Delta prepares for COVID-19 Events, sports cancelled as territory attempts to prevent infection Publication mail Contract #40012157 Volume 56 Issue 11 THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2020 75 CENTS Curling season comes to a close Inuvik man says stockpile missing Tuk says power corp must do more "We're paying a lot of attention to the next 60 days as the situation evolves." – Kami Kandola, chief public health officer, preparing for COVID-19 in the NWT, page 3. News Sports News Flipping for gymnastics Eric Bowling/NNSL photo
Transcript
Delta prepares for COVID-19Events, sports cancelled as territory
attempts to prevent infection
Publication mail Contract #40012157
Volume 56 Issue 11 THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2020 75 CENTS
Curlingseasoncomes toa close
Inuvik man says stockpile missing
Tuk says power corp must do more
"We're paying a lot of attention to the next 60 days as the situation evolves."– Kami Kandola, chief public health officer, preparing for COVID-19 in the NWT, page 3.
News Sports News
Flipping for gymnastics
Eric Bowling/NNSL photo
2 INUVIK DRUM, Thursday, March 19, 2020
An Inuvik businessman and pros-pector is crying foul about three stockpiles of mineral ore totalling over 100,000 cubic metres in volume he says disappeared from the Navy Road gravel pit sometime over the past few years.
Todd Shattler has been in an ongoing dispute with town of Inuvik over his quarry claim since around 2006, when administrative control of the pit was transferred to the town. Shattler had a claim to mine and explore for minerals on the land from around the same time.
"It's never been a good scene since the start," said Shattler. "I think the biggest problem is we were fight-ing for a quarry permit in the begin-ning. But we're there for minerals. You got to generate some income somehow to continue a search, so our business plan was to have some quarry sales ourselves."
Problems between the prospector and the town continued into 2013 when the matter was brought before the Supreme Court. In the June 26, 2013 ruling, Justice Louise A. Char-bonneau ruled Shattler had the right to explore in his claim area, so long as he gave the town 24 hours’ notice he would be there. The judge also ruled the town or its contractors were not to remove his equipment or stockpiles and that the Shattlers do not have the right to deny anyone else access to Navy Road quarry.
But the judgement did not con-clude the matter. Shattler told the
Inuvik Drum following the ruling, he came across a regulation in the Mines Health and Safety Act that he believes permitted him as the man-ager of the mine to allow access to his claim area.
"I wasn't stopping them from coming into the quarry, I was stop-ping them from coming in and quar-rying where I gave notice of where we were working," he said. "The town came down three times in 2013, right after court with the RCMP and they didn't get anywhere because I was in the right. I videoed the con-versation and I asked the Staff Sgt. 'Are you a judge?' and he said 'We're done here' and left."
But problems continued for the prospector until he and his wife decided to take a break, though their claim remained in effect.
"We had too much anxiety to go back and work at the claim, but the claim is in good standing until 2039," he said. "I couldn't get anyone to go down there with me and I wasn't going to go alone. These guys went nuts on us."
Now, after serving the town notice he intends to return to the site and began exploration again, Shat-tler returned to his claim to discover something missing.
Three stockpiles of over 100,000 cubic metres that had been left in the claim had mysteriously disappeared.
"The whole issue is where did these stockpiles go?" said Shattler. "No one is capable of taking that much material and there was no proj-ect within the boundaries of town
that I know of in 2017 that would use that much material.
"I have a picture from a website from 2017 and (the stockpiles) are there and then in 2018 they're not. And there was no quarrying in 2018, so they must have gone missing in the latter half of 2017.
Town of Inuvik SAO Grant Hood said it was a legal matter and the town could not comment. A let-ter sent to Shattler from the town's lawyers reads that "the town has no knowledge regarding the alleged removal of Stockpiles described in your letter. The Town only issued
one quarry permit in 2017, a redact-ed copy of which is attached." The redacted permit allows for 3,000 cubic metres to be removed from the town pit. The letter also notes the town informed the applicant both verbally and in writing.
