

This week's tide table

The roadway to the breakwater was flooded

Normally dry shacks got their feet wet

There is a bench just to the left of the upturned boat, it was completely submerged.

We usually drive onto the beach here, these fishermen had to wade along one of the old breakwaters to their boat

Normally we drive our cars along the beach in front of the boat that you see floating in the centre of the picture

A Hike in Sylvia Grinnell Park

City of Iqaluit employees are fortunate to have two cultural days in addition to our vacation allowance. The days are officially for berry picking and clam digging but there is no requirement that you partake in these activities. As Blaine is away I decided to take Monday and Tuesday off to hang out with the dogs and catch up on some chores. This morning I took the dogs for an invigorating hike through Sylvia Grinnell Territorial park. Named after the daughter of one of American explorer Charles Francis Hall's benefactors, the park is just on the other side of our airport. 

The hike took us an hour and according to Google maps is about 3.6km, Johnny and Sage enjoyed chasing the ravens and roaming around enjoying the smells. Nunavut parks has marked the trail but doesn't offer a distance, only approximate times. From the main car park we followed the red trail which is a cross country scramble over the tundra along a windy ridge to the dizzying height of 68m above sea level. The trail brings you out at the far car park, which was the mid way point for the Terry Fox run. We then made a U turn and followed a neat gravel path back along the river heading downstream.

No photos as I didn't feel like carrying the big DSLR with me and it was cold, windy and raining. However it was a beautiful walk and I encourage all my Iqaluit readers to head out and enjoy it for themselves. I walked into the wind on the way out so that it was to my back on the return and suggest that you do the same.

You can read more about the park here.

North Mart Used Autos - Update

This weekend we actually went up to the vehicles on offer to check them out.

2008 Dodge Ram double cab Pick Up $29,094.92

2007 GMC Canyon crew cab $25,157.07

My favourite - they crossed out $20,988.95 and put it up to $22,677.90

awesome play on words

Is it just me or does the pricing seem a little odd? I am used to car prices being along the lines of $22,995 or $17,750 but I don't think I have ever seen it to the penny before.

S'Mores Pizza

I can hear all my non North American friends saying what is a S'More? It is such a staple of North American childhood and camping that the three people in whom I confided my S'Mores virginity screamed "What do you mean you've never had a S'More?" in disbelief. The name S'More is thought to be a contraction of the words some and more because once you have had one you will want some more. It consists of a marshmallow roasted over the campfire and then sandwiched along with a thin piece of chocolate between two Graham Crackers. What is a Graham Cracker, well not like anything else really so use digestives instead.

Last night I wanted to celebrate my new KitchenAid mixer by making up a batch of pizza dough, a task that my previous mixer doesn't relish performing. But I also wanted something sweet, then I remembered reading a recipe for S'Mores Pizza in my Guy Fieri cookbook . The pizza dough recipe that I like is from my Jamie Oliver's American Road Trip book. I use half bread flour and half plain flour only because bread flour is hard to come by here. The motor on my 575 watt mixer only started to get hot when the dough was ready which was fine by me.

I let the dough prove for about 40 minutes while I prepared my S'More ingredients:

• plain chocolate
• marshmallows
• toasted almonds
• Graham Cracker crumbs (yes you buy biscuits ready crushed in North America) mixed with melted butter and a little chipotle pepper

After the dough had almost doubled in size I used my ulu to cut it into quarters. Jamie says his dough recipe is for two pizzas but I make four out of it and still find the crusts plenty thick enough. I attempted tossing the dough but it never works for me so I sort of pull and stretch it instead. While my Canadian friend Nancy provided cultural guidance via FaceTime I cooked the plain base. Closely supervised I scattered the toppings in order - chocolate, marshmallows, nuts then biscuit/chilli mix over the hot base then put it back in the oven for less than 5 minutes until it looked about right.

 

Blaine got home shortly after the finished product came out of the oven and was pleasantly surprised by my baking adventures. He tells me that it was even better than the original S'More. I found it almost orgasmically good and swear I was on a sugar high all day today from the residual sugar levels.

