Wednesday, August 27, 2014

August Rush


The First Air jet plane I boarded in Ottawa had been halved to accommodate the cockpit & cargo at the front, and passengers in the rear.  My assumption that the airline only did this with their turboprop fleet was instantly disproven.  Upon landing in Iqaluit, I had enough time to walk over to Yummy Shawarma for lunch before catching my flight to Arctic Bay.  I had to get my shawarma fix because the next time would be in December.  Several familiar faces accompanied me on the three-hour flight to Arctic Bay.  There were a few elders, and a teacher with her common-law spouse.  I listened to music and occasionally napped for the majority of the flight.  As the plane began its final approach, the land beneath us became recognizable, transitioning from roving hills to jagged mountains, cliffs, and canyons.  The water was dark blue & flat.
            
Victor Bay.
I greeted Frank, the former mayor of Arctic Bay, who was waiting for me in the terminal building.  After exchanging greetings, we went outside and loaded my luggage into the back of his pickup truck.  As he drove me to my apartment, we discussed our summer vacations, and how the upcoming training year for the cadets of 3045 Army would look like.  I spent the next two hours unpacking and organizing my apartment.
            
In the four days after my arrival and before the beginning of school, I shopped for groceries, organized my classroom, prepped lessons, met familiar and new teachers, greeted former students, and attended staff meetings.  Several local Inuit residents greeted me at the Northern Store & Co-op, welcoming me back to town, and saying they heard me on the radio and saw me on tv.  I replied that I was glad that the final product turned out alright because I never got to hear nor see it.
            

The first day of school was Wednesday, August 13.  The Inuujaq School staff set up the gym and assisted the breakfast coordinator with preparing the food for the community breakfast feast.  The feast began at 9:30, with an opening prayer by an elder.  The gym was packed with students, teachers, parents, and community leaders.  After the principal's address, the teachers introduced themselves and briefly explained what classes they would be teaching.  We then proceeded to hand out the many prepared plates of food to students and guests.  The breakfast menu consisted of grilled cheese, oranges, grapes, cheese, and hard-boiled eggs. 
            
I walked around the gym, snapping photographs of people eating.  A few people stopped me to ask how I enjoyed my trip to France.  I replied that it was a fantastic learning experience.  One Inuk lady thanked me for representing Nunavut. 
            
For the fall semester, I would be teaching Grades 10, 11, & 12 Social Studies (SS), and high school marching percussion.  It's a full class load without a prep period.  Grade 10 SS leans more towards Inuit history, such as, the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and Residential Schools.  There are also modules on government, citizenship, and rights & responsibilities.  The Grade 11 SS course branches out into the world, looking at Industrialization, Nationalism & the First World War, Global Regionalism, and Quality of Life, just to name a few.  I began the semester with the Industrialization unit so that my students will have a better understanding of the causes of the First World War.  I'll be showing plenty of pictures from my trip to France then.  Grade 12 SS continues to look at the world in the 20th century, with modules focusing on politics, economics, the Second World War, and the Cold War.  On top of that, my students are required to complete a Social Studies Project, an independent study that replaces the departmental exam.
            
Two of my drum students practice their basic rudiments.
Me instructing one of my students.
I began the high school marching percussion program last year as a way of putting my years of drumming to good use.  I learned marching percussion in cadets during the summers I spent at camp and really enjoyed it.  During this time, I also played orchestral & band percussion for youth and community groups.  My program is a combination of military and DCI styles of drumming.  Even though I do not have experience performing in DCI bands, I have been instructed by people who have, and I rely on them for valuable advice and pointers.  The Band-Aid Grant I received from MusiCounts in March enabled me to purchase more drums and accessories, expanding my program to include 8 students in total.  I also acquired four new guitars for next semester and a digital piano. 
            

As the new academic year got under way, I was surprised to see and hear a pair of CH-147F Chinook helicopters heading towards the airport to refuel on August 15th.  The Chinooks were recently purchased by the Canadian government to serve as medium-lift transport helicopters for the Canadian military - an excellent choice!  The reason for my surprise is that the entire helicopter fleet is based in CFB Petawawa, Ontario, slightly over 3,000km to the southeast.  The word on the skidoo trail was that they were being flown in the arctic for cold weather testing.  I even heard they flew all the way to CFS Alert!  Looking at the face of Canada on Google Earth, I can only assume the helicopters had to fly to Manitoba first and then up into Nunavut, stopping at several communities to refuel.  (I would see them coming back on August 29th).
            
The CCGS Des Groseilliers, a T1200 medium icebreaker vessel, visited the community on August 17th.  The ship is operated by the Canadian Coast Guard and was commissioned in 1982.  It sails Canada's arctic waters during the summer months to escort commercial ships and serve as a primary search & rescue unit.  Last year, the staff of Inuujaq School were given a tour of the large ship, but unfortunately, there wasn't any time for a tour this year.  The ship left two days later, but returned on August 25th to assist with the arrival of a VIP.  
            