However, Shattler said he's not convinced.
"We're talking 500 to 600 truck loads and the town's trying to tell me they don't know who took it," said Shattler. "I can't even leave there with a pebble and they take me to court."
Shattler would not say what exact-
ly he thought he had found at the site, except that it was a precious metal.
"We didn't get around to testing these stockpiles because of the chas-ing us around and all that, we didn't go back," he said. "And they're gone now, so I don't have enough evidence that there was an economic amount in those stockpiles, because they're stolen.
"But that's irrelevant. What's rel-evant is they're missing. If the town is claiming they don't know where it went, why haven't they started an investigation? We're talking a lot of material."
Todd Shattler says over 100,000 cubic metres of material was taken from his claim area at the Navy Road quarry
Prospector questions disappearing stockpiles by Eric Bowling
Northern News Services
The Navy Road quarry as of Feb. 8, 2020. A local businessman is questioning the disappear-ance of over 100,000 cubic metres of stockpiled mineral ore from his claim area in the quarry.
news
INUVIK DRUM, Thursday, March 19, 2020 3news
People in the Beaufort Delta are racing against the clock with an unknown amount of borrowed time in efforts to contain the COVID-19 virus and to prepare for potential infections.
The risk of catching the disease in the North is listed as low, however that did not stop Kami Kandola, NWT's chief public health officer, from recommending anyone who has travelled internationally self-isolate for 14 days and monitor for symptoms and avoiding any non-essential travel in and out of the Northwest Territories.
"It's good enough for me that you came from another part of Canada – you need to be self-monitoring and we will test you," she said. "We're paying a lot of attention to the next 60 days as the situation evolves. This is a global pandemic. It's got 156 countries involved. We can take a good approach to bring it down, but unless the whole world brings it down there is always the chance it could resurface."
From Tsiigehtchic to Tuktoyaktuk, people are taking no chances. Territorial court sittings outside of Yellowknife are cancelled until June 1 and Supreme Court sittings until at least May 1. Public out-reach programs and activities ranging from hockey to bingo have been suspended until further notice.
As of March 18, the Town of Inuvik is closing the Midnight Sun Complex, Centen-nial Library and the Town Office and Hall, along with all public events and programs until further notice.
Beaufort Delta Education Council super-intendent Frank Galway said the board was recommending schools remained closed until April 14 and a meeting was sched-uled to ensure all individual schools are on board.
"I can't confirm that every school will comply, because they have the right to make a decision, but at the present moment, I think most of our schools have people travelling internationally, so right now we're working on a plan with the fact all schools are closed until April 14," he said. "What
that means for learning plans and things for students, that will be forthcoming in the next few days."
In addition to restricting staff travel and announcing heightened store sanitation practices, Canadian Retail owner and CEO Alex Yeo announced the chain would hold prices at current levels and was increasing the volume of product ordered to keep up with demand.
"Over the past several weeks, Northern Stores and NorthMart have increased orders of essential food and other grocery products to ensure we have adequate supply for our customers. As of today, we are meeting our customer demands with the exception of a few items," he stated in a news release. "Going forward, our priority is to con-tinue to meet their shopping needs, working closely with our suppliers, transportation partners and government officials. To assure customers further, prices will be frozen for 60 days unless they relate to increases beyond our control."
NorthMart has stores in Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Inuvik, Paulatuk, Tsiigehtchic, Tuktoyaktuk and Ulukhaktok. Stanton's Group Ltd. has also initiated a policy of heightened sterilization.
Senior administrative officer for the Hamlet of Aklavik Fred Behrens said he wasn't worried about supply chains breaking and said the best thing to do was to follow the safety instructions from the government.
Noting the communities in the area are so small a virus could wreak havoc, Tuk-toyaktuk mayor Erwin Elias said the ham-let was attending an interagency meeting March 17 to make sure all parties were on the same page.
"This disease is almost unpredictable," he said. "We have a highway and we have people doing sports hunting around here and people from the United States that are the hunters. The big questions are when do we call a state of emergency? If there's ever an outbreak how do we go about it?
