Nunavik residents want beefed-up snowmobile rules

The only time you generally see people in Nunavik wearing helmets is during the Easter snowmobile races, although under Quebec law all snowmobilers should wear helmets whenever they drive. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

KUUJJUAQ — As a 21-year-old Kuujjuaq man fought for his life this past week in a Montreal hospital and his female companion grappled with serious leg injuries, some Nunavimmiut say snowmobile drivers and passengers should wear helmets to protect themselves from severe injury.

Bruce Turner, the father of Mae Ningiuruvik, who was injured Feb. 15 in Kuujjuaq when the snowmobile she was riding collided with stopped vehicle, says it’s not the first time in the community that a snowmobile has hit an abandoned vehicle.

Mae was not wearing a snowmobile helmet at the time of her accident, which threw her in the air and down onto hard snow.

Turner said she’s lucky to be alive.

Among other Kuujjuammiut whoe are calling for more helmet use is Valerie Lock, who works at the Inuit values and practices department at Nunavik’s regional health and social services board.

Lock wants to encourage parents to start wearing helmets to show their children that it’s the right thing to do.

Lock said she’s getting a helmet for herself and her three-year old daughter— and until the helmets arrive, they’re not going on to take any snowmobile rides.

“Let’s set a good example,” she said. “Let’s do something. I’m fed up with seeing people hurt.”

But there’s a problem.

Snowmobile helmets are expensive to buy, costing anywhere from $90 for a youth helmet to $200 or more for an adult men’s helmet.

Heated helmets — recommended for Nunavik weather conditions — are the most expensive to buy, and can run up to $600.

Ideally, a snowmobile helmet should be fitted to a person’s head, although they’re not even sold in the region, except online.

When drivers and passengers don’t wear helmets, they risk severe head injuries, said Dr. Tarek Razek, chief of the trauma unit at the Montreal General hospital, who sees “hundreds” of severe trauma injuries every year from Nunavik.

The devastating impacts of head injuries due to snowmobile crashes can leave people in a coma, and, if they survive, unable to walk, talk or even eat independently, Razek said.

Razek also said helmet use is a “massive safety factor.”

If you wear a helmet, you may walk away from a collision, which might otherwise leave you dead or disabled, Razek said.

Wearing a helmet for personal safety is a “no-brainer,” Razek said.

Due to the high cost of providing life-long care of people who suffer traumatic brain injuries, Razek suggested Quebec should hand out free helmets to everyone who doesn’t have one, especially in Nunavik with its high rates of physical trauma cases.

By law, all Nunavik snowmobile drivers and their passengers should be wearing helmets.

So why don’t more Nunavimmiut feel obliged to wear helmets if it’s the law, and much safer?

The Kativik Regional Government and Makivik Corp. say getting Nunavimmiut to wear helmets means Quebec laws on highway safety and off-highway vehicles should be amended to reflect the wide use of off-highway vehicles, like snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, on the region’s roads.

As it stands now, Quebec’s law says no off-highway vehicles, such as ATVs and snowmobiles, are even permitted on public roads.

If the laws are changed, police can start enforcing rules that are adapted to the region, the KRG says.

A round table, with representatives from the KRG, Makivik, the regional health board, municipalities, the Nunavik Tourism Association and Landholding associations, will start looking at how to change the laws later this month.

Community consultations will follow.