For the third straight year, the Terence Tootoo Memorial hockey tournament was cancelled.
The organizing committee cited Covid-19 safety and capacity restrictions as the reasons why.
It’s not just a hockey tournament that was cancelled.
It was connections, new and old memories, reunions, practice, inspiration, professional development and so much more.
How many would-be Jordin Tootoos have lost years of development due to arena closures and Covid-19 rules? That loss of development could well be what breaks the potential for a player to take it to the next level.
How many workers have seen their skills degrade and professional development lapse after being sent home time and time again?
How many people have lost their work ethic and motivation? How many children are not learning the necessary life skills through daily school attendance that they need?
Without recreational activities, gatherings and socialization, how many lives have been reduced to working from home, drinking and watching TV?
We may be protecting ourselves from the pandemic, but we are hurting ourselves in other ways.
Health Minister John Main recently said the difference between being anti-vaccine and anti-mandates was “splitting hairs.”
Politicians have simplified the pandemic for too long. The world isn’t black and white, and it’s good to see a more open discussion evolving on the national stage.
Don’t diss gaming now
Thankfully, humans have an adaptability and entrepreneurial spirit that can turn mud to gold, and bad situations to better ones.
Gatherings may be allowed only intermittently in person, but we can still gather online freely, and the Nunavut Gaming Society is taking advantage of that.
The organization is running a Nunavut-wide tournament in PlayerUnknown’s Battleground, in hopes to eventually form a team of pro gamers from the territory.
It was surprising to hear organizer Valter Botelho-Resendes say that some community members have been critical of the tournament, expressing that the youth could instead be out hunting, engaging in traditional activities or doing something more productive with their time.
They could also be drinking, partying or getting into all sorts of other trouble, of course.
Besides, what’s not traditional about engaging in healthy competition and making connections with each other across the territory?
By the same token, it’s remarkable how many entrepreneurs the Kivalliq has seen during the pandemic.
We profiled Silu’s Taxi and Northern Smiles Dental Clinic previously, and the latest business to open in Rankin Inlet is Iglu Donairs.
It was serendipitous for Tigumiaq Haqpi to say in our Street Talk that the one thing Rankin Inlet needed was a delivery restaurant, because John Niakrok at Iglu Donairs is bringing exactly that.
This editorial may sound pessimistic about the state of the world under Covid-19 restrictions, but evidently, some illustrious individuals have seen opportunity through the haze. That is cause for not just celebration, but inspiration.