Gjoa Haven’s MLA sends message in a bottle

SEAN MCKIBBON

IQALUIT — Nunavut MLAs were a bottle passing around in the Nunavut legislature this week, but none of them took a drink.

That’s because the small plastic bottle contained water full of blood worms from Gjoa Haven.

“It’s taken me two days and two nights to travel back to Iqaluit to show the members of this house that blood worms continue to infest the water supply,” said Nattilik MLA Uriash Puqiqnaq said in a member’s statement on Tuesday shortly after plunking the bottle full of bugs down on top of his lectern in the house.

Puqinqaq tabled a 300-name petition from his community asking for a new water reservoir and a new community hall.

“These two issues are a major concern due to the increase in our population from decentralization of the government. The water lake, pumphouse and waterline are full of bloodworms and barely working. The water lake and hall are not fulfilling the needs of our community growth,” the petition said.

Puqinqaq said that over the weekend he got little rest because people in his community remain concerned about the water supply.

He said more than 1,000 people use Gjoa Haven’s water supply on a daily basis. Puqiqnaq said the water sample had been given to him by his constituents.

Unfortunately for the small creatures inhabiting Puqiqnaq’s water bottle, the journey to Iqaluit seems to have been too hard.

“They were alive, but they died on my way over here,” Puqinqaq told the legislature,” Puqiqnaq told his colleagues.

He called upon Jack Anawak, the minister of community government, to keep the public informed about the work being done to fix the problem.

Shortly after Puqiqnaq’s statement the Speaker of the legislature, Kevin O’Brien said,”Mr. Puqiqnaq I’d kindly ask you to remove the water from your desk in case it gets mixed up with someone else’s water.”