Barges, banishment and a baking business
Plus check out our new mobile app
Hello readers, this is Emily, Cabin Radio’s assistant editor, back in the newsletter writing seat.
Happy July! Hopefully you’re getting out to enjoy the sunny weather and not getting bit by too many mosquitoes.
Cabin Radio now has a new app where you can read the news, listen live and download podcasts on your phone.
In the news this week, several Yellowknife residents were awoken early on Tuesday morning by an explosion on 54 Street. According to RCMP, the explosion happened as someone was inhaling propane from inside a parked boat. One person has been medevaced outside the territory for medical treatment and was reported to be in critical condition.
In other news, concerns about tests finding elevated lead levels in the water at William McDonald School continue. We spoke with the former principal about his worries and looked into how likely it is that those issues may exist elsewhere in Yellowknife.
And the NWT government has announced a possible second barge from Hay River to the Sahtu after residents said the first barge's four-day window left virtually no time to prepare freight.
IN THIS NEWSLETTER
Our best stories
What we’re reading
Stories to catch up on
1. What could banishment look like in NWT communities?
Dene leaders have raised banishment as one solution to the drug crisis. Here's what that could look like in terms of legality, enforcement and limitations.
2. Remembering helicopter pilot Tom Frith, one year on
Tom Frith, a helicopter pilot who died fighting the Fort Good Hope wildfire in 2024, is remembered a year later by family and the community he helped to save.
3. NWT appears to lose claim to world’s oldest rocks
This year continues to be a rough go for the Northwest Territories. As if things weren't tricky enough, Quebec has poached the title of "world's oldest rocks."
4. Leaders discuss plans for NWT’s vacant community learning centres
NWT community learning centres now lie empty after programming ceased on June 30. By late summer, we should know more about what happens next to the buildings.
5. Rangers begin first Mackenzie River canoe patrol in years
Meet some Canadian Rangers from the NWT, Yukon and Nunavut who are paddling the Mackenzie River from Fort Providence to Tuktoyaktuk this summer.
6. Praise for crews, worries for health as fire season returns to Dehcho
Wildfires and smoke are back in the Dehcho. For some residents, it's just another summer. Others are concerned about the consequences.
7. Key Aurora College program goes more virtual with fewer instructors
Aurora College’s developmental studies program will make more use of online learning this coming year, with some instructor posts in Fort Smith left unfilled.
8. Yellowknife woman starts home baking business Cravito
What began as a lockdown hobby turned into a home-based baking business for new Yellowknife resident Gayathiri Bhaskaran. Check it out.
9. Four northern artists to be showcased in Toronto art show
Four Northwest Territories artists are showcasing their work at next month's Toronto Outdoor Art Fair. Meet two of them and explore their art.
10. In pictures: Yellowknife’s 2025 Canada Day festivities
Did we capture you or someone you know in our Yellowknife Canada Day 2025 gallery? Check out our shots from the parade and Somba K'e Park's festivities.
What we’re reading
On solid ice: the plan to refreeze the Arctic
For the Narwhal, Chloe Williams writes about a geoengineering experiment to thicken Arctic sea ice so it lasts longer.
Climate Change Is Happening. Why Don’t We See It?
In this article by Bojan Fürst published in The Walrus, professional photographers, including Yellowknife-based photographer Pat Kane, speak about covering climate change.
Why Is This Man Smiling?
For Up Here magazine, Arty Sarkisian wrote this profile of Joseph Murdoch-Flowers, co-executive director of the Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre, advocate, former lawyer and karaoke enthusiast.
The high cost of hosting wildfire evacuees
For the Globe and Mail, Claire McFarlane looks into High Level’s decision to announce that it can’t accept evacuees at its arena this summer as it has in previous years.