"The communities that we live in are so small, if there were ever an outbreak it might be hard for us to contain because of the facilities we have."
Musktrat Jamboree cancelledGoing back to her point about the next 60
days, Kandola noted organizers of festivals should contact the public health authority for advice on whether to stay open or not, noting the territory had to respond to the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic March 11.
"When we sent out our advisory last Wednesday, we were hearing about events happening this weekend and some unfortu-nately we had to cancel on very short notice," she said. "But now that we have a good list of events coming up, we can give people more time. However, we may not capture everyone, so we're asking people who are having a mass gathering to email us.
"As the weather gets warmer, people can have mass gatherings outside, social distan-cing may not be as big of an issue."
On March 17, the Muskrat Jamboree announced it was cancelling for 2021. Short-ly after the announcement, the Chief Public Health Officer issued a news release asking all public gatherings of over 50 people to cancel until further notice.
Both Elias and Behrens said Tuktoyak-tuk and Aklavik still hoped to go forward with their upcoming festivals, the Beluga Jamboree and the Mad Trapper Rendezvous.
Elias said since this year is both the 50th anniversaries of the jamboree and for the hamlet itself, it would do whatever was pos-sible to keep the festivities going, but noted public safety would take precedence if it came down to it.
"We're all playing it by ear," he said. "We're a month away and this is supposed to be a big jamboree for the region, it's our 50th anniversary. But Tuk does have a later season, so we can postpone.
"But if we have to cancel, we have to can-cel; it's not a big deal. The most important thing is the safety of the public."
As of March 17, there are no confirmed cases of the virus in the Northwest Territor-ies out of 138 tests. Across Canada, there have been 424 cases, with 177 in Ontario, 103 in British Columbia, 74 in Alberta and 50 in Quebec. Four Canadians have died from the virus so far.
Correction?The March 5 edition of Inuvik Drum’s photo
spread contains an error. In the Christmas family photo Christine Cossar is misidentified as Margaret Anderson. Inuvik Drum apologizes for the error.
NorthMart announces increase in volume and price freeze as communities debate postponing jamboree season
'We're just looking to the next 60 days': top doctor
by Eric Bowling Northern News Services
Eric Bowling/NNSL photo
Town of Inuvik SAO Grant Hood and Mayor Natasha Kulikowski answer questions about measures the town is taking to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at a special meeting March 16. A list of the town's measure and a guide to guarding against the disease is available on the town's website.
NEWSBriefs
Vote to rename road at Mike Zubko Airport passes
It’s official – a road at Mike Zubko airport will be named Anderson Road after Cpl. Jordan Anderson. Council voted unanimously in favour the name change, with couns. Paul MacDonald and Gary McBride absent. Coun. Steve Baryluk, who knew Anderson as a child, made the motion.
Council had been asked to name the road by the Department of Defence last December.
After council initially put forward two names for consideration, several residents asked for more local names to be sug-gested, resulting in an online vote with over 800 votes.
Inuvik agrees to in-kind donations for Great Northern
Arts FestivalInuvik town council voted unanimous-
ly to grant an in-kind donation to the Great Northern Arts Festival for the use of the Midnight Sun Complex from July 10 to19.
The theme this year will be Art of Carving, chosen to the traditional visual arts of the Mackenzie Delta, showing how it was used to document key points in his-tory, to inspire imagination and pass along stories.
There will be plenty of workshops allowing curious festivalgoers to learn some of the various crafts.
Town looking at new rules for fireworks and
open-air burningTown councillors voted 6-0 to move a
new bylaw regulating the sale and use of fireworks as well as open-air fires within the town to second reading.
The bylaw will be brought to council for third and final reading at a later date.
Director of Public Safety Cynthia Hammond told council March 9 that per-mits will remain free, the chief reason for the new rules was so that the fire department knew when big fires would be burned or fireworks were going to be set off so the department doesn’t deploy on the scene.
