Our Featured Celebration

As befits a week that saw Rob Ford’s ascension to Mayor of Toronto, we note with interest that this month marks the Fortieth Anniversary of the historic broadcast that announced the election of Malcolm Peter Brian Telescope Adrian Umbrella Stand Jasper Wednesday (pop mouth open twice) Stoatgobbler John Raw Vegetable (whinny) Arthur Norman Michael (blow squeaker) Featherstone Smith (whistle) Northgot Edwards Harris (fire pistol, then 'whoop') Mason (chuff-chuff-chuff-chuff) Frampton Jones Fruitbat (laugh) (squeaker) Gilbert (sings) 'We'll keep a welcome in the' (fire pistol) Williams If I Could Walk That Way Jenkin (squeaker) Tiger-drawers Pratt Thompson (sing) 'Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head' Darcy Carter (horn) Pussycat (sing) 'Don't Sleep In The Subway' Barton Mainwaring (hoot, 'whoop') Smith as the Very Silly Party Candidate in Harpenden, England. (First aired November 10, 1970).

NEW FACES

Aarluk is very happy to welcome our newest team member Rosemary Ipeelie. As Aarluk’s Office Administrator, Rosemary will be providing support to all Aarluk staff, associates and clients.

Rosemary was born and raised in Iqaluit, Nunavut.  She is mother of one son, Joshua Komangapik.  Before joining Aarluk, Rosemary worked in range of management and administrative positions, with organizations that included Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Nunavut Auto Parts, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (as workshop coordinator),  Qikiqtaaluk Corporation (where she served as Project Coordinator for the Resolution Island Project), and Qikiqtaaluk Logistics Inc. 

 

Her career has given her the opportunity to travel to many of the communities in Nunavut, and to work closely with their people and organizations.

Rosemary’s years of experience in project management, administration, logistics and human resources will be a great addition to the Aarluk team. Give her a call (979-2089) or drop by the Aarluk office at 781 Natsiq Street, Iqaluit.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Nunavut Association of Municipal Administrators will be holding their Annual General Meeting in Iqaluit from November 19-21. Senior municipal staff from across Nunavut will meet to discuss many issues of importance to the profession – including the Association’s largest initiative (in conjunction with Community and Government Services), the Nunavut Municipal Training Organization.

Prior to the NAMA AGM, Chuck Gilhuly will be delivering the SAO Professional Development workshop from November 16 – 19. This annual event provides an opportunity for SAOs and staff to share their knowledge and experiences with each other, while ensuring they keep their professional skills up to date.

It’s been a grand old website - and we loved it dearly. But it’s been overdue for a facelift for some time now. Its successor has been in the works for a couple of months, and is now in the final polish-and-shine stage. So stand by - at an undisclosed date within the next two weeks, a gloved hand in the deeply-buried Consilium Laboratoire de Recherche will throw a secret switch, and our new website will make its global debut. And you, dear readers, will be the first to know.

NEW BEGINNINGS

Jennifer David and Fred Weihs are now well versed in road signs, toll bridges and border crossings since Stonecircle is now working with the Akwesasne Mohawk Council. Jennifer and Fred have held a series of meetings with Chiefs and staff in the Aboriginal Rights and Research office to begin development of an Implementation Plan for a land claim in their territory.

Ron Ryan, David Boult and Kory Goulais, on behalf of Stonecircle, will be working with some long-time friends and colleagues in northern Quebec. The Waswanipi Mishtuk Corporation is a forestry operation owned and operated by the Cree community of Waswanipi. Stonecircle has been contracted to facilitate a strategic planning session for the Corporation, and to develop a staff incentive policy.

Aarluk has begun working with the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Environment, Nunavut Parks and Special Places Division to prepare a background study on Axel Heiberg Island. Chris Grosset, Geoff Rigby and Galin Kora will be working with Parks Manager Mark McCormack on the project to identify options for protection designation on Axel Heiberg. Located in the high arctic, Axel Heiberg Island is currently uninhabited, but evidence of past occupations by Inuit and their ancestors has been documented. The island landscape includes mountains, fiords, plains and ice caps, but perhaps the most well known feature of the island are the remnant fossil forests. Axel Heiberg was home to high latitude wetland forests around 45 million years ago. Remains of this forest were first observed in 1985. Although referred to as a "Fossil Forest" the stumps, logs and leaf litter found here are actually not petrified but mummified, the difference being that the wood contains all its organic matter. This project will collect background information on the ancient ecosystem, as well as the current natural and cultural resources of the island.

ONGOING PROJECTS

Stonecircle is well into the Aboriginal Head Start on Reserve Special Study on First Nations Culture and Language. The Stonecircle team consists of Jennifer David, Kory Goulais, Greg Smith and Christian Cloutier. The participatory study includes a literature review and research in seven regions of Canada. A key element was the recruitment and training of local Aboriginal evaluators from each of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Isabelle Picard (Quebec), Anika Altiman (Ontario), EJ Fontaine (Manitoba), and Shelley Thomas Prokop (Saskatchewan) will conduct research in six communities in their regions, and prepare reports on the results. Additional research will be conducted with AHSOR sites in BC, Alberta and the Atlantic region, and this will all be synthesised in a final report by Stonecircle. The project, for Health Canada’s First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB), will be completed in March 2011.