Everyone gathers at the pier.
Prime Minister (PM) Stephen Harper's annual tour of the north took place between August 21 & 26.  He visited the following communities spread across the three territories: Whitehorse, Fort Smith, Cambridge Bay, Pond Inlet, and Iqaluit.  A brief visit & photo op with the school children of Arctic Bay was added to his itinerary at the last minute for reasons I'm still trying to piece together.  One possible theory running around is that it was to make up for something that happened in Pond Inlet. 
            
PM Harper arrives.
On the morning of the 25th, Innujaq School staff, teachers, and students made their way down to the pier in front of the Northern Store to await the arrival of the PM.  Harper's press corps was already there as well as his two of his bodyguards who were easy to notice (there were wearing visible earpieces).  What I & the other southern teachers found amusing was that several reporters were wearing heavy winter jackets with their hoods up.  Their bodies hadn't fully acclimatized to the August weather. 
            

A. Salam, Principal of Inuujaq School
greets PM Harper.
Harper arrived from the CCGS Des Groseilliers on a Zodiac boat just as the students were organized into a collective mass.  He stopped and posed for pictures with several crew members from the ship before greeting the awaiting crowd of onlookers.  MP Leona Aglukkaq was also in attendance.  The principal of Inuujaq School greeted the prime minister and gave him a school yearbook and pen as gifts.  After exchanging a few words, PM Harper posed for pictures with the school children.  Philip Kalluk, the mayor of Arctic Bay, was also in attendance to greet the prime minister.  After shaking his hand, Philip presented a carving to Harper made by a local carver.  Several pictures were taken by excited onlookers.  PM Harper briefly spoke with individual students, teachers, and local Inuit, before being led to an awaiting car.  He waved to the crowd and thanked them for coming out to meet him.  The RCMP cleared a path and the convoy of vehicles left for the airport.  A Hercules military transport plane was waiting to take Harper and his entourage to Iqaluit.  The entire visit lasted 10 minutes.
            

PM Harper speaks to an excited Inuk
woman.
It would have been more beneficial for the people of the north if more time had been scheduled into the Prime Minister's itinerary.  Visiting many communities is nice but when it's only for a few hours or minutes, it doesn't leave a good impression.  Assigning two or three days per community is better because it gives residents the opportunity to voice their concerns & problems to the person in charge of the nation, and hopefully, with their help, work out possible solutions.

PM Harper gets into a black vehicle that will take him to the airport.
  

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Summer In A Flash

Sculpture in Iqaluit
My summer of 2014 was quick but very exciting and full of adventures.  I covered a lot of ground in eight short weeks (figuratively & literally).  I could write a separate blog about my vacation so I'll give you the Coles Notes version. 
            
Construction on Iqaluit's new aquatic centre.
Creekside Village
I spent a few days in Iqaluit, catching up with a few friends and revisiting Inuksuk High School.  I spoke with the teachers but only met a few former students.  I figured that in a year or two, I would be anonymous to the entire student body.  Creekside Village, a collection of residential houses owned & operated by Nunastar Properties, completed construction on a new row of townhouses, replacing the ones that burned down in February 2012.  The townhouses are colourful and look spacious on the outside.  The ice in Frobisher Bay was melting, but in random spots, giving way to large boulders of ice and snow.  I walked down to the pier and snapped a few photos of them, wondering how long it would take for them to completely disappear.
            
I stayed away from the small peninsula to the south of the airport because the garbage dump was smoldering and I didn't want to breathe in any toxic fumes.  At the time, the dump had been burning for almost 4 weeks because flammable waste had spontaneously combusted.  Little did I, or anyone, know the fire would continue to burn throughout the summer.  In fact, it's still burning as I write this post.  The city is about to spent around $3 million to extinguish the fire.  I hope it's a success. 
            
Iqaluit from the air - June 13, 2014.
I spent the majority of my vacation in Ottawa with family & friends.  The last two summers had been devoted to taking professional development courses at the University of Toronto (U of T), so I wanted to have a break from going to summer school.  In its place, I attended several well-publicized events in Canada's capital.
            
On June 22, I attended the annual Tim Hortons Dragon Boat Festival at Mooney's Bay Beach.  The festival was celebrating its twentieth anniversary as North America's largest dragon boating event.  This was my first time in attendance.  The festival grounds occupied a large portion of the beach, filled with bleachers, food & clothing vendors, a beach bar, "amplitheatre", and team area.  The few races my friends & I watched were quite good.  It was quite interesting watching twenty people per boat paddling in unison towards the finish line while being taped by an aerial drone.       
            


When we had enough of watching dragon boats, my friends & I travelled downtown to indulge in an unlimited supply of ribs being BBQ'd along the Sparks Street Mall.  June 22nd just happened to be the last day of Ribfest.  This would also my first time in attendance.  The entire length of the mall was packed with hungry people lining up at the many rib booths that were "pumping out" delicious racks of ribs in minutes.  Almost every booth had a trophy display on the side, proudly showcasing all the awards their ribs had won them.  We spent some time walking around and taking pictures before finally buying 1/3 rack of ribs from Swine Fellows.  They were pretty good.  We also tried Pappy's butter beer for free . . . after buying a mug.  By the end of the day, my friends and I concluded that for next time, we won't eat at the dragon boat festival and instead save our entire appetites for ribs.



