Garbage-spreading contractors should be prosecuted

Iqaluit, the capital city of Nunavut, has become a disgusting mess.

In all the years that I have lived here, I’ve never seen anything as disgusting: garbage, wrecked cars, potholes, which all seem to add up to an environmental catastrophe.

The construction at both the middle school and the hospital have produced more trash than any other construction site ever seen. SNC Lavalin have polluted the green belt across from the hospital. They have dumped tons of garbage, crates, and styrofoam in what is known as Toonik Lake. SNC Lavalin should be prosecuted for this mess.

But the city, it appears, have done nothing. They couldn’t care less. They sit by, whilst the contractors, who are only temporary visitors to this city, mess the place up.

The city itself has permitted the dumping of snow and garbage into the area surrounding the same lake. Hundreds of truck loads of crap have been hauled there. If it’s harmless, why not dump it into the bay?

The community of Apex has become nothing more than a slum: dreadful roads, no drainage, garbage lying everywhere. Why the residents of this bedroom community sit by and wallow in this dreadful mess is beyond comprehension.

The city landfill dump has become a huge environmental disaster. A huge mountain of garbage — foodstuffs, dead animals, wood and paper — that will remain in its frozen state for many years to come. What are they going to do with it?

It is plainly apparent that the city government is incapable of managing the very basic care of the community. Vast sums have been spent on a huge fleet of bulldozers and huge sums have been spent on a sewage treatment plant that is still not functioning.

They have failed to watch over non-resident contractors to ensure they don’t run roughshod over the community whilst making great profits that are not being ploughed back into the community. They have not enforced the bylaws that would deal with these offenders.

Poor town planning is a major contributor to much of the chaos. It is incumbent on the voters of Iqaluit that they elect a city council that has a better sense of the needs of the community and is willing to take on the polluters.

Fancy wooded parking devices only hide the real mess. Surely the kids of the community that have to walk through the crap that surrounds their school must be shown that there is another way, otherwise they will grow into the same kind of people who don’t give a damn.

Bryan Pearson
Iqaluit