I am home now but just wanted to add a final bit of information.
In Iqaluit, Jessica and I did French trial week. We split up the files. It was uneventful but good. There was a mining trade show in town so the restaurants were very busy.
There were peopleI riding on ATVs but there were many more vehicles. One night there was a cruise ship in the harbour and many people at the restaurants and bars. I am sure you know this, but not sure I did, the harbour has quite a high and low tide. There was also an ice berg that was stuck from the tide going in and out. But nothing else was frozen.
I included a photo of the court house in one of the earlier posts. But I did take some photos of the court rooms. There are three court rooms, one on the main level that is JP court where first appearances and bail applications are made. The two court rooms on the second level are for trials and setting trial dates. I was not very proficient at pronouncing the Inuit names. We called out our own cases generally because we knew who was there and what was ready to proceed or to be spoken to. Most accused were represented by duty counsel. Only one person appeared that week who did not have a lawyer and he was urged to make arrangements for counsel. One lawyer came from Quebec as he does on most French trial weeks (but he does not come for the really cold one in January), Mr Rancour. He represented Guy LaFleur apparently. Some matters were spoken to in French and there was one matter set down for trial in French.
The Justices wear a seal skin jacket. The clerks wear a black robe the shape of a parka with seal skin. There is a restriction by Nunavut Territory on the importing of European wines for the countries who are boycotting the seal hunt. There were a few funny posters around town about this as well.
The upstairs court rooms are very nice. I did not go into the downstairs one but assume that it would be similar. There is blond wood. The wall behind the justices has panels and has the shape of an igloo cut into the panels. One court room has granite in the wood in the shape of the igloo. The railings separating the public from the lawyers, clerks, translators and court reporters is in the shape of the qamutik (sled) and even has the rope.
Here is one of the court rooms:
and the clerk kindly posing with her 'robe':
and this is a photo of the railing in the court room that did not have the outline of the igloo in granite:
It was a very interesting experience. Hope that you enjoyed it
I neglected to write down the types of aircraft that we flew on. We flew two different airlines, Canada North and Calm Air. People told stories about flying from Iqaluit to Rankin Inlet but because the plane was unable to land at Rankin that it kept going to Yellowknife. Our flights were pretty uneventful. When we landed in Rankin Inlet and had a wait we went into town. That was when I first saw people, whole families with groceries, older people and just single people travelling on their ATVs. Remember this:
I asked the next people if I could take a photo of them on their ATV. I also walked down to the Northern Convenience Store and took photos of all the ATVs parked in front.I saw people using their ATVs in Baker Lake and Rankin but have not seen anyone in Iqaluit driving one on the streets.
In Baker Lake I also saw a lot of Qamutiks (sleds). I asked someone if dogs pulled them in winter and she kind of laughed and so I guessed that skidoos pulled them and she nodded.
Here is one of the sleds:
Every yard had a skidoo parked in it.
But the babies have very interesting transportation, an amuti:
The vehicles come up here generally on barges or the sea lifts but sometimes they are flown in. As one young girl said to me having a vehicle is very special.
We finished Court on Thursday, September 16, 2010. We were up early on Friday to catch our flight to Rankin Inlet. We had a number of hours in Rankin Inlet. It was humid and poured with rain at one point. By the time we landed in Iqaluit I had every lawyers' nightmare - laryngitis.W
We finished our cases as scheduled Wednesday. I saw one of the elders from court, Lucy, sitting at the bottom of some steps cleaning a caribou hide. I asked if I could take her photo and here it is:
The tool she has in her hand for scraping the hide is called an ulu. Kadla, the court worker asked for some of the fat she had removed and ate it. I declined.
After dark we went back to the Lodge and played crib. While there a dealer from Montreal (originally from Hungary) popped his head in to see if any of us could change a $100 bill as he was waiting for some carvers to sell him carvings. One of the RCMP officers stopped by as he wanted a DNA warrant signed by the judge and played a hand of crib while waiting.
Friday we left Baker Lake and took a photo of the Inukshuk at the airport that has a sign that indicates that Baker Lake is the geographical centre of Canada.
Friday we had a few hours in Rankin Inlet so took more photos. Jordon Tootoo of the Predators has a nice sign at the beginning of the Hamlet:
Rankin Inlet has its own Inukshuk that looks out to Hudson Bay. Not sure if I included it earlier but here it is again
At the end of Court I did ask to take a photo of the Court. I am going to go back to the blog about the court and post it there.
Today I was sworn in as a Member of the Nunavut Bar by Mr Justice Neil Sharkey ( a former classmate). The Court is in the Nunumiat Lodge where we are staying. It was formerly held in the arena.
I do not have a photo of the room yet so will describe it: Behind the Justice the windows look out on Baker Lake and two flags hang on the wall, the Canadian flag and the Nunavut flag. On the other walls are Inuit prints. One of them is by Simon Tookoome, the artist from whom I bought a piece of art a couple of nights ago.
