Free Republic

Prime Minister Trudeau signs agreement for largest land transfer in Canada's historyNearly 25 years after Nunavut became a territory, it has signed a final agreement with the government of Canada to have the final say over a long list of decisions that were, until now, usually made in Ottawa. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier P.J. Akeeagok and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Aluki Kotierk signed the agreement at a ceremony in Iqaluit this afternoon. It's the largest land transfer in Canada's history, Trudeau said — two million square kilometres of land and water.The 239-page document outlines how Canada will give control...

Nunavut Conservative Sen. Dennis Patterson says he has left the Conservative caucus after not seeing some of his colleagues condemn the ongoing protests in Ottawa against COVID-19 health mandates. He also said that when Erin O’Toole was ousted as Conservative Party leader last week, he didn’t feel confident that a future leader might support a “more centralized, progressive, solutions-oriented approach.” “This is the Conservative Party, which has been known as the party of law and order, and I’m very upset with the lawlessness and the desecration of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the hateful, repugnant symbols (like the...

IQALUIT, Nunavut (CP) - A mysterious skull discovered on the edge of the Arctic Circle has sparked interest in what creatures roamed Baffin Island in the distant past, and what life a warming climate may support in the future. Andrew Dialla, a resident of Pangnirtung, Nunavut, says he found the skull protruding from the frozen tundra during a walk near the shore with his daughter about a month ago. The horned skull is about the size of a man's fist. It resembles a baby caribou skull, except at that age, a caribou wouldn't have antlers, researchers and elders have pointed...

An Islamic community near the North Pole has inaugurated a new mosque in Iqaluit, in the region of Nunavut, Canada, becoming the second mosque built at the North Pole after a Saudi journalist arranged for the construction of a mosque in the Canadian town of Inuvik in 2010. The new mosque, inaugurated on Friday, will reportedly serve as a place of prayer and a community center in Iqaluit, where about 100 Muslims reside, as well as offering a place to learn about Islam. There are also plans to operate a food bank at the site. When the idea of the...

Next time you take a photo that you don’t like at first, don’t erase it; give it another chance. Just ask Michael Davies. The Canadian photographer based in the tiny hamlet of Pangnirtung, in Canada’s Arctic territory of Nunavut, almost deleted a picture that has now become an Internet sensation. The photo shows Davies’s friend, Markus Siivola, throwing hot tea into the air as he bends backwards. In the minus-40-degree weather, the hot water freezes and evaporates creating an almost magical mini-cloud.

Rather than see it preserved in a Norwegian museum, a committee in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut would rather see the Maud end its days on the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. Maud Returns Home, a salvage group backed by Norwegian investors, is planning a multi-million dollar expedition to restore the Maud, a 1918 polar exploration vessel once commanded by legendary Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. The group aims to raise the wreck with special balloons, mount it on a barge and tow it through the Northwest Passage back to Norway, where it would be preserved in a museum outside Oslo. “This initiative...

~snip~ The chairs the ministers will use during a private meeting in Nunavut's legislature are upholstered in shiny sealskin. The servers will sport sealskin hairpins. Seal vests and mitts will be given as gifts. And Saturday's evening feast at the local school will be an Inuit “country” supper of meats and fish from the land and sea, some of it served raw. Seal is on the menu. Take that, PETA. ~snip~ The Inuit have so far lost out to the high-profile campaigns of animal rights groups like PETA, who make effective use of celebrity supporters such as Paul McCartney. ~snip~...