Students rebuild their lives one month after Iqaluit’s big fire

One month after the Feb. 26 fire at Iqaluit’s Creekside Village burned all their possessions, Nunavut Arctic College environmental technology students, Andrew Arreak of Pond Inlet and Dorothy Quqshuun of Gjoa Haven (centre), wear the new parkas made for them by Eva Naloolak, Elisapi Aningmiuq and Oleepeek Nooshoota of the Tukisigiarvik Centre in Iqaluit. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

A month after the Feb. 26 fire that destroyed the Iqaluit townhouse where she had lived for almost two years, Dorothy Quqshuun of Gjoa Haven can’t stop the tears from welling up as she talks about that day.

Quqshuun lost everything in the fire, including the precious parka her parents had given her.

A student at Nunavut Arctic College’s environmental technology program, Quqshuun had lived in unit 308 — one of 22 that burned down on Feb. 26 — with her two young daughters until this past January, when they went back to Gjoa Haven to wait for Quqshuun to return after graduation this spring.

When the fire broke out late on Feb. 26, Quqshuun was at a friend’s place having dinner. She never was able to return home, much like about 70 others, nearly all Arctic college students, who became homeless that night.

“All I had was what I was wearing,” she recalled March 26.

After the fire, Quqshuun was able to find some clothing that fit from among the many donations received from Iqaluit and other places in Canada. She also bought other items with the $1,000 voucher she received from the Red Cross.

On March 26 Quqshuun sat down to compose a thank-you letter for all those who helped and supported her — the Red Cross volunteers, local stores, her college classmates, and close friends Christine and James Wilson.

Now she can add the Tukisigiarvik community centre in Iqaluit to the list of people and groups she wants to thank.

There, sewers Eva Nakoolak and Oleepeeka Nooshoota, along with Tukisigiarvik program co-ordinator Elisapee Aningmiuq, made two warm parkas for her and her fellow student, Andrew Arreak, who also saw his home burn in the Feb. 26 fire.

On March 26 Quqshuun and Arreak tried on their new parkas, which they plan to take on their program’s spring camp.

Like Quqshuun, Arreak and his family, his common law wife, Jenna, and two young daughters — lost everything in the blaze that they watched from their fourth-floor Frobisher Inn room during the early hours of Feb. 27.

The $2,000 voucher they received from the Red Cross helped them replace items lost in the fire.

But the couple, originally from Pond Inlet, still haven’t been able to replace some of the costly electronic items, such as his iPod with seven years of movies and music, plus a computer and X-Box.

The family has settled into the new home, a smaller, older student residence, where they’re slowly replacing what they can.

“It really shows community getting together,” Arreak said of the help they received following the fire.

They haven’t gone back to look at the charred and iced remains of their former home.

But the fire continues to take its toll on the family finances — and Arreak is having trouble paying for store-bought groceries and country food.

To help in the relief effort, the 
Canadian Red Cross received about $75,000 in donations, said Nathan Huculak, a public affairs advisor

with the Canadian Red Cross.

That figure includes all individual donations as well as corporate donations, such as $25,000 from Nunastar Properties, and the $9,000 in donations transferred from the Greenlandic Red Cross.

It’s not typical for other Red Cross societies in other countries to raise donations for a Canadian disaster response, Huculak said.

Overall, the response to the Feb. 26 fire was “above and beyond the usual.”

“We were very impressed with the generosity,” Huculak said.

Altogether, the Canadian Red Cross helped 78 people, with everything from food and clothing to getting new eyeglasses and medications.

Fourteen local Red Cross volunteers in Iqaluit pitched in helped by a lead volunteer from Ottawa.

That volunteer, who arrived on a flight donated by First Air (along with 43 boxes of blankets, bedding, comfort kits and baby supplies), was backed up by another 12 Red Cross volunteers in Ottawa. They supported the relief effort by collecting and organizing supplies for transport.

The volunteers put in a total of 252 hours after the fire to help the homeless fire victims get back on their feet.

That outpouring of donated time, money and supplies remains something both Arreak and Quqshuun say they’re grateful for.

“I am so thankful and grateful for all your help. God bless you all,” Quqshuun said.

As for the cause of the fire, the RCMP said March 26 that the investigation continues.

Nunavut Arctic College students Andrew Arreak and Dorothy Quqshuun pose March 26 in their new warm parkas, made for them by sewers at the Tukisigiarvik community centre in Iqaluit. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)