Edward Tapardjuk Sr. says his Igloolik home was without heat on Wednesday and part of Thursday. A faulty furnace is just one of the problems with his house he says need fixing despite years of asking for help. (Photo courtesy of Edward Tapardjuk Sr.)
Broken window, faulty furnace, crooked floor: Igloolik family struggles in public housing
Local housing authority vows to fix home where tenant says he sought help for years
“We’re cold,” said Edward Tapardjuk Sr., during an interview with Nunatsiaq News on Thursday morning.
He said his family’s three-bedroom public housing unit on the southeast side of Igloolik was without heat overnight Wednesday into Thursday afternoon, as the temperature outside dipped to -19 C.
“I tried turning the heat back on last night and there was a huge spark on the furnace and we have not had heat since,” Tapardjuk said.
“I’ve requested to move out of the house for a while now because it’s not safe.”
It’s not the first time his family’s home went cold this winter. A few weeks ago, the furnace was out for three days.
“The heat has gone out just about every week since December,” he said.
However, an unreliable furnace is not the family’s only issue with the house.
There’s the electrical system that “crackles,” a broken door frame that lets in cold air, a toilet off its moorings, a window broken by a neighbour that was patched up three years ago with wood and a garbage bag, and damaged pilings that caused the floor to tilt.
Those are the structural issues Tapardjuk wants fixed, after what he says are years of fruitless complaints to the Igloolik Housing Authority.
Tapardjuk shared evidence of his correspondence with the housing authority dating back to October 2024 with Nunatsiaq News.
A crew works on the power lines next to Edward Tapardjuk’s home in Igloolik Thursday. (Photo courtesy of Edward Tapardjuk Sr.)
And there is also the matter of his $46,000 in rent arrears, according to his bill from the housing authority. Considering the state of the house, he believes he’s being overcharged.
Frustrated with the lack of maintenance on the home and questioning the $1,700 monthly rent he was charged by the housing authority, Tapardjuk said he stopped paying rent five years ago.
As a single parent caring for three sons, Tapardjuk said he had trouble balancing the demands of work and parenting.
He left his job with the local hunters and trappers organization due to stress in September. That led to the housing authority eventually lowering his rent to $675 three weeks ago, he said.
“It should still be a lot less than that because I can’t afford that,” he said.
Tapardjuk and his three sons, who are 16, 20 and 24, moved into the house seven years ago and some of the building’s problems were evident even then, he said.
“It was already in bad shape. It smelled pretty bad and the walls were filthy,” he said.
After viewing photos that showed the repairs needed in the Tapardjuk home on March 10, Donna Crooks, a spokesperson for Nunavut Housing Corp., replied to Nunatsiaq News on March 13 saying the repairs will be undertaken.
“(Nunavut Housing Corp.) is providing support to the Igloolik Housing Authority to resolve the issues that have been identified,” she said.
Crooks declined to comment on Tapardjuk’s tenancy and his rental agreement with the housing authority.
At about 1 p.m. Thursday, a crew including an electrician and an oil burner mechanic arrived to fix the furnace. The heat was back on by 2 p.m.
Otherwise, none of the repairs to the interior of the house or the piling underneath had yet been addressed, Tapardjuk said.
The sad part is, they have the workers, just everyone shows up when they want. The ever trending work force we have in the north.
So sad, Igloolik houses are in horrible shape. Sewage everywhere down 5-plex ally.
Leaving aside the obvious questions about NHC’s handling of this situation, one overarching topic that jumps out at me is simply the shortage of qualified tradespeople here in Nunavut. To put it simply, every community should have at least one example of every tradesperson living in town — we desperately need the skilled trades to be that well-represented (i.e. without having to fly into town just to fix a broken furnace!).
For example, everyday tradespeople like electricians capable of wiring up and fixing a house (standard 120/240V single-phase stuff), oil-burner mechanics capable of fixing furnaces (including the one shown in the photo, which looks like a common brand that any OBM can fix), plumbers capable of fixing toilets (again basic stuff) — why are we (as in Nunavut as a whole) not training more young high-school people to pursue these extremely valuable trades?
And these are only some of the skilled trades that are in short supply. Other examples include carpentry, painting, glazing (windows), welding, diesel mechanic, marine mechanic, and so on. And with more military activities coming soon, there will be a call for more (such as airplane mechanics, to cite just one example).
And, it is also possible for one person to obtain multiple trade qualifications (“tickets”, to use “tradie lingo”). For example, a plumber could become a welder too. All sorts of combinations are possible.
Trades pay extremely well, and the apprenticeships are straightforward to pursue. There is no need for complex mathematics, no need for complicated academics. Income is earned during each apprenticeship too. All that is required is to focus and do the work.
Another huge advantage of the skilled trades is that they are AI-proof. No robot can ever take the place of a skilled carpenter or electrician or plumber or OBM. (In contrast, people with desk-based jobs are already finding that AI is usurping their jobs.)
Given that so many of the existing skilled tradespeople are nearing retirement, perhaps more publicity regarding “the plight of the trades” is needed, or perhaps a program to match up young apprenticeships with older tradespeople is needed. Nunavut Arctic College should be booming with apprenticeships and the associated classroom training!
Part of the problem is lack of motivation by the people of the north, then add lack of motivation of that branch of the territorial government that is supposed to facilitate apprenticeships, and you get what we got, unfortunately. And the fact that this guy said he stopped paying rent 5 years ago takes alot of credibility away from him and his issues. I can live in a house for 20 years and guess what, no damage. Something just does not seem right about this case.