The bylaw would also introduce a fine schedule for violations, including $200 for burning or setting off fireworks without a permit.
Clarence Wood calls for smoking ban on town property
A swamp of cigarette butts around the Midnight Sun Complex lead to complaints being levied to several town councillors, prompting coun. Clarence Wood to sug-gest the town pass a smoking bylaw to ban smoking on all town property.
Hood told council he was aware of the problem, as the curling club was also deal-ing with the leftover cigarette butts around the entrance.
He noted a designated smoking area was partially blocked off by snow and did not get used, resulting in what he called a big mess.
Wood said the town should consider a no smoking policy on all town property.
"I’m speaking as a smoker, don’t for-get."
4 INUVIK DRUM, Thursday, March 19, 2020
When Environment Canada issued a winter storm warning for Tuktoyaktuk's east channel region March 13, Mayor Erwin Elias knew that was just the beginning of problems for the hamlet that weekend.
He was right. As the weath-er system set in the follow-ing evening, residents held up in their homes suddenly had a new problem. At approxi-mately 9:30 p.m. March 14, winds knocked out a power line, causing power outages throughout the community.
Elias said that at one point during the weekend, the entire community was without power with temperatures fluctuating between -6 and -26 C.
"As soon as the wind picked up, the power went off," he said. "The infrastructure here is terrible with the power lines. At one point in time the whole town had been without power. Some sections would go off and come on; the power would come on and off all night.
"I think there were some people who were without power for 20 hours. Our saving grace is was the temperature was really mild. But regard-less, if there's a power outage for that long it doesn't mat-ter what the weather is. Some buildings froze up. We had Elders sitting at home in the cold."
Mangilaluk School became a temporary warming shelter for residents March 15 with the hamlet operating a shuttle service for Elders. Residents,
Elias included, went door-to-door to ensure everyone was aware of the situation, as many were without internet during the outage. Power was finally restored 5:30 p.m.
While the power outage was significant, this was not the first time the hamlet has gone through this. And Elias says he's getting sick of it.
"Last year and I know pre-vious councils before us have gone through this too, we ran into a situation with the power corp where we had a power outage. At that point we made it really clear that everybody
knew we were going to have a storm. There was a blizzard warning that everyone knew about," he said.
"We told the power corp if there's ever a blizzard warn-ing in the future, they should be here a day in advance. We suggested they come a day or two early before the storm and just hang out here. The infra-structure is so poor, as soon as we had a light wind the wires were touching and blowing all over the place and that's what caused the power to go out. Then we had to wait for the storm to die down for the line-
man to come into town."I don't know what you
say to these people because this is a serious matter for the community. Long ago, when a storm was coming, the people knew what to do and would prepare. Now we're living in a government environment, in a housing unit and when the power goes out no one is really prepared anymore."
An emergency plane was dispatched by NWT Power Corporation to repair the fallen lines; however it was delayed due to weather conditions. Work began on the repairs on
the evening of March 15 and power was restored 5:42 p.m.
NTPC communications manager Doug Prendergast said the lineman was dis-patched from Inuvik, but was delayed because the storm made flying impossible and the highway itself was closed due to strong winds.
Elias maintained the weath-er report gave plenty of notice to fly someone in in the event they had to. He questioned why the hamlet's request to North-west Territories Power Cor-poration is being ignored.
"They've got the lineman in
Inuvik. We've got the highway. They knew a storm was com-ing and this has been going on for years and years before the highway and everything," he said. "Even the housing corp, I don't understand why they don't invest in generators that can put some power on people's houses for an hour or so to keep them going. There's nothing in place for this and the government has to wake up.
"There are warnings out there that prepare people for this, they're fairly accurate – every time we've had blizzard warning we get a good wind here – and they have same internet that we do. If they're not going to station anybody here, they should do a full retro on the infrastructure. They got loose wires and wires that are low. Any kind of wind that comes up shuts the power out right away."
Prendergast said that line workers are paired for safety reasons and that it was impos-sible to predict where breaks in the line system would occur.