Beside the Justice sat two elders, one was Simon. If an accused entered a guilty plea the facts were read in, admitted to, the position on sentence was given and if he/she had a criminal record it was admitted and entered as an exhibit. Then the accused was asked if he/she had anything to say. The elders were then asked if they had anything to say. Generally they spoke in Inuktitut to the accused and those who did not speak the language put on their head phones and heard a simultaneous translation by one of two translators. The Court reporter had a computer but spoke into a mouthpiece repeating everything that was said.
Michael and I had divided up the files and there were two defence counsel, one private I think and one from Legal Aid. Most of the accused appeared. It was standing room only for most of the day and sometimes others called the accused's name out into the hallway. I saw a few very young children in court but they were very quiet. A few people were out of the territory for medical procedures, both accused and witnesses. The trials were spoken to and either resolved or set over to Wednesday or Thursday for the trial.
We had a couple of breaks. The day ended around 5pm.
Most of the offences were assaults (most spousal), breach of probation or undertaking or impaired driving. Most of the offences involved alcohol. The impaired driving charges include operating an ATV, a pay loader and an SUV.
The Clerk wore a short gown shaped like a parka with seal skin as part of the pattern. The Justice wore a black suit with a shirt and tabs. Here is a photo of the Court:
After supper I went for a walk. During the day we had seen a large barge come to the dirt dock near the hotel with huge pieces of machinery on it and trucks. It was empty by this time. The lake was very calm and the sun was starting to set. So will include a photo.
Near the barge but a little further down the road was a large group of people including many children, on a cement slab in front of some playground equipment, A couple of women waved me over. There were about 50 adults there in a circle and they had a number of dice. There were a couple of people in the middle and they had a jar and some small plastic flowers. If you rolled a six then you could run to the middle, take the tweezers and start putting the plastic flowers into the jar. But if someone else rolled a six then they could take the tweezers and put the flowers into the jar. They were having fun. Hardly rolled a six and when I did was soon replaced by someone else who rolled a six.
Now will upload my photos and add a couple:
The empty barge at the dock at almost sunset.
The sunset on the very calm lake:
I went for a walk this afternoon. It was a nice sunny but cool day here.
Here are some rows of houses:
One of the houses in this row had the caribou hides drying outside and today I noticed another one of the houses had the hides drying on the ground. When I reached the end of this row I saw a qamutik (sled) and spoke to a woman sitting on her deck. Her daughter later came and asked me if I wanted to buy a hanging. She had a couple of red ones that she had not finished so I said that I would check before I left.
All of these houses are built off the ground.
The next row had this house as well as others:
Nice looking house but no landscaping and no trees here. Notice the space under the house.
On the other side of town I saw this colourful row of houses:
And this is what the rear of these houses look like:
There are some very nice government buildings and schools here so next time
Mr Justice Sharkey (a former class mate) is going to be presiding in court tomorrow and will swear me in. We were down at the beach collecting rocks when he arrived.
We met with defence counsel tonight and went over the files. We will see how it goes tomorrow.
I saw the room that is used as the Court room. It is in the Lodge and it has prints all around the walls except the windowed walls that look out to the lake. I saw at least one of Simon Tookoome's prints (the person I purchased one from the other day). I was told that he will be one of the elders in Court tomorrow. Justice Sharkey said that he had a jury trial here lately and they had court in the arena. I saw it today too as it was the Terry Fox run today and all the kids went to the arena for drinks and cookies.
Yesterday a man and his father were in the restaurant at the Lodge. The man asked if I wanted to buy a print from his father who is a famous artist. Kadla who is the witness co-ordinator who came from Iqaluit, then arranged for us to go to his residence. His name is Simon Tookoome. He had some artwork and showed it to us. I did buy a small piece of art. Michael Jones, who is the other prosecutor here (from Ottawa but formerly from Iqaluit) had purchased a piece of his art a few years ago. He had a lot of pictures of him catching ptarmigan with a whip and a cariboo with a whip. Michael said he is known for cutting off the lit end of a cigarette in someone's mouth with a whip.
Baker Lake used to make prints and there is a building down by the grocery store that says it has arts and crafts so may check it out tomorrow as we are meeting with defence counsel tonight, some witnesses tomorrow and court does not actually start until Tuesday.
Here are some sculptures that are outside the art college in Iqaluit:
There are some nice carvings in the Lodge for sale but I have not seen them anywhere else.
We walked down to the Northern Convenience Store and inside you can buy by the foot fur from a red fox, a white fox and a silver fox, a black bear and a coyote.
I also saw some hides being dried on the side of a house today, which was a nice but cool sunny day:
Since it is Sunday, here are a couple of churches that I have seen up north:
I must have missed the one in Iqaluit. This is in Rankin Inlet:
This church is on the main street in Baker Lake:
It is in front of the high school.
