Chamber has new executive director

NWT - The NWT Chamber of Commerce has a new executive director. Peter Long, 28, started in his new position July 5.
"I was interested in change and I am interested in working with businesses in Yellowknife," he said.
Originally from Antigonish, N.S., he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Francis Xavier University. After graduation, he worked as a branch manager for the Royal Canadian Legion Arras Branch 59.
He moved to Yellowknife in the spring of 2006, working three years as the office supervisor of the Yellowknife Public Health Unit.
"I've dealt a lot with business and I am interested in business," he said. "I have worked with board of directors before so I kind of know what to expect. I feel that would help me."

Eco-tourism course

TIKIRARJUAQ/WHALE COVE - Ten hamlet residents are involved in an eco-tourism course from July 6 to 23. The hamlet receives about $100,000 per year for economic development, so it decided to use some of the money to host the course, said Shawn Trepanier, the hamlet's senior administrative officer.
The course will allow the people to offer tours, hunting and fishing trips, act as tour guides and guide people prospecting the land.
The course entails five or six days of in-class instruction followed by a trip on the land lasting about a week.

Cheaper shipping rates

NUNAVUT - Braden Burry Expediting started offering an all-inclusive freight rate for goods shipped from Winnipeg to a number of Kivalliq communities.
Since June 15, the company will co-ordinate freight for communities serviced out of Churchill by the marine transportation companies, said Eitan Dehtiar, BBE's vice-president of finance and strategic planning.
"Instead of somebody having to go out and purchase trucking services, rail services, marine services, what we're doing is we're offering one flow-through service that includes all those components," he said. "From our perspective, one of the big things now, we actually do have a presence in Churchill so we're providing services directly in that community as well as part of this overall package."
BBE, a member of the NorTerra Inc., has historically shipped 5,000 to 10,000 tonnes of material per shipping season from Churchill, said Dehtiar. He added the company decided to offer the service because of demand.
Dehtiar said this will also mean a cheaper shipping rate for the Kivalliq communities.

New burger shack

KUGLUKTUK/COPPERMINE - Community members in Kugluktuk can now buy hamburgers, cheeseburgers, drinks, french fries, gravy, hot dogs, poutine, drinks and even cotton candy at Grumpy's, a new burger shack usually open on Saturdays from 6 p.m. to midnight.
"It's something that we're trying to keep open for the community," said Ron McKay, who started the shack along with Barry Smith and Grant Newman. McKay said they started the business during the Nattiq Frolics held this spring. The food is served out of a mobile trailer, complete with barbecue, deep fryer, propane stove and cotton candy machine, he added. "It's really popular. They just want more of it," said McKay.

Symposium postponed

IQALUIT - The Economic and Sovereignty Infrastructure Symposium, slated to be held at Iqaluit's Frobisher Inn from July 5 to 7, was postponed until September.
"It was just for a number of groups, the summer, the timing didn't work for them," said Patrick Doyle of Northern Strategy Group Conferences. "After talking with several groups, everyone came back to doing it closer around the Nunavut Trade Show (and Conference in September)."
An exact date will be announced later, said Doyle.

Weather disrupts flights

KANGIQLINIQ/RANKIN INLET - Canadian North and First Air both reported weather disrupted some of the flights coming in and out of Rankin Inlet last week.
Fog and other weather problems have disrupted a number of First Air flights from July 5 to July 8, said Chris Ferris, the company's vice-president of marketing and sales, on July 8. He added this applies to flights from Yellowknife, Iqaluit or Winnipeg that stop in Rankin Inlet.
"We're getting to the point now where this is four days in a row. It's going to take a bit of time to recover and move everybody to where they wanted to go originally," he said. "We have seen fog disrupt operations in the summertime before but I haven't personally seen the fog disrupt for four or five days in a row."
Ferris said hundreds of passengers have been affected.
A First Air flight from Yellowknife landed in Rankin Inlet July 7 but the one coming from Iqaluit had to bypass the community, he said. He added one flight from Winnipeg on July 8 was cancelled while the other was scheduled to go ahead.
As for Canadian North, a flight originating from Yellowknife landed in Rankin Inlet but the return flight from Iqaluit had to bypass the community due to weather conditions on July 7, said Lorraine Bonner, the company's vice-president of scheduled service. On July 5, the flights from both directions were not able to land in Rankin Inlet.
"It's a fairly common occurrence at this time of year to have fog," she said.