"NTPC requires that line-workers work as a pair at all times, which reflects best practice in the utility industry. Plant operators are not trained to support a lineworkers in the event of an incident at height," he said. "Lineworkers for the Beaufort Region are based in Inuvik and dispatched as needed to communities in the region. When a storm is forecast, NTPC does not know whether or where line repair might be needed. If a crew were stationed to one com-munity in anticipation of a storm but line damage occurs in another community, the community that needs support will be unable to receive it.
"NTPC is confident that its current operating procedures provide the best level of ser-vice to all of the communities in the Beaufort."
Mangilaluk School became a temporary warming shelter March 14
Tuktoyaktuk mayor calls out NTPC after entire hamlet loses power in snowstorm
by Eric Bowling Northern News Services
photo courtesy of the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk
A scene from Tuktoyaktuk this past winter. Tuktoyaktuk Mayor Erwin Elias is calling out the Northwest Territories Power Corporation for ignoring requests to deploy a service worker in advance when Environment Canada issues storm warnings.
news
INUVIK DRUM, Thursday, March 19, 2020 5opinions
In Ridley Scott's horror master-piece Alien, a group of space-sal-vagers come across an abandoned ship giving off a distress signal with no explanation of what killed the crew, until one man comes across an egg and is infected with a para-site.
Ellen Ripley, the smart woman, doesn't want to let the infected man back onboard the ship for safety reasons. No one listens to the smart woman and they all die, a multi-
trillion dollar investment is lost and Ripley barely escapes with her cat.
I've racked my brains all week about how to articu-late my feelings about this whole coronavirus situ-ation as events escalated and
civilization seemingly ground to a halt. But I can definitely say, without reservation, that I am glad I live in a jurisdiction run by smart women.
Other places, like the United States, have not been so lucky. Say what you will about Hillary Clinton, I think it's safe to say most Amer-icans are probably wishing she was the one signing off on the decisions right now.
Or in Alberta, where anyone up here who is in need of critical care from the virus will be sent, by the way. Jason Kenney's United Con-servative Party was so busy trying to bust the nurse's unions, chase doc-tors away and privatize health care services, they let the virus go from infected people mainly, being travel-lers, to people now getting infected by people who caught it from trav-ellers. The only concrete solutions being offered are by opposition leader and former premier Rachel Notley (another smart woman) who noted Kenney's 14-days sick leave promise seems to have not even lasted the weekend. Amid an inter-national crisis, Kenney appears to be incapable of anything other than photo ops.
Here in the Northwest Territories, Health Minister Diane Thom and chief public health officer Kami Kan-dola were making announcements about the situation long before anyone else really understood what COVID-19 even was. I remember Thom talking about it at NWT Asso-ciation of Communities AGM and even before that. She clearly under-stood the severity of the problem.
So we can all at least be assured that, while our resources might not
be as plentiful as we want them to be – not that they ever are – the folks in charge aren't going to let their egos and pet projects inter-fere with their jobs containing the spread of this virus into one of our isolated communities.
Because it really only takes one person with the virus to get off a plane and we could be in it deep. I'm sure I don't need to describe how devastating a virus that is particularly lethal to senior citizens would have on the well-being and social fabric of our communities. We need to protect our Elders while we can.
But let's not kid ourselves, this
massive pause on a system that requires perpetual growth to be con-sidered healthy is going to have sig-nificant consequences on our lives. Stock markets are plunging around the world. Entire industries and the livelihoods that depend on them are on freeze. Political fallout from the economic devastation could be deadlier than the virus itself – when haves becomes have-nots, history shows things can go off the rails pretty quickly.
So again, as we watch history unfold I am thankful to have smart women who listen to experts in charge, instead of blowhard males who talk down to them.