Spectators eagerly wait for the start
of the evening fireworks show.
(Canadian Museum of Civilization in
the background.)
Canada Day (July 1st) was the next big event on the summer calendar.  I spent the entire day in downtown Ottawa, enjoying the festivities, dining at restaurants, visiting museums for free, and watching the late night fireworks show.  The one thing planners at Parliament Hill need to improve is installing bleachers so that everyone can clearly see the Changing of the Guard ceremony.  My friends & I watched the fireworks show from the Quebec side of the Ottawa River, at the marina next to Jacques Cartier Park.  We had clear views of the fireworks being launched behind the National Gallery and exploding high in the night sky.  The show was almost spoiled by rain but thankfully, the rain stopped just in time.  Happy 147th birthday Canada!
            
Sir John Carling Building before the
implosion.
Speaking of explosions, the last publicized event I attended in Ottawa was the implosion of the Sir John Carling Building on July 13th.  The building was built in 1967 and served as the headquarters of Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada until 2009.  Unfortunately, the building suffered from long term neglect as far back as 1994 and by 2009, the building was deemed too expensive to fix.  Employees were moved out, deconstruction commenced, and the building was imploded, costing the federal government $4.8 million.  A sad end to a building with good looking architecture.  I filmed the implosion from a safe distance, standing on a bridge next to Dow's Lake.  I was surprised by how many people came out to see the big bang.  I guess it's because building implosions rarely come to Ottawa.  The only implosions we see are in the House of Commons and City Hall.           
            
Several months before the end of the school year, I was going over my options on how to "spend" my summer vacation.  One idea that kept coming up was travelling to another country.  The last time I travelled overseas was to Australia in 2010, so it was time to pick a new destination.  As luck would have it, I managed to kill two seals with one harpoon by combining an overseas vacation with a professional development course.
            
Terminal 1 - Charles de Gaulle Airport
Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland
Memorial
The Juno Beach Centre (JBC) was holding its 10th Annual Professional Development Tour for educators in late July to early August.  The 10-day program is for teachers wanting to visit Canadian First & Second World War sites in France, learn more about Canada's contributions during those tumultuous times, and find ways to share this knowledge and experience with their students.  Since I was one of those teachers, I submitted an application, and was accepted after much anticipation.  The trip cost me $2,000 but JBC covered the other half.  Obviously, I was very excited to travel to France.  The last time I visited the country was in 2005 but only Paris and a brief stop in Vimy Ridge.
            
Thiepval Memorial
The chosen teachers and JBC coordinators met at Toronto Pearson Airport on July 27 and boarded an Air Canada flight for Paris.  I had arrived in Toronto several days earlier, enjoying the sites and completing the CN Tower EdgeWalk for the fourth time.  I was the only teacher representing Nunavut and the other two territories.  I was expecting at least one other teacher from my "neck of the tundra" but that wasn't the case.  The other 20 teachers came from down south.
            
Vimy Ridge Memorial
We came, we saw, and learned so much in ten short days.  The itinerary was packed with tours, activities, photo-ops, meals, and leisure time.  We visited Arras, Beaumont-Hamel, Dieppe, Bayeux, Vimy Ridge, the Normandy Beaches (except Utah), Pegasus Bridge, Pointe du Hoc, Abbaye d'Ardenne, Caen, the Juno Beach Centre, Falaise, Paris, and many Allied and German cemeteries.  On top of that, there were many French foods, wines, and other delicacies to enjoy.  But that is just the tip of the iceberg.  I would have to write a dedicated blog to cover everything I learned and experienced.  I also got to meet & network with teachers from across Canada who shared my interest in Canadian history.  Naturally, they "interrogated" me about teaching and living above the Arctic Circle, to which I was more than happy to explain.  I spoke enough French to get by but not enough to become fluent.  Regardless, the trip was definitely worth a 1000 pictures. 
            
Dieppe Beach
I recounted my experiences in a phone interview with CBC North.  I answered all the questions posed by the reporter to the best of my abilities.  I was glad the interview was not live because if I had made any mistakes, it would be too late to correct them.  Thankfully, the reporter assured me that everything I said was alright.  The interview was broadcasted over the radio on August 5th, while I flew back to Canada.  For additional exposure, the sound bites would be heard on Nunavut television with accompanying photographs.  When I hung up the phone in my hotel room, I knew my trip to France would be the topic of discussion upon my return to Arctic Bay.
            
Pegasus Bridge
Me at Juno Beach.
Upon arriving in Canada, I only had two days to pack my belongings before catching my flights to Arctic Bay.  I included a box of food with my travel luggage because the refrigerator in my apartment was empty.  Those last two days of vacation were gone in an instant and the next thing I knew, I was on a First Air flight to Iqaluit.  There, I would transfer to a smaller First Air turboprop that would fly me the rest of the way.
            
Omaha Beach Cemetery
As I mentioned from the start, my summer was quick but very exciting and full of adventures.  Now that I'm back in the north, it's time to return to the familiar academic & blogging routines.  I'll do my best not to fall too far behind in my blog posts, but as all teachers will tell you, there's always something to be done.


Chateau de Falaise