You are right, NHC has struggles with having effective local housing accountability and action. I am sad to learn of these continuing problems. While the resident may be responsible for some issues, he would not be responsible for the furnace. Being a sole parent is challenging. But more credibility was lost when he explained that he has 3 childern living at home with him. One 16, one 20 and one 24. Assuming the 16 year old is still in school, and good for him, I am pretty sure the 20 and 24 year old could go and get a job, and help cover the very low under $700 monthly rent. Oh another thing, I am so sorry that the stress from his job at HTO caused him to quit. Really? HTO was a stressful job? But his 16 year old does not require childcare and can probably fend for himself for a couple of hours after school. Is there a reason he has not found a new job? Just easier to sit at home and put his hand out and cry the blues I guess?
Exactly!
You need to understand that most of the people in Nunavut live in social housing. Something like 85% of all housing is social housing.
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The trades people you are referencing will not be eligible for social housing. If people were to becomes tradespeople, and actually make more than the minimum, they would be either housed with their employer, or homeless.
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There are many, many, many examples of people completely healthy and capable of working who will not work for this reason. Some who do work live under the roof of people who do not work, without permission. I believe I heard an MLA, making $180k+ a year, lived for free in social housing.
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The social housing policies that are obviously not working are deeply entrenched now at a cultural level. People in Nunavut actually believe fables that they are legally entitled to housing under the Nunavut Agreement, as the government “promised” free housing to their ancestors to come off the land. Not true. People in social housing are sometimes multi generational, and many literally believe they can be left social housing by a deceased relative and continue to live there. Sometimes NHC allows this and transfers the lease to the surviving family member, rather than go to their list and select the next eligible person.
NHC needs to auction off all public housing. To purchase a unit, you must currently reside in the community and only one unit per person may be purchased. It doesn’t matter if some of the units end up being sold for $50. Each unit sold will save the NHC $25,000 per year in operating and maintaining. Just keep building and keep auctioning.
They will likely never do this because it would make their balance sheet look terrible. Currently they can show that they have hundreds of million of dollars of assets in public housing, that would then turn to $0.
They also will likely never do this because then people who own a house they bought for $50 will be complaining that NHC isn’t fixing their toilet for free.
Pay ur rent 🙄
A woman died oweing $60 grand in back rent 4 yrs ago.
That’s a common thing across a large number of tenants in Nunavut public housing.
Done heard of arrears of one in our little sik-sik hole owing 85 thousand dollars. 20-30 grand in some cases.
As there is no anonymity in some communities, it’s common knowledge.
Are the local housing boards collecting rent as mandated to?
Power bills are a whole other story.
I worked for the NWTHC for over 10 years in the Baffin District. I was assigned with several others to monitor maintenance, attendance and operations of the Local Housing Assoc. One of the policies we promoted was trades and apprenticeships. To be part of the LHO maintenance team you had to be a registered apprentice or a certified trades person. The majority of our LHO staff trades were Inuit. To be a district maintenance staff member , which frequently visited and worked with the LHO one had to be a red seal trade. When Nunavut came into being the District contact was almost entirely eliminated. Communications were almost entirely by email. There was reduced personal participation in the day to day operations. It came to a point where the NHC had no idea how many units were actually on the ground and for the last number of years we see that project management and construction tio has been outsourced. We did have operational issues but not to the extent presently. At any given time you had to be able to report on the progress of minor and major capital projects the cash flow of each project the status of inventory and a 5 year plan for upgrades, local management staff local trades staff. We were far from perfect but there was constant interaction . Many factors have caused this decline. Time to go back to the future.
There are many staff housing units in nunavut with all the issues he’s facing too, neither of which is acceptable. Only difference is if they decide they don’t feel like paying rent they’re evicted.
Spread the word, tell everyone to stop the tenant damages, and then housing might have the time to go fix your issues. Now, are your issues broken windows or kicked in doors? If so, then you are part of the problem as to why housing cannot find the time to respond.
Agree totally, but I keep coming back to who and how will any organization ever evict a person or Inuk family in Nunavut??
The problem starts at the top in Igloolik. I have spoken to the ‘maintenance supervisor’ once (Sept 2024) and emailed a separate time (early Feb) to request repairs in my unit – both problems are still unfixed.
The schools should start “shops” training as early as Grade 3–carpentry, metalwork, electrics, engine repair and complete re-building in higher grades. Not only for learning the skills but also patience, persistence and the resulting sense of achievement.
Ideally, this is a great concept and it would pay off huge for Nunavut and for our kids.
Practically, well you know how this goes…
Look like he whistlin’ a nice tune beside the broken heater tho
We hire a lot of southern experts with great wages, housing, and other benefits to help
our people .
Why are they not held accountable for being so incompetent ?
Incases like this you have to be firm with tenants!
Actually, the wages are sub par, and there are no benefits for contract trade workers. Staff housing is absolutely filthy when you arrive and chances are, you have shared accommodation. There’s a reason why they can’t retain good tradespeople from the south for more than a few months if lucky.
He’s “caring” for a 20 and 24 year old? Unless those men, because they’re old enough to be called that, have medical or developmental issues, then there’s a problem all right, and it’s one I see a lot of: young people mooching off parents or grandparents, not contributing to the house at all, but expecting to be “cared for”.