The
first school week of September began with some very picturesque scenery. A thick layer of clouds enveloped King George
V Mountain (KGVM) on the morning of the 3rd.
At a first glance, it appeared as the if the mountain had shrunken to a
tall hill. On September 4th, the arctic
sun was shining just above the mountain's peak, partially covered by low
clouds. The water in the bay was flat
and clear as glass. Moments like these
convince me to always have a digital camera at the ready.
My
Grade 11 Social Studies students had a quiz on the first two sections of the
Industrialization module. The two
sections we covered looked at life in England before and during the Industrial
Revolution, trade & merchant guilds, urbanization, and child labour. My Grade 12 Social Studies students had a
political perspectives test on the topics of democracy & dictatorship. One of them went to a surprising extreme to
not be distracted by his classmates. He
declined my other suggestion; wearing a file folder. He did very well on the test.
On
Sunday, September 7, the Sea Explorer, a cruise ship owned by Danish Clipper Group, visited Arctic Bay. The vessel is
operated by Polar Latitudes, Poseidon Expeditions, and Quark Expeditions, and
was escorted to the town by a Canadian Coast Guard vessel. Tourists from many different countries,
dressed in large, noticeable yellow coats, came ashore and explored the town on
foot. It was a sunny clear blue day, but
a long line of low overcast clouds drifted across the bay. I photographed the tourists visiting the
Heritage Centre and returning to the Sea Explorer on zodiac boats. I saw several of them at the Northern Store
& Co-op but didn't talk to them. I
overheard a French lady explaining to someone over the phone about how high the
prices are. The Sea Explorer was gone by
the end of the day.
September
8th was a "special day" for high school; regular classes were
replaced by a day workshop organized by the Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation. Baffinland is a Canadian mining company owned
by ArcelorMittal and Nunavut Iron Ore, and operates above the Arctic
Circle. Its latest undertaking is the
Mary River Project, an open pit iron mine, located on Baffin Island. The company has just started operations and
expects to ship approximately 18 million tonnes of ore per year to European
countries. The iron ore was originally
discovered in 1962, but interest in financing the extraction of the natural
resource did not happen until many years later.
Iron ores are rocks and minerals that are mined around the world
primarily to make steel.
Mary River is located 280km southeast of Arctic Bay, and already employs several
people from the town. From what I have
been told, the workers are flown to and from the mine by helicopter, and work
in two week rotations (two weeks on, two weeks off). Alternatively, workers from down south are
flown in and out twice a week via two Nolinor Boeing 737s based in
Kitchener-Waterloo. The planes stop in
Iqaluit to refuel. The mine and
Baffinland are frequent topics of conversation in Arctic Bay because of the
economic benefits and work experience they bring to the Inuit.
The
workshop is designed to educate students on the types of minerals found and can
be mined in Nunavut, what the Mary River Project is all about, the types of
jobs that await graduating students in the mining sector, and what factors are
needed to run a successful mining operation.
The workshop was run by a lady and a man from Baffinland. There were plenty of individual and groups
activities where students examined mineral samples with magnifying glasses,
identified minerals using various clues, answered questions in the style of
jeopardy, "mined" for iron ore using a cookie, and built mineral
structures using toothpicks & Swedish berries. Naturally, one of the main challenges of the
last two mentioned activities was to not eat the food until after their
completion. Snacks and lunch were also
provided, courtesy of Baffinland.
Judging
from the interactions of students, it appeared they enjoyed the workshop and
learned a lot about the minerals hidden deep underneath Nunavut. I too learned several new things about
minerals and how mining operations work in very remote locations. The students also received free Baffinland
t-shirts for their participation & efforts.
The company is known for being generous to students, especially the high
school graduates. As I mentioned in a
previous post, the grads receive a free laptop from the mining company.
The
Baffinland instructors were thanked by the administration and student body for
visiting the school and putting on the workshop. They boarded a plane later that day and flew
to another community to put on the same workshop for Inuit students.
No comments:
Post a Comment