Waste water woes, the cost of living and AWG trials in Nunavik

The KRG council met in Kuujjuaq Feb. 23 to 28. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

KUUJJUAQ — System operators in Nunavik need to do a better job sampling their community’s wastewater to ensure it’s properly treated before it goes back into the environment, says the Kativik Regional Government.

A recent report by the KRG’s department of municipal works shows that, on average, only half of the region’s communities conduct sampling.

The discrepancy between communities is large: while operators in Aupaluk, Quaqtaq, Kangiqsujuaq and Inukjuak ran all six required samplings in 2014, five other communities — Kuujjuaq, Tasiujaq, Ivujivik, Akulivik and Umiujaq — reported no sampling at all.

The average waste water sampling for Nunavik was only 50 per cent in 2014, down slightly from 2012 and 2013.

“There’s really no reason that we should have this result,” said Guillaume Bédard, assistant director of the municipal works department, to a meeting of KRG councillors Feb. 25. “It takes maybe five minutes to do, and we provide all the kits and the instructions.

“Those samplings are to make sure the water we send back into the land is safe.”

Water treatment operators fare much better when it comes to sampling communities’ drinking water: in 2014, Nunavik completed 71 per cent of its required bacterial analysis, although sampling varied from one community to the next.

The KRG’s municipal works department also acknowledged the many Nunavimmiut who prefer to collect and drink fresh water, rather than tap water, which is chlorinated.

But department staff encouraged people to ensure they collect their fresh water in clean containers, and to take it the community’s water operator to have it tested first.

Nunavik’s cost-of-living study launches

Researchers from Laval university in Quebec City have launched a first-of-its-kind study to track the spending habits of Nunavimmiut.

The study involves surveying 450 households in six Nunavik communities to examine which products families are purchasing and what their weekly budgets look like.

A pre-survey ran in Kangiqsualujjuaq last November, while the survey was officially launched in both Kuujjuaq and Tasiujaq in January, researchers told KRG councillors Feb. 23.

“We have an idea of the price of goods, but we need to know what people are buying and then we can establish the cost of living,” said KRG director general Isabelle Parizeau.

To gather information, local employment officers have begun to visit selected households, which will then keep a daily journal of their expenses over a two-week period.

The prices recorded will then be compared to the cost of the same items in southern Canadian centres.

The survey’s findings will allow the region to adjust its cost-of-living figures and negotiate long-term agreements with governments, Parizeau explained.

The $500,000 survey, funded by the Quebec government, the KRG and Makivik Corp., will likely take a year to complete, with results ready by May 2016.

Young athletes, take note

The KRG’s recreation department is already gearing up for the next edition of the Arctic Winter Games, set to run in Nuuk, Greenland, in March 2016.

Team Nunavik-Quebec has plans to be there, participating in six events.

Local tryouts in Arctic sports, badminton, cross-country skiing, Dene games, snowshoe and table tennis have already begun across the region.

Now KRG recreation coordinators are asking local coaches and their young athletes to gear up for coastal try-outs, which will be held in both the Ungava and Hudson regions this spring.

“Coaches need to get started working locally now,” said Ben Whidden, interim director of the KRGs recreation department.

“It really takes a full two years; it takes a lot of work from a lot of people to make it to the AWG. We really want to thank all the people who make it possible.”

By June, the KRG will put out a call for applications for the regional try-outs, to be hosted in November 2015.

From there, athletes will be selected to compete for Team Nunavik-Quebec at the 2016 games.

Team Nunavik-Quebec is also looking for cultural performers to accompany athletes to the AWG in Nuuk — youth between 13 and 20 years of age are welcome to apply.

You can stay in touch with the Team Nunavik-Quebec on their Facebook page.