Joint Emergency Services Ceremony

Sunday September 11th 2011 at 0930, Iqaluit Fire Department was the scene for a multi-agency ceremony. The event was organized to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Centre attacks and to pay tribute to the over 1,000 Canadian firefighters who have lost their lives since 1848.

RCMP members were an impressive sight as they marched from their V-Division Headquarters to City Hall.

Representatives from Municipal Enforcement, Canadian Forces, RCMP, Iqaluit International Airport Fire Department, and Iqaluit Fire Department formed a guard on the tarmac in front of the Fire Hall. 

Deputy Fire Chief Blaine Wiggins was Master of Ceremonies, Councillor Stephen Mansell gave opening remarks on behalf of the City of Iqaluit, and Father Daniel Perreault from Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Parish led the service.

 

 

Firefighter Solomon Tagak read the roll call of those firefighters who lost their lives during the past year:

Alex MacDonald  Ottawa, ON

William Lawrence Prescott, ON

Terrence Graham  Saint John, NB  

Ronald Clowes  Grand Falls, NB

Alex Harris  Edmonton, AB

Nathan Jackson  Lac La Biche, AB

Bob Chalmers  Edmonton, AB

Francis Cardinal  Lac La Biche, AB

James McDonald  Winnipeg, MB

Brian Tilley   Edmonton, AB

Donald Massender  Tecumseh, ON

Timothy Whiting   Surrey, BC

Gary Kendall  Point Edward, ON

Henry Van Kessel  Lone Butte, BC

How I shop (updated)

Today someone who is moving to Iqaluit asked me about how we shop. I didn't have time to respond to the email at work but while I was walking the dogs this evening I had a brainwave... why not blog my response?

I don't like Arctic Ventures, although the little 'exotic foods' section in the back right corner can be kind of interesting provided you inspect the best before dates closely. There is not a big turnover in this section and the "new products" sign is looking older than it did when I arrived 6 months ago. The baking stuff is pretty good and you can get superfine sugar here which they never have at North Mart. The upstairs in Ventures is awesome (on an Iqaluit scale) the bookshop is comprehensive and you can buy furs and all kinds of things. Oh and the music played outside is very entertaining, Bollywood & Opera at full blast all distorted over the speakers in a failed attempt to reduce loitering.

My shop of choice is North Mart, yes I know it can be a pain to make your way through the mess of taxis and tangle of abandoned shopping carts then run the gauntlet through the lobby just to get in and there are never any shopping baskets but at least it is mostly sort of clean inside. I probably spend between $500 and $700 a month on groceries such as bread, fresh fruit & veg, cheese, meat, frozen fish (fresh stuff looks very suspect) and milk.

The weekly Metro flyer from Montreal is very enticing but with the different cargo rates for the varying food groups I find it all too complicated. A friend has a nifty spreadsheet that approximates the cost on your kitchen table, he tells me if there are any unmissable deals. Once we ordered a load of T-bone steaks which were amazingly good and excellent value. Sadly they have all been eaten and I am waiting for them to be half price again.

Baffin Canners is good if you can find it. I don't like the brand of milk they sell but it is the place for (frozen) cake and meat.

If you have access to the $1 per kilo staff rate for cargo with the airlines then you can happily shop online from the Country Grocer or Metro Glebe in Ottawa. This is a great way to stock up on heavy things like pasta, rice, tinned tomatoes, canned fruit pie filling and frozen fruit and french fries. The HST rebate makes this even more attractive, but again only with that $1 per kilo rate.

We sealifted mainly for dog food so didn't really have a comprehensive plan for the human food component. Next year we will be shipping up much more. The 2.5 m3 500kg crate cost just over $700 to package and ship. Let's say that half of the shipping was dog food, that means it cost us $350 to get $1,000 of groceries here. By my crappy math that makes it 1/3 more expensive, which is much better than the 2 to 4 times more expensive that it costs here. i.e. a 1l carton of orange juice for $1.33 instead of $4, a tin of pumpkin pie filling for $5.33 instead of $9. Back though to the old issue of stumping up thousands for one grocery shop, and then having the room to put it all.

