Nunavut Inuit who get vaccinated against COVID-19 could get a brand new vehicle.
A new program allows Inuit living in each of the territory’s 25 communities to win a snowmobile if they get vaccinated.
Nunavut Tunngavik (NTI), Nunavut’s land claim organization, is holding raffles across the territory for vaccinated Inuit residents to win one of 25 snowmobiles.
Esther Powell, clinical manager of COVID-19 at NTI, said she’s been thinking of ways to encourage more Nunavut residents to get vaccinated.
“I had to think realistically about what would be most helpful,” Powell told The Canadian Press from her office in Rankin Inlet. “Snowmobiles made sense. »
In fly-in communities in Nunavut, snowmobiles are used to harvest and travel over long stretches of land and sea ice.
“People use them to travel to other communities. That’s how people hunt. We wanted to be able to provide that to them,” Powell said.
The organization also distributed $25 grocery vouchers at vaccination clinics in the territory.
Snowmobiles are already in every community in Nunavut, and Inuit over the age of five who are registered with NTI under the Nunavut Agreement are automatically entered into the draw.
Winners will be required to show proof of at least two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, Powell said.
The Government of Nunavut has reported that approximately 72% of people aged five and older have received two doses of the vaccine.
There were 279 active cases of COVID-19 in Nunavut as of Thursday.
The snowmobile draws will take place on April 25.