The RCMP is struggling nationally to recruit new officers, the Senate Committee on National Defence, Security, and Veterans Affairs heard during a hearing on May 15. “Policing, like other sectors of the economy, is experiencing unprecedented challenges to recruit sufficient numbers of applicants,” said Nadine Huggins, the RCMP’s chief human resources officer. “Recruitment renewal is a…

Nunavut RCMP say an officer is facing three criminal charges after an alleged assault while he was on duty. Const. Luke Tomkinson has been charged with assault with a weapon, pointing a firearm and uttering threats. RCMP say he was working as a relief member in Arctic Bay when the alleged assault happened in 2020. The hamlet is located on…

The federal government says France has denied an extradition request for a priest accused of crimes against children in Nunavut. The Public Prosecution Service of Canada made the extradition request for Johannes Rivoire, who is in his 90s and lives in Lyon, France. Rivoire is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant, issued in February, for a…

The Nunavut government has declared a two-week state of emergency over a water shortage in Iqaluit. Joanna Quassa, the acting minister of community and government services, says it’s meant to ensure the city can get necessary regulatory approvals to immediately begin replenishing its reservoir. The city declared its own state of emergency last week due…

An investigation into a deadly police shooting in Nunavut has concluded that no officer involved will face charges. The Ottawa Police Service was tasked with reviewing the shooting last November of a 21-year-old man. Ottawa police say the man was armed with a rifle and a shotgun when he was shot by an RCMP officer…

A Nunavut cabinet minister has resigned after the territory’s integrity commissioner found the politician breached his duties to be impartial when he appointed his spouse as acting deputy minister. Adam Lightstone, Nunavut’s finance and human resources minister, will now sit as a regular member of the legislature. In a speech to the legislative assembly, Lightstone…

IQALUIT, Nunavut—Nunavut is tightening COVID-19 public health restrictions in Iqaluit, including restricting travel in and out of the capital city to essential purposes only. The territory says starting at noon today the city’s swimming pool, theatre and hair and nail salons must close. Restaurants are limited to takeout food only. Indoor gatherings in homes are…

CAMBRIDGE BAY, Nunavut—One man is dead after a helicopter rolled on landing Tuesday near a mine in western Nunavut. Agnico Eagle Mines, which operates the Hope Bay gold mine, says the man was a contract employee working 13 kilometres from the site. The mine, which is about 125 kilometres southwest of Cambridge Bay, suspended operations…

Canada is facing greater security threats as interest in the Arctic grows and shipping routes open up.

Nunavut officials are urging residents to get immunized against COVID-19 as the vaccine starts to roll out across the territory. Nunavut’s chief public health officer, Dr. Michael Patterson, says about 400 people have so far received their first doses of the Moderna vaccine. With 25 fly-in only communities spread across three time zones, the vaccine…