Squeeze in: no new school buses for Nunavut capital’s students

Nakasuk School, in Iqaluit, is one of several schools in Nunavut’s capital served by overcrowded buses. (PHOTO BY BETH BROWN)

School buses in Iqaluit are overcrowded again this year, and the Iqaluit District Education Authority wants to know why the Government of Nunavut’s education department took all summer to tell the public that it can’t afford a new bus.

After fielding complaints from parents about student safety on packed buses last year, the Iqaluit DEA met with Department of Education staffers and the city bus contractor on June 7, to come up with a solution.

Options presented then included getting a new bus or bringing in crossing guards so students can walk more safely.

After the June meeting, “it sounded like the department was going to look at some options and it would be given serious consideration,” Iqaluit DEA chairman Doug Workman told Nunatsiaq News Sept. 25.

But then it took three months for the department to tell the Iqaluit DEA that it doesn’t have enough money for a new bus.

The news came in a Sept. 15 letter from Education Minister Paul Quassa in which he said: “My department’s officials have reviewed and assessed the possibility of providing additional buses. Unfortunately the funds are not available at this time to review this option.

“I would suggest the Iqaluit District Education Authority review the current bus routes and catchment areas to determine if schedule changes or reducing the number of students being bused to and from the schools would provide any additional relief of overcrowding.”

That letter was addressed one day after Iqaluit-Sinaa MLA Paul Okalik brought the issue of over-burdened buses to oral question period in the legislative assembly on Sept 14.

Okalik, who pointed out that a new bus would have to be ordered via sealift in just a few days to be used this school year, called crammed buses a safety concern and asked if the department was making contingency plans to address the problem.

“Students in Iqaluit all have space in the buses,” Quassa said in response.

He also pointed out that school busing is a service and lack of seating does not stop students from attending school.

“We’ve already discussed this matter with the busing service contractors here in Iqaluit,” Quassa said.

But Okalik said he too spoke with the contactor and his information didn’t measure up to Quassa’s.

“I was informed that the older students sometimes reach up to 60 students per bus, while the younger students usually have up to 80,” Okalik said.

School bus capacity is 72 for elementary students, who can sit three to a seat, and 48 for junior and senior high students, who sit two to a seat.

Workman told Nunatsiaq News later that the number for elementary students sometimes reaches 90 on a bus.

Aqsarniit Middle School and Inuksuk High School each share buses, as do Joamie Elementary School and Nakasuk Elementary School.

The Iqaluit DEA estimates that there are about 100 more students in Iqaluit than there were when bus service began in 2012.

“The bus contractor has been allowing more than the normal capacity for the buses especially in the cold winter months,” Workman said, in a public letter he sent to parents Sept. 22, to update them on the issue.

In that letter he also explained to the public that he was unable to get feedback from the education department through the summer months, despite numerous attempts. Workman called this lack of follow through “disconcerting.”

He also said he sensed that the IDEA’s opposition to Bill 37 to amend the Education Act—and the bill’s subsequent defeat in the Nunavut legislature—may have caused tension between the education authority and the GN’s Department of Education.

“This isn’t about the politics, this is about a need for student safety,” he said.

Workman said fall attendance, measured in September each year, is used to determine staffing numbers in Nunavut schools. He hoped that this number would also be used in future to determine seating needs for school buses in the city.

He added that crossing guards could help because students who live within one kilometre from their school are encouraged to walk.

But, organizing a contingent of reliable and well-paid crossing guards will take time, he said, and the department has identified no added funding available for such a change.

The Iqaluit DEA met this week to discuss how they will move forward to address over crowded buses.