News

The Town of Hay River has made a housing design catalogue of pre-reviewed housing blueprint designs accessible to the public. The home designs have been tailored specifically for northern climates, taking into consideration factors such as flood risks and other climate risks.

The community of Wekweètì experienced an early morning power outage on Saturday as temperatures dipped into the minus 20 degree zone. It is unclear what the exact cause of the power outage was and why back up power systems failed, but crews reported that power was restored by approximately 10:00 a.m. Saturday following equipment repairs at the local power plant.

Nearly 3,000 kg of food is going to those in need, thanks to the hard work of volunteers from Ecole St. Pat’s Interact Club, DC Moving, the folks from Lakeshore Co-op, the Salvation Army, along with many Yellowknifers and local businesses and even 100.1 FM. The twentieth annual Stuff the Bus campaign saw 500 food hampers filled with food staples like rice, pasta, tuna, corn, beans and other non-perishable canned and dried goods donated to Yellowknife’s main food bank at the Salvation Army.

A procession of decked out floats, bold rainbow lit bicycles, festive ATVs, bedazzling monster trucks (and mini monster trucks) flatbeds and even a classic Yellowknife plane made way down the snow filled streets, sparkling as bright as the Northern lights. The parade brought the promise of Santa and with him the polar wind chills but children watched patiently in the minus 26 degree darkness of the winter wonderland.

Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Kami Kandola, says that due to H3N2 mutations and because of low vaccination rates among youth, the flu season has arrived early with cases rising in the Yellowknife area and in the Norman Wells area. Dr. Kandola says the trend was first observed about two weeks ago and is likely to continue over the holiday season and spread to other parts of the N.W.T.

Dene National Chief George Mackenzie, is concerned about how Bill 7 will impact Treaty 8 Indigenous lands and ways of life as the proposed legislation will allow water to be taken from anywhere within the Atla. border and sent abroad. Area organizations are joining the Dene Nation in sounding the alarm, including the Alberta Wilderness Association and Keepers of the Water.

The community of Enterprise will resume its self governance in January with a new mayor and council. This past spring, following the dismissal of council, to manage local government services and processes, an Administrator appointed. Since that time, hamlet leadership has continued to plan the move forward.

This year, organizers say the parade is inspired by the beauty of the North, under a “Winter Wonderland” theme. The Santa Claus parade will include over 20 floats this year and is scheduled to begin at city hall at 5 p.m. Mayor Ben Hendriksen says the parade celebrates the spirit of the community in the northern city.

With an outage currently affecting Ulukhaktok phone lines, police are advising members of the community to proceed directly to the detachment office if they experience trouble with phone lines in cases of emergency.