All dressed up with some place to go!

Earlier this month we had a chance to go to a charity ball put on each year here in Iqaluit by First Air. For those who've never travelled in northern Canada it may come as a surprise that there are literally dozens of airlines you've probably never heard of shuttling people between the south and the north, as well as between northern communities. As one Inuit elder told me 'The Inuit people are still nomadic, these days we just use airplanes instead of dog-teams.'. His comment was partly in jest, but travel by air is a normal way of life here in the Arctic, and the business of the small airports up here reflects that.

As one of the biggest of the northern airlines First Air has a few major initiatives to give back to the communities it serves. The First Air ball is one of those initiatives. The money it generates goes to a number of important local charities (including the Women's Shelter which is an excellent organization and very underfunded). It's a big dinner and dance, where everyone dresses to the nines, and each table has a local celebrity (from the premier on down) to provide stimulating conversation. Like any good small town event it's held at the arena (well....at what used to be an arena before the floor somehow malfunctioned and made ice-making impossible). There was a great band, flown up from Montreal (I guess when you are the airline you can fly up who you want) who played hits from the '80's til the wee hours.

It was a fun night to cut loose and forget the worries and stresses that go along with medical practice. I can now also say with some certainty that although Nunavut has a small population, I will back our premier in a dance-off against any other province's premier, any day of the year....

Here's a pic from the event...