Northern News Services
COVID-19 shows the need for more female leaders Published Thursdays
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ERIC BOWLING
Eric Bowling/NNSL photo
ENERGY EXCELLENCETown of Inuvik SAO Grant Hood shows off the first ever Energy Excellence Award, awarded to the Town of Inuvik for its ongoing efforts to modernize its public build-ings, during the March. 11 Town Council meeting. The award will be on display at the town office.
6 INUVIK DRUM, Thursday, March 19, 2020 alternatives
Eric Bowling is editor of the Inuvik Drum. Send your ideas
Polar Bear hunters asked to document stomach contents
Beaufort SeaInuvialuit Game Council and the Hunter's and Trappers’
committee are teaming up with the Department of Environ-ment and Natural Resources offering $20 for photos of the contents of polar bear stomachs from hunters throughout the Inuvialuit Settlement Region.
Recent research from Barrow, Alaska found that 25 per cent of the bears documented had plastic pieces in their stomachs, sometimes too large for the bear to pass through its digestive system.
All that is needed is to cut open the bear’s stomach; take a clear picture and either take it to the nearest ENR office or send it to (867) 678 0477 along with tag number.
Planning for 100-year anniversary of Treaty 11 getting underway
Tsiigehtchic and Fort McPhersonCommunity organizers in Tsiigehtchic and Fort McPher-
son are in talks with the Gwichya Gwich’in Band to start planning for the 100-year anniversary of signing Treaty 11 with the Crown. Ideas for the upcoming celebrations, set for 2021, include a music festival, a fashion show, workshops and cultural activities, a craft gallery and videos.
A monument to commemorate the occasion is being sug-gested as well as a ceremonial by former and current Chiefs from both Tsiigehtchic and Fort McPherson.
Anyone interested in getting involved should contact interim band manager Brian Smith at the Tsiigehtchic char-ter office.
Environment Canada released a blizzard warning for Sachs Harbour and Paulatuk March 13 after forecasting 120 kilometre an hour winds and disrupting visibility to 400 metres or less.
A downed power line caused a brief power outage to a facility in Sachs Harbour; however, no residences were without homes. The blizzard warning in Sachs Harbour was lifted on March 15 while the Paulatuk warning carried on to Monday morning.
Along with the poor visibility and heavy winds, tem-peratures dropped to -26C in Sachs Harbour and -23C in Paulatuk.
Coronavirus leads to moratorium on cruises in Canadian Arctic
UlukhaktokCoronavirus or COVID-19 has delivered another big hit
to the Northern economy after a moratorium was announced on all Arctic cruise ships for the remainder of the season.
A statement on Transport Minister Marc Garneau’s reads, "Given the limited public health capacity in Canada’s North-ern communities, the cruise ship season for vessels with Canadian Arctic stops will be deferred for the entire season this year. This would apply to cruise ships of all sizes."
More than $100,000 was spent in Ulukhaktok alone last year during four cruise ship visits, according to a Depart-ment of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI) blog post.
Not everyone stayed inside over the weekend as a small group of gymnastics enthusiasts were at the Chil-dren First Centre March 14 to 15 to learn the fundamentals of coaching, with the hope
of eventually establishing a program in Inuvik.
A free three-day seminar ran potential coaches through the basics of coaching youth from infants to early teens, with more courses to be offered throughout the year.
Jenna Mailloux, Mohammed Saadatnand, Uschi Donaleshen and Candice Layton bust a move during a game of musical hoops in the second day of the seminar.
On the second day of the seminar, Uschi Donaleshen leads Candice Layton, Jenna Mail-loux and Mohammed Saadatnand through the overview of the ActiveStart program, which is oriented towards teaching gymnastics funda-mentals to kids ages 0 to 6.
During a practice, involving handstands to wrap up the unit on static moves, Jenna Mailloux attempts to kick her legs out as Uschi Donaleshen observes.
Jenna Mailloux and Uschi Donaleshen practise a tagging game during a coaching fundamentals class, demonstrating how to integrate basic motor movement into fun activities.
Northern News Services
Gymnastics workshop tumbles into town
GYMNASTICS Featureby Eric Bowling
photo courtesy of Helen Holmes
ART ABROADTuktoyaktuk artist Maureen Gruben’s latest work, Consumed has found a spot at the New York Independent Art Fair.