The airlines have very generous baggage allowances, two 70lb bags per person and a very liberal attitude to hand luggage. If you are strong (or have friends in Ottawa and Iqaluit to help you) and are willing to wait a day if your baggage gets bumped you can take them up on the offer that: "A maximum of three additional pieces can be accepted at check-in subject to $50.00/per piece" First Air and "Third & subsequent pieces accepted on a space available basis $50 per item" Canadian North. That is less than $1 per kilo so I say load er up!

[oops. I never claimed to be a math genius... you cannot determine the cost per kilo when the values in your equation are lbs... 70lb = 44kg in airport land so it is $1.14 per kilo]

The ratio of suitcases to giant rubbermaids / action packers on the Iqaluit airport luggage belt is 1:1. Buy the biggest container that is within your airline's required dimensions and a roll of duct tape, load it up, tape it up and pay your $150. Suggestions for your extra bags include frozen steak, frozen steak, frozen steak and toiletries. If they say the plane is full have them tag the steak as priority and leave the clothes to follow you later.

If you are visiting a friend or relative who lives in Iqaluit you will be issued a list prior to your departure from home. Pack your clothes in your hand luggage, your hosts will ensure your suitcases / rubbermaids are full to the gills.

Cruising Iqaluit

On Sunday morning we took the dogs for a drive over to the old runway on one of our scavenging outings. As we looked down the inlet we spotted a big ship in the distance so we drove over to the causeway to check it out.

Tourists in red jackets were ferried from the cruise ship to land where they boarded the yellow school bus which deposited them around town.

We spotted a herd in Sylvia Grinnell park where Johnny made a girl cry by following her around because she had a sandwich.

I found this bunch looking nervous by the visitors centre which is located down in our part of town.

 

This nifty covered vessel brought all the bags to the breakwater where they were thrown about by cruise company staff.

Our visitors flew out and another group flew in to take the cruise in the opposite direction. I believe it is an 11 day itinerary from Boston to Iqaluit and vice versa. Too bad the weather wasn't a bit nicer, there was a cold wind blowing all day.

Berries

On labour day (first Monday in September) we took the dogs for a walk in Sylvia Grinnell park. Autumn has turned the tundra into a beautiful blanket of colour that hides a tasty secret - berries. Fellow blogger Jocelyn has gone to the trouble of naming the three types of berry that grow here. I only collected a small handful which I ate as we walked but I may take a day off work for a more thorough attempt, the City allows employees to take two cultural days (Berry Picking and Clam Digging) during the summer.

 

our sealift arrives

We were not overly impressed by the "customer service" from NSSI Desgagnes. As I have not received a response to my request for clarification so I can only share with you my understanding of the process:

1. Wait for boat to arrive
2. Telephone NSSI office / beach shack 979 0002 which is never answered and does not have voicemail
3. Drive to NSSI office / beach shack which is never staffed
4. Telephone Desgagnes in Montreal who will advise you to repeat steps 2 & 3
5. Drive around sealift beach and compound (avoiding being run over by recklessly driven heavy equipment) looking for a) your crate and/or b) an NSSI employee
6. After approximately one week you will find someone who takes your PO Box number for billing and tells you that Hansons's will deliver your crate
7. On the same day you will receive a bill in the mail from NSSI Desgagnes to demonstrate that they had your PO Box address all along
8. Come home from work one day (August 31) to find crate outside house

Wasn't that fun and efficient?

You will then need a man and some tools to open the crate and carry the contents inside.

The main driver for our shipment was dog food. Johnny and Sage eat a brand that is not sold here so we either have to bring it up by boat or plane (Orijen never responded to Sage's letter). We popped a few things in the crate for ourselves too.

I spent Wednesday evening (after wings) arranging all the goodies down in the sealift room.

Feeling Loney? Shaw offers new chat facility in lieu of customer service

GoToAssist:

Your representative has arrived.

