August 7, 2011 Gjoa Haven

We flew from Iqaluit to Yellowknife with a stop in Rankin Inlet, Friday after work. We gained two hours. But still arrived in Yellowknife after the book store closed. Went to the Black Knight bar and ran into one of the defence counsel, Tamara. Flew out at 10am for Gjoa Haven with a stop in Taloyoak. The plane was very small and got to sit in the last row by the window. It was about an hour late arriving in Gjoa Haven. It was a beautiful sunny day everywhere. Tamara came in on a later plane that left in the afternoon and arrived about an hour later than we did. Met with her after supper and gave her our positions on all the files. She was to meet with clients that evening and today. The second defence counsel should be arriving shortly. Walked over to her office last night and today. She was given the key to the building and just left the door unlocked. 


Joe and I walked down to the RCMP detachment and saw them down the road in their truck speaking to someone. I waved and the person they were talking to told them we were behind. Good because they were on their way to go fishing. But they came back to the office and we talked about some of the cases and made some arrangements to meet with witnesses. 

The hotel, Inns of the North, Amundsen Hotel. This is how it looked last time I was here in February 2011.

The Ice Palace
Last night I walked down to the RCMP building (and I forgot to take a photo - next time) and then down towards the dock. 

There appeared to be a dog or person swimming. People came in in their boats. Some sled dogs are tied up to their dog houses along here too so stayed respectfully away from them. 


Today we walked over to where there is a memorial to Amundsen and some boats up on the hill. The directions we were given were bizarre and must have been for people who drive. Finally we just struck off for the beach and found a 'bridge' like the one over the River Kwai - just kidding. I even saw one ATV drive right over it but I wasn't ready for it and all the others I saw just drove beside it. 

Then we walked along the beach and headed up the hill.

I saw this boy and his Dad with their scooter, fishing. 

Then on the way back they were packing up and I asked them if they had caught anything. They hadn't maybe because it was low tide. So I asked if I could take their photo and here it is:

This is the memorial and four old boats that we walked to see. I did take some close-ups but will save them for another time. 

As you can see it is a sunny cloudless day. 

August 1, 2011 Iqaluit

I walked to Apex along the path that overlooks Frobisher Bay. It starts at the graveyard and winds through meadows and boulders. Sometimes I lost the trail but it was pretty easy to find. It ended in Apex by the old Hudson Bay Buildings.

There are four old buildings and the old red boat there. The tide was far out and hence the seaweed. There are very small shrimp in the low tide that the birds eat. Although I did not see any birds. The tide was out for the whole walk so today I wanted to get some photos of Frobisher Bay with the tide in. 
I walked up the hill past the Frobisher Inn and took most of the photos from that vantage point.
An art college has some Innukshuks in front of it:

On my way up the hill I passed the Hospital which has a long curving wall on the drive up to it and on one of our walks we saw the artists painting part of it. This is what it looks like now:

Here is a closer look of the newest part of it:

We spoke with one of the artists last week and he said that they were commemorating a young woman and her five children who were killed (murdered I think).


I did get some photos of the tide in on Frobisher Bay:

This shows the territorial flower, the saxifrage, the tundra and a bit of the Bay

A view from higher up and then a view from the beach (by this time the tide was going out):

July 31, 2011 Iqaluit

When I was in Kugluktuk I noticed a real fad. Every male wears a hoodie and every male did the same thing with his hat and hood when he had to take his hat off. This is Chad who ran the Complex where the court was held:
Here he is with his hoodie and hat and then without:

Then when the males appear in court this is what they do:

They just shove everything back. When the Justice saw it she would ask them to remove their hat. 
It seemed as if everyone had a boat. Even people with ATVs pulled their boat down to the dock:

But as I was walking down the road I saw this:

He was pulling his boat with this old tractor.


Today I did walk to Apex along the path and returned. The tide was out but it would never reach the path. At times the path went through big boulders and some times it went through meadows. It ended in Apex at the Hudson Bay buildings. 

In the 'meadows' there were quite a few different flowers including the Territorial flower, the saxifrage:

When I was returning I noticed some ravens flying/soaring off the top of the cliff. I stood around waiting for them to repeat it and try to get a photo. Well they zoomed up behind me, likely thinking that I had food as there was a wooden bench a little further up.  I had nothing to eat so just tried to capture a good photo:

They were pretty cheeky. There were about five of them and I tried to get a photo of them soaring but no great ones. Will have to practice. 

July 31, 2011 Iqaluit

Kugluktuk: We finished court on the Wednesday, July 27, 2011. 
We walked each night on the tundra and ended up looking onto the Coppermine River. It was great when there was a wind as there were few bugs. 
The carvers here seem to carve with dolomite from a quarry about 18 miles away or alabaster (from Three Mile Island). I did buy a carving of a walrus from alabaster. The woman said that her husband had carved it and he had signed his name on the bottom. It is a rusty walrus with tusks that are not removable. I was worried how they would survive the plane travel. But the court reporter, Janet, had some marshmallows and I put one covering his tusks. He came through in one piece. I have saved the marshmallow for the next trip. 

