so what's the deal?

Thanks to a facebook post from Mr O'Malley it has come to my attention that I have not explained what is going on... so I shall attempt to give a condensed version here.

During the 2010 Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC) conference in New Brunswick my chief was teasing Blaine about going to work in Iqaluit. I guess he planted a seed because at the end of November Blaine put in his application. Shortly after a telephone interview he was pronounced the successful candidate and accepted the position, starting "as soon as reasonably possible" which was eventually set as February 28, 2011. No we have never been there, this whole thing is about blind faith and following your heart.

You are probably asking Iqala-where? Iqaluit is the capital of Nunavut, Canada's newest territory which was officially recognised in 1999, prior to that it was part of the North West Territories. This magazine article gives an interesting perspective of the city Up Here Magazine

Before putting in his application we talked about the idea and were both very excited by the once in a life time opportunity to live and work in the arctic (almost the arctic... Iqaluit is at 63.5 degrees north, the arctic circle lies at 65 degrees). The population is around 7,500 with Inuit comprising some 62%. The Nunavut government has incorporated traditional principles and we are both very interested to learn about and live within this framework. This is an excerpt from the 2001 annual report:

Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit is first-hand knowledge obtained from elders pertaining to language, culture, values and beliefs, survival skills, use of resources, harvesting and an understanding of society, ecology and environment. The vision for the Government of Nunavut is one that incorporates the best of Inuit knowledge and contemporary systems. In keeping with the principles of Pinasuaqtavut (the Bathurst Mandate), the Government is continuously working to incorporate Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit into the workplace. All departments of the Government have developed internal committees or programs to incorporate Inuit culture, traditions and knowledge in their operations.

We are now busy preparing for the move. The city organises and pays for our relocation (with the exception of the dogs and car). A shipping company came just before Christmas to estimate our household goods and in the new year the city approved the shipment. Because it can take up to 6 weeks for everything to arrive we decided to be without here rather than in Iqaluit, so on Jan 31 and Feb 1 they are coming to pack everything (furniture, clothes, kitchen stuff... "household contents") which will be transported by train to Ottawa and then flown up to Iqaluit.

There are a number of things that we need to buy to equip ourselves for this adventure so I will create a post dedicated to the cost of moving to Iqaluit, something that we would have found very helpful in our research.

The sun is shining and the dogs are restless so I am going to sign off and go for a walk then back home to continue throwing out junk!