20th Anniversary of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement

April 11, 2013 was a celebration for Nunavut as it reached its 20th anniversary since signing the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (NLCA). As part of the ceremony a large igloo was constructed (see below picture) and a delegation of selected individuals conducted a ceremonial cabinet meeting. I have also included the picture of the group inside the igloo (this was the photo provided by the GN and put in the papers).

The agreement was originally signed July 9, 1993 and served as the basis for establishing Nunavut as a new territory. It officially became a territory on April 1, 1999.The agreement transfers over jurisdiction of territorial matters to the Nunavut government (GN). These areas include: wildlife management, land use planning and development, property taxation and natural resource management.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) monitors proper implementation of the NLCA and ensures Inuit economic, social and cultural well-being. In other words NTI ensures that the promises and obligations made within the NLCA are being upheld by both the Federal and Territorial Governments.

Diving in St. Croix

When Jacquie and I were in St. Croix in February we had the opportunity to go diving. This was the 6th day of our cruise on February 22nd, which is Jacquie's birthday. We took 2 dives; the first being a wreck dive with a maximum depth of 60 feet: We saw 2 interesting wrecks. I had some trouble with weights for the dive and had to fight to stay down. This used my air up more quickly than usual, which meant our dive was cut a little short. We were still down for around 35 minutes.



The second dive was a reef dive and we had the opportunity to see quite a number of sea life: The second dive was a little shallower, my weight problem was fixed and we were able to stay down a little longer. The total length of the dive was some 40 minutes.



Prior to leaving on our trip we had travelled to Jacquie's dive shop in NewMarket. As an aside, Russ and Kim Watson provided wonderful hospitality and let us stay for the night (thanks guys). While at the dive shop, I purchased a shorty, which is a 3 mil wet suit. You will notice it in the next couple of photos.

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Jacquie is an avid diver and I'm glad she had a chance to dive on her birthday. I thoroughly enjoyed the dives too. Thanks sweetie for sharing the experince with me!!

Snowmobiling to Crazy Lake and the Pangnirtung Trail

On Saturday March 30th good fiends of ours (Scott and Suzie) guided us to Crazy Lake by snowmobile.

Jacquie and I were looking to rent a snowmobile and had a couple of options. The best price we could find for a single rider was $175 per day and $250 per day for a double rider. Jacquie was talking to one of her co-workers and Kristi said that we could borrow her machine. That was great of her and she has a 550cc skidoo with electric start, grip warmers, reverse and all of the bells and whistles.



About 10:45 we started on our journey. Scott said we were heading about 20 miles north east of Iqaluit. Scott and Suzie were on their own machines and Jacquie and I were riding tandem.



What was impressive to me is that we were heading out Saturday morning and there were many fresh snowmobile tracks heading out of town. This was especially interesting since I would have thought that most of the people that were going out hunting or to cabins for the weekend would have already left on Good Friday. The trip was uneventful. The trail was excellent and many times we were able to get up to 60KM/hour. After 1/2 way or so, we found some igloos. These were emergency igloos that had been built a couple of hundred yards off the main path. It was obvious that they had been built many weeks before and it's hard to know if someone was using them for shelter to get out of weather or just built them for fun. Scott then gave us a little lesson on how emergency igloos are made.



We travelled for an hour or so and then we made it to Crazy Lake. There was a small cabin on the edge of Crazy Lake that is used as a shelter when necessary.



We then drove across Crazy Lake toward the beginning of the Pangnirtung (Pang)trail. Admittedly, anytime I'm on a snowmobile on a lake, I get this uneasy feeling. There have been countless stories of snowmobiles falling through the ice. However, I was told by a friend that the ice on lakes like Crazy Like can be up to 12 feet deep. So, I've been convinced that there is no need to be concerned about travelling on any of the lakes in the area.



We then stopped for lunch. Jacquie and Suzie had packed a great spread including, smoked oysters, smoked salmon, crakers, cheese, pepperettes, nuts, and tea.



After lunch we off-trailed it, which was a lot of fun. Scott took us from the Pang trail to around Crazy Lake across a river up and over many ridges and through a number of valleys.



We went 25 miles out onto the land towards Pangnirtung and back. We had a wonderful time and it was an amazing experience. As we came into town, we saw a Polar bear hide that was being stretched and had obviously been shot only a few days before.



Thanks Scott and Suzie. Jacquie and I had a great time and very much enjoyed the experience.

Going for a Stroll out on the Frobisher Bay

Jacquie and I along with some friends took a stroll out onto Frobisher Bay. It was a cool day, however we were dressed for the ocassion with lined pants and snow pants on top. Jacquie and I both had 4 layers under our Canada Goose parkas as well as hand warmers for our gloves. So even thought it was -24C with a wind chill of -32, we were quite comfortable. Some of the group we travelled with did get cold, however we shared some thermal socks, hand warmers and hats and all went well.



This is the mottly crew that took off for our walk.

We walked for a little over an hour out onto the bay. We were headed for Rabbit Island. Interestingly there aren't any rabbits on the Island, perhaps the wolves got them. When we got out there we found some crevices in the ice caused by the tide. It was fun hiding in them. Here are a few photo's of us hiding in the ice on the bay.



We had a little snack and headed back into Iqaluit. Altogether we were out for about three hours and a fun time was had by all.

Having Fun on Frobisher Bay

Jacquie and I had an awesome experience last weekend (March 24th, 2013)
on Frobisher Bay. We went out with Inukpak Outfitting Inc. owned by Louis-Philip who has a dog sled team and two snowmachines.



Jacquie and I took off at about 10:00AM with a few friends and were out for approximately 4 hours.
Jacquie and I rode on the dog sled on the way out and drove the snowmobile on the way home.

Louis is a big man and perhaps that's why the dog team had 11 dogs. We were told that most dog teams have between 8 and 10 dogs.
Louis sat at the front of the sled, Jacquie sat on the sled and I rode on the rails at the back. Jacquie and I traded places at one point, however I enjoyed riding the rails at the back of the sled.






The dogs were well cared for and well socialized. We have heard that many of the dog teams have dogs that are not well behaved. As a general rule, it is not recommended that you approach them or pet them, however these dogs proved themselves quite friendly. As a testament of how well Louis's dogs are behaved, he said go and get aquainted with the dogs. They are well socialized and don't bite. So, Jacquie and I got up and personal with the dogs:



Louis told us an interesting story of an incedent last year where he and the dogs were going along a trail and he saw what he thought was a huge wolf. The dogs stopped and he pointed the animal out to the clients he had on the sled. Then the animal stood up and lo and behold it was a polar bear. Apparently if you meet a polar bear, the best animals to have with you are dogs. Polar bears have an aversion to dogs. The usual ferocious Polar Bear, who have been known to hunt and kill humans turned and ran when it saw all of the dogs.

At the halfway point we stopped for a break. We had some tea and a snack and then it was time for Jacquie and I to take our turns on the snowmobiles. We had an awesome time. Two hours of driving all over Frobisher Bay. We had gone out about 12 - 15 km's by dog sled, when we stopped. We took off and went another couple of KM's farther out on the bay. We were told that the flow is at about 40 miles and at approximately 20 miles there are open holes where seals gather. That is where there could be some polar bears too. The day before we went out Louis had seen polar bear tracks close to where we stopped for lunch. The good news for us is that there were no polar bears on this trip.

Jacquie and I took turns driving the snowmobile and we sure did have fun:



Our friend had fun too. The picture below is of Monique and Audrey on the sled, with Louis. Lloyd was on the other snowmobile.