Monthly Archives: February 2010

Here’s the premiere of that Tropicana juice ad in Inuvik. The company had an advance screening at the recreation complex, to show people the result of a week of work.

I thought the commercial was going to make the balloon look like a real sun. Instead though, the message is “we brought this artificial sun to Inuvik because we’re benevolent.”

What do you think? A million dollars in one minute!

Does this make you more likely to buy orange juice?

Here is the ad:

Here is a photo from last week: The Aklavik Drummers and Dancers pose before heading to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

The drummers performed as part of the aboriginal pavillion.

Here are some northern lights, around 3am, taken from the inside of Lakeview apartments.

Ravens are endlessly scavenging for food and making their “glou glou” noises.

This time of year, they are very fat birds.

http://www.cbc.ca/northwind/ipana.html

Here’s the latest soundslide for CBC, which shows the renaming of Inuvik’s arena. It is now called the Roy Sugloo Ipana memorial arena.

Here’s the crowd cheering at the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation’s annual hockey tournament, which happened over the weekend.

The tournament has been happening for 21 years, and as you can see it’s a very big deal.

Here are some young people late at night, heading for the sports complex.

As you can see, they sometimes walk on the utilidors.

The recent Skills Canada competition featured a sewing workshop. Students made muskrat mittens but the instructors also brought some more complicated sewing to show off.

Here’s a popular combination for a vehicle around here: A snowmobile pulling a rugged plastic sled.

People are now travelling the ice roads between Inuvik, Aklavik and Tuktoyaktuk.

Here are some early-morning colours, over Boot Lake

A new series of soundslides has been posted, regarding a recent Skills Canada competition in Inuvik.

So nice to see interested students!

These photos show a First Air plane leaving Inuvik towards Edmonton. The Akalvik Drummers and Dancers were on the plane as they headed to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

(Note: the photos were taken with a density filter, which is like a pair of sunglasses for a camera.)

The Inuvik drummers and dancers were congratulated on Sunday at the recreation centre.  A group of about 30 people are heading down to the Olympics to participate in the aboriginal pavillion, which showcases different dances, sports and costumes of first nations.

February 20 will be Inuit Day at the Olympics.

These photos were taken by Marc Arsenault, who is working with Healthy Foods North and touring communities.

Recently in Ulukhaktok (also known as Holman Island) some polar bear were seen near the community.

Here are Marc’s descriptions of the photos:

1. My hand beside what we believed was a polar bear cub that was with its mom.

2. Dog Sledding on Queen’s Bay with Ulukhaktok in the background.

3.  Approximately one mile from Ulukhaktok polar bear tracks disappearing into the Beaufort Sea.

(Note to people reading: If you want to ask about publication rights on this one, you have to talk to Marc. My CC copyright does not necessarily apply.)

A new soundslide about the classical concert has been posted:

Click here to see it, or visit the “soundslides” section of the website.

Musicians Antoine Bareil and Sébastien Lepine travelled to Inuvik on February 9.

The classically-trained duo performed in concert at the Our Lady of Victory Church.

The evening featured violin and cello; part of a series of cultural events hosted by the territorial government and the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre.

Click here to see the soundslide at CBC. ca/northwind

(Sorry if I bothered anyone with my camera shutter during the concert!)

This is incredible news — that Google camera car has come up the Dempster Highway, and the information has just been released online.

Take a virtual walk around Inuvik!

(note: the thing was just released today or yesterday, so the navigation is still very wonky. Still, it’s about the closest thing you can get to visiting and walking around.)

There are millions of dollars’ worth of construction work happening in Inuvik right now.

There’s a structure replacing the old Aurora College building on Veteran’s Way, and a new school (below) is being built beside the Samuel Hearne secondary school.

Here’s a recording of Anna Pingo singing O Canada in the Ummarmiut dialect, which is the type of Inuvialuktun spoken by people in the Mackenzie Delta.

The National Anthem

(The crowd is singing along, but people were following along to handout sheets.)

I asked Roy Goose, who is a translator, to translate the lyrics back into English. Here is the rough translation:

O Canada
Our Home Country

Our strength

With the light that resides in our hearts
You have manifested yourself

It’s very powerful

This strong land.
Let it be in me.

O Canada, we live in this country,
Keep this country through our goodness
by God

O Canada, you are our country and we live in you

Related post from June 2007: Click here to see the anthem written out

A fundraiser for Haiti earthquake relief was held at the Samuel Hearne high school on Thursday night.

Anyone who wanted to participate could play music. It was a big success, with styles as different as the Community Jazz Band, country music, heavy metal guitar and my own electronic stuff.

The last two photos are of the East Coast Boys, who play Newfoundland music.

A familiar voice, Dorothy Arey, is going off the airwaves after more than 20 years.

Dorothy read the news in Inuvialuktun on CBC North. She is here shown with Wanda McLeod, (host of Northwind) and Roy Goose as well as Trail’s End’s Norbert Poitras and Patty-Kay Hamilton, plus CBC management’s Renee Pellerin who travelled from Yellowknife.

Here’s the latest soundslide: A talk between CBC’s Patty Kay Hamilton and Liz Wright, snowshoe racing coach in Fort McPherson.

McPherson is quickly becoming the NWT’s capital of the snowshoe race, and it’s nice to see people so excited about sport.

Taken just before 5pm on Saturday, on Boot Lake trails.