Diamond Jubilee Medal

I am incredibly proud to share the news that my husband, Blaine Wiggins, is a recipient of the Diamond Jubilee Medal. He was awarded this honour in recognition of his many years of work on (the often seemingly insurmountable challenge of) improving fire safety on reserve in Canada. 

Congratulations baby.

Medal

Certificate

Cover Letter

OK Tire

When I first moved here I went to OK Tire to get the wheels balanced on the Suzuki. The owner, Chuck, is so unbelievably kind and helpful. He said that I could come to him for local advice as well as car related issues, and true to his word he has always welcomed me and cheerfully provided help. One morning he switched over the tow hitch for me, he connected us with the lawyer who handled our house purchase. This week I noticed one of the tires on the Tahoe was a little low, I drove into three gas stations but the air was off in each one... So I headed down to impose upon Chuck's generosity. True to form he cheerfully came out and filled the faulty tire, then checked all the others. Not only is he a lovely man, but he has skied the wall at Kirkwood so he is proper hardcore too. Thank you Chuck!

Posted with Blogsy

NU food prices protest

 Events were organised across Nunavut on Saturday June 9 to protest high food prices, including this group marching outside North Mart. There are sites popping up where people are posting pictures of exorbitantly priced goods.

I don't think that frozen corn dogs and cans of soda are really necessary items and am inclined to agree with some people that suggest "junk" food prices could subsidize "healthy" food. But who decides, and how, which food fits in which group?

$70 netted me this bag of groceries (to support the protest I shopped at Baffin Canners not North Mart)

• 4 chicken breasts $22
• 2 packs of Parma ham (agreed not exactly a necessity) $8.36
• A packet of bacon $6.94
• Small tub of sour cream $2.41
• Mozzarella cheese $8.48
• 500ml Whipping cream $5.23
• Butter $7.10
• 2l milk $5.63
• Cherry tomatoes $4.27

In the past couple of weeks I excitedly bought some fruits that seemed brilliantly cheap, but maybe I am getting too used to prices here. $3 for a ripe avocado, $7 for a delicious pineapple, $4 for a mango.

Sealskins for sale

The monthly country food market featured sealskins  which were extremely popular. the market was scheduled to start at noon but it was already busy by 11:30 when I arrived. I was told that the skins came from the Department of  Environment who sell them off annually.

Shoppers braved the icy winds to check out the goods

There were both tanned and untanned skins

The untanned skins were traditionally prepared: cleaned, stretched and dried.

Tanned skins were around $100 each, traditionally prepared ones were around $60 each

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

Tukisigiarvik Centre

According to my brief internet research this morning; Tukisigiarvik is a community-based organization funded from a variety of sources. The center offers practical support and assistance to Iqalummiut individuals and families with personal and family issues, health, healing, education, employment etc. The centre's two Inuit elder-advisors, teach the traditional skill development and give advice on Inuit values, customs, belief and practices – Inuit Qaujimajatunqangit – which form the basis of the helping and counseling services and programs offered by the Society.

The Centre is located just accross the street from the clinic which is the white building in the background of this picture. One of the recent projects that the centre has undertaken is qamutiq building. Presumably this project fits in the category of learning traditional skills and whoever was teaching did an excellent job as the level of craftsmanship on these 9 qamutiqs was outstanding.

Last week there were a number of sealskins drying on frames but I missed that photo opportunity.

Surreptitiously photographed by Polarman

Iqaluit has its own superhero. His name is Polarman. He wears a wresting mask. Today I was out on the quad with Sage to take my weekly photograph of the square. I took the photo and then spoke to Blaine briefly. When I turned around I saw Polarman across the street, he was taking a photo of me on his cell phone. I guess we do make an unusual sight.

When I downloaded my photos I noticed that Polarman is in the background of this picture of Blaine and Johnny.

You can learn more about Polarman here http://ronwassink.blogspot.com/2010/10/polarman-is-iqaluits-super-hero.html

Really?

Easter Sunday we headed out on the ice again to watch the last of the Toonik Tyme events; the snowcross. As this is a snowmachine event we decided to travel on the snowmachine, makes sense to us. A row of vehicles and spectators lined the side of the course, we parked at the end of the row and watched the practice runs, enjoying the sunshine on our faces. A couple with their baby arrived and parked about 20foot to our right, they got off their machine and started chatting to some other people behind us. Blaine was sitting on our sled, I stood beside him chatting while I photographed the action.

After 30 minutes or so of practice runs, the starter dropped the flags and the race began. Apparently this was the signal for the aforementioned group to come and stand right infront of us! There are miles and miles of open ice and they have their own machine parked off to the right but no they just walk right past me as I am taking photos and then stand there. Blaine and I were too amazed to say anything. the four of them stood there for the whole time chatting away smack bang in front of us blocking our view and my pictures!!!

Do you know these people? Do you have any idea why they would be so freakin' rude?

As you can see there is PLENTY of space but they took the effort to walk from behind us, around us and regroup again infront of us. I have tried to think of a plausible explanation but am drawing a blank. To top it off when we started the engine to leave, the chick in the Maple Leafs toque turned around to look at the sound of the engine, but only moved aside when her man pulled the stoopid beatch out of the way.

Rant over, happy Easter everyone!

Toonik Tyme hill climb

First celebrated in 1965, Toonik Tyme is Iqaluit's spring festival. It is such a big deal that most of the city gets Friday afternoon off. Municipal and territorial governments, schools, banks, mechanics, lawyers, accountants, pretty much every employer shut their doors allowing staff head out for some fun in the mild spring afternoon.

Blaine and I jumped on the sled and quad respectively and headed out onto the bay with the puppies for a run around. After a brief lesson I took the sled for a burn and boy does it run smooth. We messed around in our usual area then loaded up the dogs and took the new ice road over to sealift beach. The road is a temporary clearing of the snow of the bay to mark out the dog sled route for the big race on Sunday. When I say big race we are talking 3 hours, not the Ititarod by any means but it should make for good entertainment.

We got back to the house at 4pm, put the dogs in their bedroom (with the T bones from last night's steak) and headed out to the hill beside the Arctic Winter Games Arena to watch the hill climb. When I first saw the event listing I had assumed it was some sort of running event - duh we are in the arctic! It is of course a snowmobile race. Probably the most impressive thing for me was the abundance of snowmachines, not competing, but driven to the event by spectators. Spectators sitting astride their machines lined the hillside surrounding the bowl where the climb course was set out, Blaine counted 80. Given that the city has a population of less than 8,000 this is a high ratio of sleds, certainly when seen through an English girls eyes!

There are a huge number of events lined up over the weekend and I plan to visit as many as possible, and of course to blog about them for your reading pleasure!