Here is Wally the walrus. His face is pretty cute and the spots on him are from the rock. 


One of the defence counsel, Clare, took some photos too and she put them on a USB for me to copy. Her camera knit several photos together so she has a panorama overlooking the Coppermine River from the tundra. 

Here are some of my photos from the walks on the tundra and seeing the Coppermine River

We never did get to go down the Coppermine River to Bloody Falls. 
Thursday we flew to Yellowknife. There we went for Vietnamese food and then to a movie. 
Friday I flew home with the 77 pound hockey bag full of files. No one was there to meet me but lucky for me Justice Sharkey (my former classmate) was on the plane. He saw the prosecutor who had been on his circuit walking down the road so he came back and gave me and all my bags a ride. 
Paula, the prosecutor from Halifax, had returned from Cape Dorset and we went for supper. She had some great experiences in that she saw the equivalent of FIsh and WIldlife chasing a young polar bear further down the water and she saw a whale and its baby. Paula flew out yesterday. I miss her. We shared the prosecutor's apartment and explored quite a bit. 
I got on the internet just briefly Saturday morning and that was it. Barry, Dawn and Lucy (their dog) picked me up and we went to Sylvia Grinnell park to see if anyone had shown up for the office BBQ. It was cold and rainy but there was a building that had a wood burning stove and a BBQ that we put out on the deck. There were three dogs (one was a puppy) and three children so we had lots of entertainment. 
Then I tried to get onto the internet to no avail and this is the first time so I thought that I better take advantage of it. 
I am here all week to prepare the files for Gjoa Haven and we fly to Yellowknife on Friday and Gjoa Haven on Saturday. 
So I think that I 'fixed' my camera and am going to set out to walk to Apex after I have lunch.

July 25, 2011

Court is held in the Recreational Complex. It is a huge room that is a gym. There are the Canadian and the Nunavut flags on the front wall, a couple of kayaks on one side wall and a kamitik (sled) on another wall. There is a bear hide and a stuffed eagle in the room as well. I will take my camera and get a photo tomorrow. 

We went through the docket and dealt with quite a few files. The prisoners were flown in this afternoon so will deal with their files tomorrow. Other prisoners opted to deal with court over the phone so we will deal with them tomorrow too. 

A couple of carvers came to the court to sell their carvings. 

Tonight defence counsel are meeting with the prisoners and we went to a Justice Committee meeting. Doris, the Justice Co-ordinator picked us up on her ATV and gave us a ride there. It can really move along. 

We may go for a walk later. It was very hot this morning but it has cooled off now and it is very windy. 

I have some files to go over for tomorrow so better get to work. 

When we climbed up the tundra last night and took a photo of the rock formations this was the view in the other direction of the lower park of Kugluktuk along the Coppermine River. 

When we walked back we then walked along the beach. It must have been around 8pm and there were lots of people down on the dock, some swimming, some riding their bikes on the dock and others just hanging around.

I took a photo of an ATV hooked up to a dolly that had obviously transported a boat. Then when I was walking up the road a guy driving his tractor was pulling his boat on a dolly. 

There are lots of boats pulled up on the sand. 

July 24, 2011 Kugluktuk

No meal until brunch at noon. Walked around and took some photos and walked out on the tundra. It is quite windy so the bugs cannot hang around you very long. It is quite warm as well. 
Flowers growing on the tundra:

The tundra and formations:

We had a huge brunch and then went to the RCMP detachment across the street and met with witnesses on the trial files. We have divided up the docket and the trials. One of my witnesses is in Yellowknife and travel arrangements were not made for her. Hopefully that will be done tomorrow. Court goes until we are finished but is expected to end Thursday so we catch the afternoon flight out on Thursday. The Justice, clerk and court reporter flew in today. Maybe interpreters too.
The person from the Justice Committee attended the RCMP office today too and gave us a report on who was accepted and who completed their referral and who did not so that is also helpful. 
This morning when I walked around I took a photo of the fish on the other side of Kugluktuk High school:

This plant is called Arctic cotton and looks like cotton too. 

In the afternoon we went to the RCMP detachment and went over the files and met with witnesses on our trials. While we were there two little girls came to the detachment to show the female member their new puppy:

July 23, 2011 Kugluktuk (Coppermine)

Yesterday we flew to Yellowknife via Rankin Inlet. We stayed at the Yellowknife Inn. We ran down the street to The Taste of Saigon which closed about 15 minutes later. We had a few spring rolls and will have a proper meal there when we return on Thursday.
Today we flew to Kugluktuk which is on the Coppermine River. We are staying at the Coppermine Inn. 


We met defence counsel and went over the files. We are all staying at the same Inn and so ate together and went for a walk this evening. Now there are bugs and no one remembered the Off. My camera is acting up (or perhaps the photographer is) so I used my point and shoot. 
It is now 10:30 pm and still light although I have the light on in the room. 