INUVIK DRUM, Thursday, March 19, 2020 7sports & recreation
Inuvik Curling Club wrapped up its season with a pair of bonspiels to send teams to national champion-ships later in the year, with the club championships Feb 28 to 29 and the mixed championship going to several tiebreakers March 4 to 5.
In the end, Team Robertson won the men's championship, Team Mitchell won the women's cham-pionship and Team Sittichinli/Arey won the mixed championship.
"I'm very excited to be going," said Pearl Gillis of Team Sittichinli/Arey. "I'm thrilled."
Because Mel Sittichinli was out of commission with a broken wrist, Glen Tingmiak filled in for him to help the team take the championship.
Team Sittichinli/Arey will now compete in the Canadian Mixed Championships in Canmore, Alta and teams Mitchell and Robertson will eventually make their way down to the Everest Curling Club Champi-onships in Ottawa.
"I'm so excited and happy," said skip Stephen Robertson. "It takes a bit of the sting out of the poor per-formance this weekend."
Robertson will be hoping to repeat his 2015 victory during his last visit to the championship.
Inuvik Curling club president Nick Saturnino said there were seven teams in the mixed competitions and six teams in the club championships.
"There were four men’s teams and two women's team last week-end," said Saturnino, who added the club was back in black after a highly successful fundraising raffle for the club's activities. "We're paying for the trip to Yellowknife we took in Febru-ary. It's all for the youth."
Team Robertson wins the men's championship, team Mitchell claims the women's and team Sittichinli/Arey takes the mixed championship – all three
will represent the North at bonspiels later this year
Curling season wraps up with back-to-back championships
by Eric Bowling Northern News Services
photo courtesy of Nick Saturnino
Team Mitchell shows off their championship crests on Feb. 29. From left are Melba Mitchell, Alison Lennie, Tannis Bain and Eleanor Jerome.
8 INUVIK DRUM, Thursday, March 19, 2020
Another festival will be held off this year as the Inuvik Muskrat Jamboree announced March 17 on its Facebook page that the three-day spring festi-val was cancelled as a safety precaution.
Organizers made the deci-sion following consultation with the Chief Public Health officer. This would have been the 63rd annual jamboree.
"Please note we recognize there are a lot of questions for
the event, perhaps even to why decisions were made," says the unattributed announcement. "While many of them were beyond our control in light of recent world events the ever-increasing vigilance, please know we did this out of con-cern for the health and safety of the participants, our volun-teers and our community."
The Town of Inuvik announced Monday that it was closing its venues, including the Midnight Sun Complex, Centennial Library and Town
Offices, which would have been used for indoor parts of the festival. There was a possibility the festival could continue as an outdoor-only celebration during the March 27 to 30 weekend, but the announcement noted the com-mittee had heard a great deal of concerns from the com-munity about putting people at risk.
Also mentioned in the announcement was that the committee is working with the Kings and Queens contestants
as to what to do with the many fundraising raffles currently underway and what to do with the money already raised.
The festival announced they will crown a King and Queen Friday alongside the East branch of the Mackenzie River at 7 p.m. The raffle will be drawn March 30.
Anyone with any concerns or comments is asked to send them to [email protected]. The next jambo-ree is already being planned for April 9 to 12, 2021.
Festival was set for March 27 to 30 weekend
Muskrat Jamboree cancelled as precaution due to COVID-19
by Eric Bowling Northern News Services
photo courtesy of Muskrat Jamboree
The 2020 Inuvik Muskrat Jamboree King and Queen Contestants, who will b e crowned March 20 at 7 p.m. Back Row, L-R: Edward Kogiak, Ashlyn Hendrick, Jeffrey Blake, Brian Wade and Edward Cardinal. Front Row, L-R: Jayda Kogiak, Leah Ipana, Carmen Wade and Trista Ipana. Missing: Donovan Arey.