Stephen - 6685 (15:39:24):

Thank you for choosing Shaw Internet Chat Support, my name is Steve.  I will be happy to help you today.Before continuing, would you please confirm your home telephone number and address so that I can bring up your account information?

Customer (15:40:02):

I have moved and my account is closed... the address the account was at is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Stephen - 6685 (15:42:28):

i have reviewed the account and for that i am not sure on what we would do to get that changed you would be best to speak to our customer service department either in our retail office, or by phoning in

Customer (15:44:59):

uh hu

Customer (15:45:12):

I have been on hold for an hour an a half to try to do that

Customer (15:45:28):

and an hour waiting to chat with you

Customer (15:46:09):

to be told to go away...

Stephen - 6685 (15:47:07):

i am sorry you have been waiting so long , it is extremely busy, however this is not something that we can take care of over chat, we are not trained for this type of issue on chat, our customer service department will be able to assist you and help get it sorted out

Customer (15:50:17):

are you trained to telephone customers?

Stephen - 6685 (15:50:57):

we are chat only

Customer (15:51:16):

where are you located?

Stephen - 6685 (15:51:25):

in bc

Customer (15:51:31):

how is the weather?

Stephen - 6685 (15:51:40):

cloudy and windy

Customer (15:51:48):

it is sunny here in the Arctic

Customer (15:51:57):

do you snowboard?

Stephen - 6685 (15:52:09):

oh nice,  i do when i get the chance in winter

Customer (15:52:22):

Sun Peaks or Whistler?

Stephen - 6685 (15:52:49):

ive been to whistler and some other places when i travel.

Customer (15:53:06):

You should check out Heavenly at Lake Tahoe

Stephen - 6685 (15:54:08):

i will look into that for sure,    i do apologize we cannot help further, once you get in contact with our customer service department they will be able to help you for sure,  was there something else we can help with right now?

Customer (15:54:29):

I thought you said you were trained to chat?

Customer (15:54:47):

I figured your job was to chat while I am on hold for customer service

Stephen - 6685 (15:54:59):

no, we help with technical support over chat

Customer (15:55:20):

can you give me an example of what kind of support?

Stephen - 6685 (15:55:42):

well we help with internet or cable challenges

Customer (15:56:05):

My internet is really slow. Any ideas?

Stephen - 6685 (15:56:21):

you dont have shaw internet service, so you would be best to contact your service provider

Stephen - 6685 (15:56:35):

we will need to end this chat session, as we are unable to assist further,  Have a great day.

Customer (15:56:45):

enjoy your summer

Stephen - 6685 (15:57:02):

Same to you  (whats left of it =P)

GoToAssist (15:57:07):

Stephen - 6685 has left the session.

Sealift Storage

The MV Camilla Desgagnes arrived in Koojese inlet on Tuesday night. On board the 133 metre cargo ship is  the fourth of eight shipments that form the 2011 "sealift" for Iqaluit and other communities in the Canadian Eastern Arctic. None of Nunavut's 25 communities is accessible by road at any time of the year, Ice Road truckers is in the West. The 33,000 people who live in the Territory rely on air transportation to deliver supplies throughout the year. During the summer, when the ice retreats and the ocean becomes navigable a series of cargo ships make the journey north to deliver all manner of goods: Building supplies for the construction industry (including heavy equipment); vehicles both for individuals and commercial bulk orders; dry goods to resupply the grocery stores and for those individuals who have the resources to place an individual order.

Much like ordering alcohol (other than from the poorly stocked and overpriced Rankin Warehouse) the sealift is out of reach to most of the population as it requires credit cards, internet or fax connections, and considerable investment. If you are interested in learning more there is an excellent article about food mail / nutrition north in Up Here magazine. Back in July when we were in Montreal we spent almost $3,000 in one day on dog food and groceries which we delivered to the NSSI cargo packaging company in Ste Catherine. A few weeks ago we got the bill for crating and shipping which was $750. Spending $3,000+ in trip to the grocery store is not something you are used to before moving up here Revenue Canada tax returns fund the majority of private sealifts. If you can't tack a shopping trip onto a holiday there are a number of companies in Ottawa who will do the shopping for you (for a fee).