We did go for a walk earlier in the day too. The roads are not paved and there is a lot of dust when a vehicle or ATV passes. The sand is very fine and they have a sandy beach on the shore of the Coppermine River. There were quite a few people swimming and quite a few boats on the water today as it was pretty warm. The swimmers wrapped up in blankets when they came out of the water. Michelle took a photograph of a little boy in his parka and jeans with a bug net covering his face. Hope to get a copy to show you. 
Michelle and I are the Crowns and we lugged a hockey bag of 71 pounds of files as well as our own luggage here. There are two defence counsel as well so it should work pretty well. There are 10 trials set but we will see how many actually proceed.  We gave defence counsel our position on all the files that we could. We have to check a few things with the RCMP tomorrow. Their detachment is right across the street. One of the officers picked us up at the airport and dropped us off at the hotel (after we called because the driver of the taxi that was called said she could not come as she had a sick child.)
Here are a few photos of the children in the water and the boats pulled up on the shore:

 This is the Kugluktuk High School:

The fish wrapping around the corner is neat and there is another one on the other side.

This is a view of the Coppermine Inn. 

July 20-21, 2011

Working on files for Kugluktuk (formerly Coppermine). Have been swimming twice at noon at the pool at the Frobisher Inn. Only 4 people (including me) there and so you have lots of the pool to yourself. Very nice. 

Yesterday my roommate from Halifax arrived and we went to the bar at the Frobisher to meet the articling student, Leah,  and her husband on wings night.. Very busy pub and you have to check your coats. Wings were 'hot' and good. 

Today we walked at noon and talked to the people doing the art on the wall by the hospital. For some reason my camera would not work (sure nothing to do with the operator) so will have to go back tomorrow and take a photo. Then Leah and her husband took us to Sylvia Grinnell park and we took some photos:

Some people camp there in the summer:

Lea and her husband walked 45 minutes to somewhere in the park last weekend with their dogs to attend a pig roast. The pig was flown into Iqaluit. Then they were given a ride home on an ATV.

After seeing some of the park including these lovely falls:

we drove up the road to Nowhere and saw these lovely flowers:

Then we drove to Apex where some old Hudson Bay Buildings are still standing and looked at how far out the tide was:

The tide is one of the biggest tides in the world:

We met a group of people for a lovely meal at the Discovery Inn. 

Tomorrow need to finish up the files, pack and then fly out to Yellowknife at the end of the day. The following day we fly to Kugluktuk where we hope someone will take us down the Coppermine River to Bloody Falls. 

I have the lights on but it is not totally dark. Saw a lovely rainbow on the way home tonight because an Inuit woman pointed it out to us - very nice of her as it was behind us and we would have missed it altogether. 

July 17-18, 2011

The flight from Calgary to Ottawa was pretty uneventful. When I arrived in Ottawa I was at the carousel to find my luggage next to the Chief Justice of the SCC. When my luggage came I went to find out where the Holiday Inn Express was located. They had a phone line and I was told that I did not have a reservation there. It turned out that my reservation was in Edmonton but they did have a room in Ottawa and would pick me up. It was very warm in Ottawa and the hotel was very hot in the hallway. After I had been there a short time there was a power failure. Later I was able to print out my boarding pass for Monday.
Upon arriving at the airport Monday morning everything worked well and I arrived in Iqaluit about noon. It was nice (about 10 C and not raining). Vincent was late arriving but gave me a ride to the prosecutors' apartment. Apparently I will be having a roommate on Wednesday, a prosecutor from Halifax. 
I went and bought some groceries - always an eye-opener because of the price. 
Then I took a look in the museum and from there a look at the Bay. The tide was really out. 
Linda Kimball, a court reporter from Calgary is here this week and we went for dinner tonight at the Frobisher. It is always interesting there as people come through to sell their broaches, carvings, earrings and prints. We did not buy anything but saw some nice things. We walked there and back. Now it is about 10pm and still light out but I have the light on to do this. 
I am flicking through the TV channels while I do this. What slim pickings!!! I finished my book on the way up but there are a couple of books here and I brought a couple more with me. 
I brought up some herbs for a couple of people in the office and they seemed pleased. Jeremy made me a loaf of rye sourdough bread with cranberries and sunflower seeds. 
Tomorrow I am going swimming at noon with one of the prosecutors who goes every day. It will be interesting. So my exercise routine begins. 

Shirleyupnorth2

I will be flying up North, leaving Calgary, July 17, 2011 and returning to Calgary August 11, 2011.
The first week will be spent in Iqaluit preparing files for the Kugluktuk circuit for July 25-28, 2011. 
The second week will be in Kugluktuk.
The third week will be spent in Iqaluit preparing files for the Gjoa Haven circuit for August 8-11, 2011.
The fourth week will be in Gjoa Haven (where I was in February 2011).