Interaction: Sixteen years of Nunavut

Kügenliche: Good evening everyone. Welcome to Interaction on this first Saturday of April 2015. I’m Charlotte Kügenliche, and we’re all here in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada to celebrate the sixteenth anniversary of the formation of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It split off from the Northwest Territories on the first of April 1999, and so Wednesday was its sixteenth anniversary. The occasion was marked by ceremonies throughout the territory, including right here in the capital of Iqaluit. The territory, however, faces a number of stiff challenges. Food and supplies are much more expensive than in the rest of the country. The effects of global warming are enormous here, perhaps more so than any other place in the world. And with a small, isolated population, the people here have often had difficulty making their voices heard in Ottawa. How do Nunavummiut intend to set the course of their next sixteen years? Where has this territory been, and where is it going? To address that, we should like to meet our panel. First, we have a professor of film studies at the University of Southern British Columbia, Ms Catherine Leftmann.

Leftmann: Good afternoon.

Kügenliche: We have the host of Radio Free Newfoundland’s Normal Speed Talk with Alan Rightbike, Mr Alan Rightbike.

Rightbike: Hello.

Kügenliche: An up and coming Canadian playwright, whose latest work, The Panty Raid is Obsolescent, has its worldwide première in two weeks’ time in Mt Gronn, Ms Sally Updike.

Updike: Hi there!

Kügenliche: And a high school science teacher in Bangor, ME, USA, and author of the book Listening to the Land: What We Can Learn from Dirt and Why It Matters, Mr Bob Downtie.

Downtie: Good day.

Kügenliche: Welcome all of you. Thank you for joining us. Catherine, I’d like to start with you and ask about the first sixteen years of Nunavut. What are some of the most important accomplishments in that time?

Leftmann: Um... it has its own license plate. It used to just reuse the polar bear plate from the Northwest Territories.

Kügenliche: Okay. Well, Alan, although that is something to be proud of, Nunavut has its own set of problems to face. How is climate change affecting this territory?

Rightbike: It’s had enormous effects, eh? It’s affected the habitats of many species.

Downtie: Yes, that’s right. We’re seeing the effects of polar amplification here, by which the temperatures are rising much more rapidly in Earth’s polar regions than they are in the rest of the world. Polar bears, for example, do not have enough time to hunt for seals. The reduction in sea ice has been linked with increasing wildfire rates in forests on land. So it’s all interconnected. What happens in the Arctic affects all of us.

Kügenliche: Well, that’s certainly a strong point to consider. Sally, the high cost of living has been a problem throughout Nunavut. Food is expensive. Necessities are expensive. There are food programmes in parts of Nunavut, but the problem remains. How do Nunavummiut ensure that their isolation does not make their land impossible to afford?

Updike: I... I was told we were going to talk about my play.

Downtie: What is your play about?

Updike: Well, er, it’s a coming of age story about the students at a women’s technical college.

Leftmann: Oh, a comedy, eh?

Updike: Yes. Well, I mean, it’s primarily a comedy. There’s also a lot of examination of the different students’ motivations, and how they sort of play off one another and affect the way they progress through this very trying time in their lives.

Downtie: So we’ll laugh and we’ll cry?

Updike: That is the objective, yes. I haven’t got the slightest idea whether I was successful, of course.

Leftmann: Oh, I’m sure it’s wonderful. I’ve heard nothing but good things about your work.

Updike: Oh. Well... um... thank you.

Kügenliche: Right, well, just to return to the topic of Nunavut –

Downtie: Oh.

Kügenliche: We are ready now to take questions from you at home about any topic relating to Nunavut. And you can transmit your questions to us using any of the methods that you see there on your screen, including telephone, SMS, E-mail, tweet, and football referee’s spray. We will begin with a question by tweet, from at sign LetdownExcitement, who asks “At sign InteractionWNCSaturdays y u no have nunavut on yr panel abt nunavut tic tac toe board smh”. Certainly an important point. Alan, y we no have nunavut on our panel, and should we play tic tac toe whilst smhing?

Rightbike: Do you mean, why are you having a panel about Nunavut without having any Nunavummiut on it?

Kügenliche: I... I suppose so.

Rightbike: I think that viewer has asked a very important question. It does not seem useful to talk about Nunavut without talking to any Nunavummiut.

Kügenliche: Then why are we here?

Rightbike: I should like to ask you that.

Kügenliche: You are the panellist. We brought you in to answer questions, not ask them.

Rightbike: To answer questions about Nunavut?

Kügenliche: Yes.

Rightbike: Sorry, I don’t think I understand. What sort of questions about Nunavut did you want me to answer?

Kügenliche: Well, you host a radio talk show.

Rightbike: Yes.

Kügenliche: What sort of questions do you answer on your talk show?

Rightbike: Mostly, questions about footwear.

Kügenliche: Well, that’s perfect. Many Nunavummiut wear something on their feet.

Rightbike: I... I’m not certain that’s enough justification for having me on this show.

Leftmann: I agree. I’m a professor of film studies. I’ve never been to Nunavut until now. In fact, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a film by a Nunavummiut.

Kügenliche: By a Nunavummiuq?

Leftmann: Sorry?

Kügenliche: The singular of Nunavummiut is Nunavummiuq.

Leftmann: Well, that’s what I mean. If you’re talking about Nunavut, it would probably be better to have someone on your panel who knows what people from here are called, eh?

Downtie: Is there some of that in your play? Cultural clashes?

Updike: There’s a bit of that, yeah. I tried to explore the way that people from different backgrounds can sort of discover that they’re not really all that different after all.

Kügenliche: All right. Well, we’re going to go to the telephone lines for our next question. It’s from Jessi in Queens, NY, USA. Jessi, are you there?

Jessi in Queens: Yeah. Hi.

Kügenliche: Hello, Jessi. What is your question for our panel?

Jessi in Queens: Yeah, that play sounds cool. Can we see an excerpt or something instead of hearing those fools talk about a place they don’t know shit about?

Kügenliche: Very interesting question, Jessi. Thank you for that. Catherine, can we see an excerpt of The Panty Raid is Obsolescent?

Leftmann: Well, you said it premières in two weeks, right?

Kügenliche: Sally?

Updike: Yes.

Leftmann: Well, if it hasn’t premièred yet, there wouldn’t be any video of it, right?

Kügenliche: Could you confirm that for us, Sally?

Updike: Yes, there have been no public performances yet.

Kügenliche: So would it be fair to say that if there are any clips available, they do not yet exist?

Updike: Er... yes. That... that is how causality works, I’m led to believe.

Kügenliche: Good. Well, speaking of causality, we are out of time, and the effect of that is that we must end our programme for today. I’d like to thank our panel, Mr Bob Downtie, Ms Sally Updike, Mr Alan Rightbike, and Ms Catherine Leftmann, for being with us today. When we rejoin you next week, we will be talking about mopeds, their history, and their role in modern transportation. We will be joined by a moped builder, a moped repairwoman, an urban planner, and a person who has not left his flat in the last six years and receives all necessities by moped delivery exclusively. That’s coming up next week, but for now, it’s good night from us. Good night from us.

Leftmann: Hey, do you guys all want to go to the première of Sally’s play?

Downtie: Sure, but I should warn you: I only like plays in which a character wakes up in bed, looks down at herself, and shrieks, “This isn’t my left index finger!”.

Updike: Well, not to spoil anything, but let me just say, you’re in luck.