Emily Blake

I started 2022 working for Cabin Radio, an independent media organization based in Yellowknife. In July 2022, I began a one-year fellowship with the Canadian Press covering northern Canada.

Throughout the year all COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in the Northwest Territories, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh visited the territory for the first time, a Yellowknife city councillor was censured for inappropriate comments he made related to COVID-19 restrictions, Hay River, NWT, hosted Save Pond Hockey then later experienced historic flooding, the Auditor General of Canada found ‘concerning shortcomings’ with the territory’s addictions services, and the barge to NWT’s northernmost community was cancelled.

In chronological order, here are the top 10 stories I covered in 2022.

Should the NWT change its approach to Indigenous sentencing?

A Supreme Court of Canada ruling in 1999 aimed to alleviate the over-representation of Indigenous people in the justice system, but more than two decades later the problem has only intensified.

NWT settles lawsuit alleging sexual abuse at Yellowknife jail

An inmate at Yellowknife’s jail filed a $1.25 million lawsuit alleging he was sexually assaulted by a corrections worker in 2016 and 2017. The NWT government quietly settled the suit outside of court.

Yellowknife’s newest barber shop wants everyone to ‘feel at home’

The owner’s of LLJ Barber Shop in downtown Yellowknife want the shop to be a welcoming space for people of all ages, genders, races and hair types.

The battle to provide a Yellowknife day shelter during the pandemic

A temporary day shelter in Yellowknife moved to four different locations between 2020 and 2021 as many vulnerable residents struggled to access basic services. Through an access to information request, I uncovered some of the issues that contributed to that turbulence.

NWT Disabilities Council ‘obstructed’ investigation, documents claim

Following an investigation by Cabin Radio into allegations of unsafe working conditions at Yellowknife’s day and sobering centre, the NWT government pledged to investigate. Nearly a year later, the government admitted it allowed the shelter’s operator to investigate itself. Through an access to information request, I found out what happened.

Inside the research on fly-in, fly out work

Researchers and workers say the unique lifestyle of fly-in, fly-out work at remote sites comes with both benefits and challenges.

RCMP apologize: Questions remain more than 50 years after Yukon woman’s death

In August, police apologized to friends and women’s of an Indigenous woman who went missing in 1967, for failing to properly investigate her death.

‘I felt a release inside me’: Inuk man faces alleged abuser in France

A delegation of Inuit from Nunavut travelled to France to seek the extradition of a retired Oblate priest wanted on charges for historical sexual abuse.

‘I was really homesick’” Some northern students travel far from home for high school

For some students in the North, completing high school means leaving their home time. I spoke to several students about that experience.

Cleanup of former gold mine in Northwest Territories to cost more than $4 billion

The site of a former gold mine in Yellowknife is one of the most contaminated sites in Canada. In November, the federal government announced cleanup of the site is expected to cost $4.38 billion.