GN, QEC broke staff housing promise to relocated worker

It has been a great opportunity to be able to move back home to Pangnirtung. Nevertheless, we were not prepared for what the Qulliq Energy Corp. has left us with.

When an opportunity came up in our home town with my husband’s current employer, he gave it a chance and applied for the job. He was the successful candidate and we made a sacrifice to move back home to be close to our family.

With the limited jobs available in the small communities, you have to take the chance when they become available.

Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into. I left my job, our children left their schools and daycare, and we were happy to be moving back home.

His employer assured us that we will not become homeless.

We had a private agreement to rent a family member’s house for two months hoping that the QEC and GN would make an agreement that we could get into a staff unit in no time.

It’s been five months since we moved to Pangnirtung, three months into being homeless with our four children and a dog. During this time we have had to live in a shack, stay with family and house-sit while a family member was on medical leave.

Our family of six, aged from three to 16 years, have been separated in different places to ensure that we all have a bed to sleep on.

In addition, the power plant caught fire on April 2, which my husband and his crew worked on day and night for a month and until this day he is working long hours watching the generators 24-7.

Since the strike started he is the only one working with no relief during this time. They have not even made an exception to have someone working with him, and we are struggling to stay positive despite being homeless.

The Government of Nunavut has not been willing to give up a unit when there are empty units that have been vacant for years, which are apparently being held for positions that need to be advertised, and that just hasn’t happen for a number of years.

I thought the QEC was part of the Nunavut government, why can’t they make an agreement to provide housing for our needing family.

Our current situation is that we are living with my parents in a three-bedroom house, with three people living there already. Three of our children sleep on the couch and on a mattress in the living room.

This is how the Government of Nunavut treats their employees, abandoning their hardworking staff to look after their own needs when there are empty units in this community.

They would rather see their employee working long hours without any support or assurance of safety and wellbeing, mentally and physically.

I understand that homelessness is a big issue in Nunavut and that it should be resolved. I am appalled to see that the Government of Nunavut and the QEC can literally send a family of six to a community where they end up being homeless.

What if that was a different family, with no relatives in the community, what would they have done?

My husband and I are frustrated and struggling to stay positive and working to ensure that we stay together as a family.

This is just not acceptable.

Linda Qaqqasiq
Pangnirtung

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