The Arctic Post

Life Adventures in the Canadian Arctic

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Something I need to get off my chest…

I don’t know if it’s just me, but lately i’ve been experiencing how uneducated the world (mostly Canada) is to the north!! I have had a number of issues trying to enter my address. The most recent being today. I am using iPhoto and tried to enter “NU” into the shipping province. Well, it tells me that it is not a valid abbreviation?? I have seen this multiple times. Either the abbreviation is incorrect, or the spelling of Nunavut it wrong altogether.

The most embarrassing being with my former provincial licensing body in Alberta. I am planning to keep my professional registration in Alberta so when we move back down south I can (hopefully) find a job within my profession. It is always easier to transfer around to another province while still registered in another one. Since there is no official EMS governing body in Nunavut, I will maintain my Alberta registration. Well, the other day when I went to finish my continuing competency and pay my annual registration fee, I ended up having difficulty entering my address. First off, Nunavut was spelt Nunavit! Yes, this is embarrassing, but what’s worse, is that when I went to select my “city” the only option was Iqaluit!! WTF?? Apparently, in the entire territory there is only 1 community! So I emailed them to let them know of the errors. Well they so kindly changed it for me. When I went back in to register I noticed that they simply just added “Chesterfield Inlet” to the drop down list. So, as of now, there are only 2 communities located up here. I’m not one to moan and groan a whole lot, but the sheer ignorance to the north is quite frustrating. At first I thought it was kind of funny when people would ask me where I was moving to and after I told them I would get the response “Huh? Where is that?”. I can forgive that, but when you are a company don’t you think you’d have an idea of something you are dealing with?

Anyways, I just thought i’d put that out there to find out if anyone else is experiencing similar frustrations?

Ahh…I feel much better. I guess i’ll get back to iPhoto and patiently wait for customer service to get back to me. :)

BTW – i’ve already bought and wrapped 1 Christmas present. The north has definitely helped me become more organized and less of a procrastinator…ok, ok, in some areas. I don’t think i’ll ever completely get rid of the procrastinator in me :)

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 13:17 and is filed under The Experience. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “Something I need to get off my chest…”

  1. October 23rd, 2009 at 15:12

    Kara says:

    Get used to it! The worst is living in a place with no street names and some company insists you have one so you make it up!

    Oh.. and then wait until you are on the phone with HRSDC (a government agency!) and they try to tell you there is no way I moved to a new territory because the area code for my phone number has not changed!! All three territories have the same area code!!

    I think everyone in Nunavut has gone through these frustrations for years, yet th rest of Canada still does not get it. Keep on educating the south!!

  2. October 23rd, 2009 at 20:58

    Pat says:

    If you do a google search there are tons of hits for Nunavit — and they all are really talking about Nunavut. And then of course there is the legitimate Nunavik (Nunavik (Inuktitut: ᓄᓇᕕᒃ) comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, Canada. Covering a land area of 443,684.71 km² (171,307.62 sq mi) north of the 55th parallel, it is the homeland of the Inuit of Quebec. Almost all of the 11,627 inhabitants (2006 census) of the region, of whom 90% are Inuit,[1] live in fourteen northern villages on the coast of Nunavik and in the Cree reserved land (TC) of Whapmagoostui, near the northern village of Kuujjuarapik.) You are not out of the woods yet.

    Your mission (should you wish to accept it) for the next two years will be to educate RoC (Rest of Canada) about Nunavut.

  3. October 24th, 2009 at 07:53

    tara says:

    Hey make sure you back up your iphoto files. Stupid me didn’t get around to backing up my home movies b/c I had a brand new iMac of course and the hard drive was wiped out on tuesday. Mya simply shut the power bar off and fried the computer. All my videos and the pictures taken in 2009 are lost. So I’m sure etienne would never let you play without backing it up with time machine but just wanted to remind you.

  4. October 24th, 2009 at 14:11

    Clare says:

    The problem (with Apple) seems to be just their photo services. I’ve not had any problems entering NU for their other products but just failed trying to enter NU for a photo book from Aperture. The good news is I just entered NT and they ship FedEx and everything is on track to get here. I actually expect them today.

  5. October 28th, 2009 at 17:10

    George Lessard says:

    I used to live in Arviat for 4 years while working at the Dept of Education… I just made up an address to use when necessary.. the Post Office folk in town pay it no attention… but make certain that your addres matches what your credit card address is.. may websites check the address you give with the address on file with your credit card (I was #1 Airport Road)

  6. October 28th, 2009 at 17:55

    Darcy says:

    Oh I hear you on this one. I lived in NU for 6 years and anytime I had to provide an address for an online order or dealing with any large organization I had my share of aggrevation. I recall one time ordering tickets from VIA Rail. The lady had no idea where I was calling from and told me she had never heard of Nunavut before. She seemed to think I was calling from Nunavik even though I tried to explain to her that at the time Nunavut had been in existence for 7-8 years. Very sad when you consider that VIA is a crown corporation.

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