Beginning of Week 3

Well it’s hard to believe but we’re into week 3 of our relocation. It’s amazing how much we’ve learned and what we’ve accomplished in just a short time. We’ve moved into our new home (we’re still awaiting our personal belongings that are being shipped), have purchased a set of wheels (1990 Jeep Wrangler), joined the local squash club, set up our post office box and mailing, located all the “food” stores, organized our phone situation with each of us now having a working Blackberry and we’ve taken in some of the sights of Iqaluit. Apparently we live in the part of town called “lego land.” It has to do something with the fact that all the roof colours wold remind you of lego colours; blue, green, red etc…you get the picture. Overall, I would say we haven’t done  too bad for newcomers.

We’ve also taken in some of the local “do’s” within town. We went out for Wing night at the Store House Bar and Grill and went to the Legion one night to listen to a 3 piece band made up of an acoustic guitarist, bass guitar and penny flute/recorder player. The legion has what they call the quiet room which is for bands such as the three that played. In the larger room in the legions is where you’ll find the “younger” crowd partying. Wow, can’t believe I just said that.

Larry and I are adjusting well to our new lifestyle. The pace of this community is much slower than what you would be use to down south. This isn’t a bad thing! It does us good to slow down and not always be in a rush to get somewhere. Everything gets done and usually done quite well.

So far we’ve visited the Legion, Store house bar and grill, Discover Inn (best meal ever!!), Frobisher Inn, Frobisher racquet club, North mart, Arctic Adventure, The Source, availed ourselves to most Tim’s outlets and stepped into the quick mart that serves Kentucky Fried Chicken. We’ve also visited the welcome centre and library. Some of the outdoor sites we’ve seen include some great views for Frobisher Bay, which by the way has the second highest tide (we believe) in the world next to the Bay of Fundy. We’ve been told the tide here is 30’ which is pretty significant. We’ve visited a small town called Apex, driven the road to no where…..and guess what? ….it goes no where! We’ve been down to the pier which is really more what I would call a causeway.

About Nunavut

Nunavut is about 2 million square kilometers (1/5 of the land mass of Canada) and has an average January Temperature of -30 C and an average July temperature of +15 C. We can easily state that the cost of living is at least 1.5 times higher than southern Canada.

Nunavut’s economic activities include mining, tourism, fishing, hunting and arts and crafts; to name a few. The people (Nunavummiut) are located in 25 different communities and roughly 60% of the Inuit population is under the age of 25. The total population is 32,000 of which 85% are Inuit. A very important part of any kind of decision making in Nunavut is the inclusion of what is termed IQ. IQ is Inuit Qaujimajangit which provides input from all. Consultation is done amongst not only business or say the Government of Nunavut, it also includes communities, to include elders, youth and any other stakeholder that may have input. It’s not just one voice but all voices must be heard. It’s not just fact or science based but also observation by those who live on the land. There are four recognized languages in Nunavut: Inukitut, Inuinnagtun, English and French.

That’s enough info for this session, more later…..