Wimps?

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 5:22 PM - 5 Comments

More from David Akin.

Just in: PM & cabinet eating seal ribs and liver, both raw and boiled. First time PM has eaten seal. Sadly – no photos!

'People with unwiped bums'

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 12:17 PM - 53 Comments

The Prime Minister’s team learns that spelling is hard. And important.

An unfortunate blunder by the Prime Minister’s Office has residents of Nunavut alternately chuckling and cringing. A news release sent out Monday outlined Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s itinerary as he began a five-day tour of the North.

The release repeatedly spelled the capital of Nunavut as Iqualuit — rather than Iqaluit. The extra “u” makes a world of difference in the Inuktitut language.

Iqaluit, properly spelled, means “many fish.” Spelled with an extra “u,” the Nunavut language commissioner’s office says the word translates as a derogatory reference to “people with unwiped bums.”

The Prime Minister’s Office calls to say they’ve corrected the mistake on the PM’s website and note that various media outlets have published the same error—including, well, this one. “So hopefully our collective typos … will help better inform all of us to not make the same mistake twice,” says Dimitri Soudas, Mr. Harper’s press secretary.

Never mind all that

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, June 29, 2009 at 12:43 PM - 2 Comments

Doug Saunders suggests all that blustery talk of The North is a bunch of hooey.

In fact, it is emerging that the North never really has been a major part of the Canadian identity. A more accurate representation was outlined two years before Confederation by British Liberal leader and future prime minister William Gladstone. He stood in the House of Commons, during an 1865 debate about whether to grant semi-independence to the colony, and dismissed Canada glibly as a “long and comparatively thin strip of occupied territory between the States on one side, and the sterility of pinching winter on the other.”

Lawrence Cannon carries on undaunted.

Summer Travel '09: The North

By Brian Banks - Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 8:55 AM - 1 Comment

Nunavut

Auyuittuq National Park, Nunavut Auyuittuq, Inuktitut for “land that never melts,” is a national wonder. It’s home to the meeting point of glaciers and sea ice, the Canadian Shield’s highest mountains, and coastal fjords leading to a unique marine shoreline. Visitors can scale the park’s craggy peaks, ski across its icefields, and hike 100 km through the Akshayuk Pass—a walk the Inuit have been making for thousands of years. Located in the eastern Arctic on Baffin Island, Auyuittuq National Park is the perfect gateway to the Arctic experience.

Alianait Arts Festival, Nunavut During the 10 longest days of the year, the Alianait Arts Festival starts early and carries on through the night underneath the midnight sun. This year’s festival will be drawing people from all over the world to participate in art, music, film, storytelling, circus, dance and theatre events. The theme is Arctic winds, and will incorporate such wide-ranging acts as Brazilian drummers, traditional Inuit bands, Canadian folk stars and an African/Québécois circus troupe. The festival takes place in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, on Baffin Island near the mouth of the cliff-lined Frobisher Bay. It is an experience rich in tradition, beauty, and diversity. Continue…

How's this for an encore?

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 11:26 PM - 6 Comments

The Governor General is going on a seal hunt.