Five hours too long to leave Sanikiluaq in the dark
Gas spill fuelled rumour mill faster than officials could react to it
People in Sanikiluaq went out onto the land to get away from the hamlet after a gas leak forced them to evacuate Monday afternoon. There were reports that some elderly residents in the hamlet of 1,000 people, were evacuated by plane to neighbouring communities. (Photo by Christina Mulhern, special to Nunatsiaq News)
When, 4,800 litres of gasoline spill in any community, five hours is too long for people to wait for an official word about what’s going on and what they should do.
That’s how long it took Monday before the Government of Nunavut said anything publicly about a leak in Sanikiluaq that triggered an unofficial evacuation of the hamlet.
The spill occurred at 1 p.m. — the result of what the GN later called “human error” — at the tank farm where fuels are stored.
What happened next was a gong show as Sanikiluaq residents flooded social media with livestreams about what many were calling an “evacuation.”
Hundreds of people headed out on the land or to the water’s edge to get away from the spill site.
Nunatsiaq News reporters tried to get answers all afternoon. Nobody with the GN, hamlet or RCMP offered any details or information. The Government of Nunavut is often slow responding to the news media and the public at the best of times, let alone during a crisis in the middle of summer, and when the situation is unfolding in a remote part of the territory.
It wasn’t until 6:21 p.m. that the government issued its first public statement confirming there had been a spill, the valve had been “promptly” closed, the spill had been contained, and the risk to the community was “minimal.”
By then, panicked social media posts from some Sanikiluaq residents expressed stress about being kept in the dark.
When there’s a crisis and a lack of reliable information, people are left to their own devices — electronic devices — to fill the void with unreliable information at the speed of light.
Wild rumours spread further and faster than the gas fumes themselves. There were unconfirmed reports that the volume of spilled gasoline was 15 times greater than what actually spilled.
There were also unconfirmed rumours about a fire near the fuel tank. More rumours that firefighters in Kinngait and Iqaluit were getting called up.
Hamlet officials in Sanikiluaq — not knowing what they were dealing with — packed up some elders with medical conditions, put them on a plane and sent them on an overnight (presumably all-expenses-paid) excursion to Kuujjuaraapik for no real reason. At least the berry-picking looked nice.
The GN knows it took too long to respond to the spill and to the community’s reaction to it.
On Tuesday — 24 hours after the leak — it released a Q-and-A document about what happened.
The Nunavut government said it did not, at any point, call for an evacuation — a meaningless distinction.
People felt they had to evacuate. Official or not, for all intents and purposes, there was an evacuation.
If residents are guilty of overreacting, the GN is guilty of not providing good information quickly enough.
Fuel spills happen in Nunavut all the time. Almost 20,000 litres have spilled across the territory over the past month.
Emergencies happen. When they do, people need good information, quickly — not five hours after the rumour mill has filled the information void with misinformation.
Mr. Larocque,
While I agree that the GN should have issued an update sooner, there are two critical issues that need to be addressed in Nunavut.
Firstly, while social media, especially Facebook, has become the new community noticeboard, unofficial statements from individuals who work in or are privy to information posted on these platforms should not be taken as fact until verified through official channels. In an era of manipulation of: information , photos, and videos, relying on social media for evacuation or official information is dangerous.
We saw this in Iqaluit when Mayor Bell created panic by tweeting “don’t drink the water” before an official release, leading to a rush on bottled water and wild speculation on social media.
We also need to not normalize complaining about issues or relying on social media for official information in Nunavut. Concerns should be directed to the appropriate entities directly, as Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok are not the appropriate platforms for this.
Secondly, Nunatsiaq News is part of the problem. The reporting on this incident was solely based on social media activity, and calling it an evacuation when no such official evacuation had occurred legitimized the misinformation.
Nunatsiaq News and CBC need to be cautious about how and when they publish information during emergencies. People assume, unlike social media, that information published by established news organizations has been vetted for accuracy and legitimacy. Moreover, in a real emergency, the Hamlet of Sanikiluaq likely does not have the time and capacity to deal with media inquiries while addressing the issue at hand.
The GN may also lack timely information due to the remote nature of the community and the need to get personnel on the ground.
Southern or Iqaluit-based reporters need to remember that Hamlets and the GN do not have dedicated communications staff for each community. Therefore, providing accurate information is more important than rushing to publish it.
So, while I agree that the GN and Hamlet need to issue official statements on emergencies more promptly and establish a better process for sharing them, it’s equally important for news organizations to collaborate with them and avoid becoming part of the problem. Working together can ensure accurate and timely information is communicated to the public, otherwise, they hold the same level of accuracy as Facebook.
I love how Mr. Lerocque diverts all wrong-doings of his staff and blames the GN for not releasing the information quicker. While I agree that the information should have been released to the community quicker, having your staff create an article solely based off a social media post was unfortunate. Where are the days of checking your source? The lady who originally started the information stated that she didn’t even live in the community.
You can blame others all you want, but this is one of the reasons your media entity is mostly thought of as a joke to Nunavummiut.
GN most likely had no idea what was happening or what to do.
Most likely there’s a finger pointing session on and typical government response of…”Not my job. Not my department.”