Nunavut Arctic College

It was a very happy day in Igloolik, Nunavut this week. In the first graduation ceremony of the season, 16 students graduated from the Arctic College Early Childhood Education and College Foundations certificate programs.

Early Childhood Education students in Igloolik created web-based children’s stories as part of a literacy initiative in the North Baffin called The Muskox Project.

The award-winning animated Nunavut film Amaqqut Nunaat: The Country of Wolves has won the jury award for "Best Narrative Short" at the 15th Cine Las Americas International Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

Grade 12 students from Attagutaaluk High, Igloolik, visited Nunavut Arctic College's Nunatta Campus in Iqaluit today. They were on their way through the community to Ontario to visit other universities. We took this opportunity to speak to them about the positives of attending an institution of higher learning in Nunavut.

Nanisiniq Arviat History Project Elder Martha Okotak, Curtis Konek and Jordan Konek met a source of inspiration -- acclaimed Nunavut filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk during the International Polar Year: From Knowledge to Action conference in Montreal this week.

From all of us in Arviat, we would like to thank Zacharias Kunuk and Ian Mauro for believing in, and supporting our aspiring young filmmakers and the Nanisiniq Arviat History Project.

IQALUIT, Nunavut (April 25, 2012) – Today in Igloolik, 15 Elders have been certified as Innait Inuksiutilirijiit in Nunavut schools, acknowledging their skills, knowledge and abilities as an integral part of education in Nunavut.

Igloolik, February 2, 2012 – With the support of the Nunavut Government Department of Language, Elders and Youth (CLEY), the Igloolik Recreation Department and the Artcirq Inuit Performance Collective have transformed part of the curling rink at the Igloolik Kipsigak arena into the “Black Box”: a new training and performing space open to the entire community.

EXPLORE THE ARCTIC WITH YOUR MIND AND EARN UNIVERSITY CREDITS!

Nunavut Arctic College is offering the University of the Arctic course BCS100: Introduction to Circumpolar Studies. Find out how you can start a university education today!

The Honourable Edna Elias, Commissioner of Nunavut today released the following statement:

“On behalf of all Nunavummiut I wish to offer my deepest sympathies to the family, friends and comrades of Sgt Janick Gilbert, who died on Thursday October 27, 2011 while on a rescue mission to save two hunters who were stranded at sea east of Igloolik.

We are all very grateful to those who risk their lives on Search and Rescue missions in our vast territory. Sargeant Gilbert’s bravery and ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty assisted in saving the lives of two Igloolik hunters. His courageous actions will never be forgotten. It is hard to find words to thank someone who succumbed in the line of duty.

Search and Rescue is an important service in a territory as vast as Nunavut and with such extreme weather conditions.”

-The Hon. Edna Elias
Commissioner of Nunavut

Commissioner Elias emphasizes and urges hunters and travelers in the Arctic to do so fully equipped with safety and emergency gear even if they are going just for the day.

“It is with great sadness that I learn of the loss of Sgt. Janick Gilbert, a search and rescue technician with the Canadian Forces Base in Trenton, Ontario, who died yesterday while on a mission to save two hunters who were boating east of Igloolik.

Sgt. Gilbert displayed unwavering courage and the ultimate sacrifice in the call of duty. We are humbled by his bravery and forever grateful for his heroic actions. The rescue mission outside of Igloolik was co-ordinated by the base in Trenton, Ontario and included crews from Canadian Forces bases in Gander, Newfoundland, Greenwood, Nova Scotia and Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Thank you to all of those who risk their lives on Search and Rescue missions in our vast territory with its extreme conditions.

On behalf of the Government of Nunavut, I would like to express my deepest sympathies to the family, friends and comrades of Sgt. Janick Gilbert.

Hon. Eva Aariak
Premier of Nunavut