Fire consumes Gjoa Haven’s GN office

Qulliq Energy Corp. reports power outage associated with blaze

A fire at the Government of Nunavut building in Gjoa Haven burns on Saturday afternoon. It was not immediately clear if anybody was hurt in the blaze. (Photo by Richard Dwyer)

By Nunatsiaq News

RCMP advised people in Gjoa Haven to shelter in place Saturday as emergency crews battled a fire at the Government of Nunavut office building in the hamlet.

The announcement appeared on the RCMP Nunavut’s Facebook page in the afternoon.

Multiple social media posts indicated people in the community heard explosions, while massive plumes of dark smoke could be seen billowing from the building.

As well, Qulliq Energy Corp. reported a power outage in the airport/uptown area of town, due to the blaze. 

The RCMP made a later social media post around 8 p.m. that the fire was fully under control and it was safe for people in the hamlet to resume their regular activities. 

The RCMP did not immediately respond to a request for more information about the incident, including whether anybody was injured, or what is believed to have caused the reported explosions.

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(9) Comments:

  1. Posted by Work From Home on

    Working from home starts Monday.
    .
    Does the GN have a plan for alternate production of driver licences and photo IDs?
    .
    Are the records backed up and restorable, or have they been lost?

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    • Posted by 867 on

      As if the turnaround times for expired licences werent bad enough. Now this?

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  2. Posted by Thomas Shelby on

    So sad to see this building burned, many GN offices will need to be relocated.

    Hopefully it wasn’t arson.

  3. Posted by Kitikmeot on

    The wait for D/L just went from 12 to 18 months. 2 weeks if kitikmiut call rankin inlet directly.

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  4. Posted by Which Offices? on

    Can anybody verify which GN offices are affected by this? Is this all Gjoa Haven GN Offices? Or are there some located elsewhere that aren’t affected?

    • Posted by 8 6 7 on

      Yep pretty much all GN offices in GH, minus a GN maintenance shop

  5. Posted by Beleaver on

    I’m surprised GN owns a building in Gjoa Haven. In most communities, GN rents offices therefore Government of Nunavut are tenets.

    • Posted by 8 6 7 on

      NCC is slowly selling off its assets to the GN. Here’s how it works:

      Get Inuit-owned company run by southerners to build offices (NCC),

      Let the GN occupy the buildings for a few years and pay rent,

      then, in an act of good faith, sell the building to the GN to get it off your hands (because any asset in nunavut is a liability).

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  6. Posted by Shawn on

    At least its not people’s houses or living conditions.

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