So when your year's supply of toilet paper, canned tomatoes, pasta, flour and dog food arrives, what do you do with it? We are lucky enough to have both a "Cold Storage" and a "Sealift Room". The Cold Storage is a secure lean-to on the side of our house, it looks like part of the house but it is not insulated, hence it is cold, sometimes very cold indeed. We store empty suitcases, camping gear, tools, the generator, snowboards and bikes in here, shortly it will also house sixteen bags of dog food.

Our cold storage room

A door leads from the cold storage to the Sealift Room which is a kind of a corridor between the cold storage and the downstairs hall. This room is within the house proper and has insulation and heat, although it is always the coolest room in the house, once there was frost on the inside of the door to the cold storage. This room doubles as the dog's bedroom, a cool dark room with no windows is essential for letting them know it is bed time during the never-dark summer nights. As you can see there are two deep shelves running the length of the room, the bottom shelf is currently devoted to dog food and out of date soda, the top shelf holds light bulbs, coffee, pasta, spices and the extra toilet paper that I couldn't fit in the laundry room. In a characteristically anal way I have labeled the rubbermaids for easy reference.



Our sealift room



We believe that our crate is here in Iqaluit, but because two ships arrived at the same time everything is backed up. tomorrow Blaine is going to cruise around the compound by the coastguard looking for our crate so that we can get it delivered to the house for unloading. stand by for an account of the delivery and unpacking experience!

of Bowhead, Baleen and Blubber

Inuit in the Canadian Eastern Arctic have been hunting bowhead for subsistence since the Thule Culture (1,000 to 1,600 AD). The Thule people had a strong maritime culture that included mastery of large boats (umiak) and the use of harpoons with sealskin floats that could be used to hunt Narwahl, Beluga and even bowhead. Qallunaat engaged in commercial whaling in the Eastern Arctic from 1848 to 1911, this had a massive impact on the whale population which had previously been unaffected by centuries of subsistence hunting.  The bowhead is one of the largest baleen whales, second in weight only to the blue whale. Its blubber can be as thick as two feet and it boasts the largest mouth of any animal with up to 660 baleen plates which can be as long as 4 metres.  A single bowhead whale could yield up to 100 barrels of oil and 1500 pounds of baleen (also known as whalebone, strips of which were used as stays in corsets).

The Federal ban on bowhead hunting was enacted in 1979, however in the early 1920's along with the arrival of the Hudson's Bay Company in the area, there was a perception that the government had banned Inuit from hunting bowhead. In 1991 the Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO) collaborated with Inuit organizations to develop an international bowhead conservation strategy. The first sanctioned post land claim hunt took place in 1996, and was authorized with a DFO license. Article 5.5.2 of the 1993 Nunavut Land Claims agreement mandated that an Inuit bowhead knowledge study be undertaken, the final report was published in March 2000 and includes suggestions for an appropriate rate of harvesting which was initially set at one whale every two years. The DFO's 2009. selective hunting report makes the recommendation that hunts target juvenile male bowheads in order to minimize the impact on the population's recovery. Between 1996 and 2008 a total of eight bowhead whales were harvested in Nunavut. In May 2009 the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board increased the quota to three whales per year, one in each of the Territory's three regions. In August 2009 a bowhead was harvested in the Kivalik region after a 23 day hunt. The communities of Repulse Bay and Pond Inlet were also successful in harvesting whales in 2010.

On Monday August 15, 2011 we watched a group of hunters making preparations to set out on Iqaluit's first bowhead whale hunt in living memory. By 9pm the next day word was spreading that the hunters had caught a whale. The excitement in the City grew as details trickled in and preparations began for a community feast to celebrate the historic catch. High tide on Wednesday morning saw a fleet of community members head out to help butcher the behemouth and 24 hours later the first slabs of maqtaaq appeared on the breakwater, followed by meat and then the return of the hunters on the evening high tide. (The tidal range here is as much as 11m so boats cannot access the breakwaters at all times).