Greg Smith and Alex Ker recently attended a gathering of representatives from six Nunavut communities selected to pilot community wellness planning through the Nunavut Community Wellness Project (NCWP). Aarluk is evaluating the NCWP, a project overseen by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and a Steering Committee consisting of NTI, Government of Nunavut and Health Canada representatives. The project, which began in 2008, has provided support to the pilot communities (Arviat, Clyde River, Coral Harbour, Igloolik, Kugaaruk and Kugluktuk), including support by external consultants, and a locally hired Wellness Coordinator. All six communities have developed plans, which they presented to each other and to representatives of the Steering Committee as well as the consultants supporting the project, including NCWP Coordinator James Arreak. During the meeting, Greg and Alex facilitated a session on evaluation of the wellness planning process. The next step for NCWP will include implementation planning, and Aarluk’s evaluation report will be finalised by the end of January 2011.

Stonecircle has rounded out its team for the Environics focus groups on CBC language programming. Cree speaker Luci Salt will co-moderate the focus group in northern Quebec by teleconference. Aarluk’s Helen Klengenberg will moderate a session in Inuktitut in Iqaluit later this month.

Ron Ryan and David Boult, on behalf of Aarluk, continue to assist the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce in promoting regional businesses. They’ll be facilitating a session with the Nunavut EDOs on basic training techniques so that they can help businesses in their communities strengthen their participation at trade shows.  They will also assist in the facilitation of a pilot project in a local community, bringing marketing expertise together with local businesses to develop marketing materials.

Jennifer David will be travelling to the Mamaweswen (North Shore Tribal Council) offices just west of Sagamok on beautiful Highway 17, to meet with staff and the Elders Advisory Committee on the development of the Mamaweswen Anishnaabemowin Language Strategy with Terry Rudden. After this meeting, later this month, Kory Goulais will be travelling to each of the seven communities that make up the Tribal Council to meet with Elders, teachers and language speakers.

HAPPY ENDINGS

David Boult travelled to Pond Inlet in October to deliver a week-long workshop on Northern Government as part of the Municipal Training Organization’s Municipal Government Program. Highlights of the week included hearing about the bowhead whale hunt that occurred over the summer, catching up with old friends, and watching a presentation of the play “Night”. The play, starring the very talented Abbie Ootova from Pond, reflects upon the realities facing many Inuit communities – substance abuse, family violence and suicide. In response to the popular play, David noted “I had no idea there were so many thespians in Pond”. In an unrelated matter, the studies of the students were briefly interrupted during a fire drill. The Mittimatalik Fire Department arrived promptly and ensured that the students were able to return to class just in time for coffee break.

Aarluk’s Victor Tootoo, Chris Grosset and Ron Ryan participated in the 1st Annual Northern Economic and Sovereignty Infrastructure Conference held in Iqaluit from October 12-14, 2010. This conference was coordinated by the BRCC and the Northern Strategy Group. The agenda was packed with a excellent presentations on topics that included Financing Major Infrastructure, Rural and Remote Connectivity, Communications Infrastructure Requirements, Military Infrastructure in the Canada’s North, the Importance of Transportation Infrastructure to Resource Development, Energy Solutions for Northern Development, Community Infrastructure, and Marine Infrastructure.

BIRTHDAYS

November Birthday honours go to the youngest Consultant Christian “Clootch” Cloutier, and the oldest Researcher, Geoff “Big Rig” Rigby! Clootch turns 30 on the 5th and Big Rig turns 28 on the 24th.

GOSSIP

 

 

Jennifer David published a chapter in a recently released book called Indigenous Screen Cultures in Canada. Her chapter, called “Clear Signals: Learning and Maintaining Aboriginal Languages through Television” was adapted from a report Jennifer was commissioned to write for the Aboriginal Task Force on Language and Culture back in 2005.

 

 

Pictured below is a project that has been occupying Aarluk President Helen Klengenberg and her hubby Paul Murphy – a little refuge in Glenwood, Alberta that they’ve been rebuilding. You will ALL be welcome at the grand opening, scheduled for whenever Paul finally gets the ultra-cool wireless surround sound working.

THE CLOSER

We don’t usually look backward at special events in the past month, but because we had such enthusiastic participation from staff, we thought we’d bring you a few highlights from our October 13th celebration of national “Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work” Day.

(Pictured left: “Smokey” David and ”Charlie” Sutherland, guided by Jennifer Bradshaw, experiment with Consilium’s new videoconferencing system in the refurbished Boardroom; centre: “Goliath” Kora is introduced to Aarluk’s latest employee, Rosemary Ipeelie; right: “Cuddles” Rigby and “Denethor” Han admire the cool new lines and numbers in the parking lot.)

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