The week that was in the North: 5 stories not to miss
This week: Freaky fish, a Beaver Creek couple save a local landmark, the N.W.T.'s fungi fortune, a watershed moment for the Inuit language, and what's the Cree word for "butter churn"?
1. Inuit language conference wraps in Iqaluit
A task force launched by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national Inuit group, has recommended exploring roman orthography — and not Inuit syllabics — as a standard Inuit language writing system. Standardizing the Inuit language into a single writing system has long been controversial, but many at the conference said they felt it's easier to teach the language using roman letters, instead of the syllabic system, which was originally developed by missionaries for the Cree language.
2. Beaver Creek couple give new life to community's Westmark Inn
The Beaver Creek RV Park & Motel, formerly the Westmark Inn, has more rooms than Beaver Creek has people. New owners Beat and Jyl Lederberger bought the property after its former owner, Holland America, shut down its bus tour route through the community. For Beat, the decision to purchase the old hotel was partly sentimental: In the '60s, he cut the wood used to build its extensions. Over five decades, he worked on the buildings and did maintenance on the property.
3. Neon green pike's colour is adaptation, not mutation, experts say
A fluorescent green jackfish caught last week near Yellowknife made quite a stir online as readers debated the origins of its odd colouration, but two pike experts say the answer is likely simple biology. The pike, which had a bright green body and blue throat, as well as a neon green tint across its jawline, owes its unique colouring is due to a type of cell that gives all fish their colour, called chromatophore.
4. N.W.T. morel season declared a success, despite numerous challenges
While the territory's morel season may not have quite lived up to the initial hype, the GNWT says the harvest may have been worth at least $10 million. While a government handbook for pickers published before the season suggested prices as high as $14 per pound, the price this season was closer to $5 to $8 on average. But that seems to have been enough for pickers to make money and buyers to meet market prices.
5. Cree stories translated into English, fairy tales into Cree
Many elders in Eeyou Istchee in Quebec grew up hearing old legends shared among family and friends. But the younger generation is more familiar with modern fairy tales from Europe, or Walt Disney films. Kevin Brousseau, a Cree language co-ordinator for the Cree Nation Government, thought it could be useful to translate Cree legends into English and modern fairy tales into Cree. He has since translated dozens of stories from English to Cree and back.
