Grise Fiord tired of hollow promises

JOHN THOMPSON

When Jimmy Qaapik wants a glass of water, he always lets the tap run for a few minutes first.

If he doesn’t, his glass fills with rusty sediment.

Qaapik, the community economic development officer for Grise Fiord, works inside one of the hamlet’s grimmer buildings, made up of three trailers shipped up in the mid-1960s, and originally used as nursing stations.

“It’s the worst building in town, that’s most used, that’s most needed,” he said on Monday last week.

“We’ve got no choice but to use this place.”

His feet rub against the bare plywood floor as he sits at his desk. He tore the carpet out of his office after it got moldy. Light bulbs often short out. He suspects faulty wiring.

Part of the building was condemned in the late 1980s, following a fire caused by someone who tried to thaw frozen sewer pipes with a blow torch. That set the building on fire and caused smoke damage.

Today, that damaged section is still used by the hunters and trappers organization.

Other organizations, such as the lady’s auxiliary, also regularly use the building for meetings.

Hamlet employees used to joke about selling the building for one dollar. Or hoping it would burn to the ground.

In February, Levinia Brown, minister for the Department of Community and Government Services, visited Grise Fiord to listen to the concerns of residents.

More recently, staff from her department visited earlier this month, to again inspect the government building.

But Grise Fiord residents won’t know what improvements, if any, the GN will offer until at least late September.

That’s when recommendations made by CGS will be presented to the standing committee on infrastructure, housing and economic development.

In the meantime, Grise Fiord’s mayor said he’s heard the promises from government officials before.

“Every time they come up, they have a pen and paper and write it down, and then I guess they forget it,” said Jarloo Kiguktak.

“We’ve been feeling left out for quite a while.”

Larry Audlaluk, the hamlet’s municipal liaison officer, works in the same office as Qaapik.

He says Grise Fiord residents felt hopeful that when Nunavut was created, the new territorial government would treat the tiny community differently.

“We were really excited that decisions would be made based on practical reasoning,” he said.

Instead, he finds proposals to upgrade infrastructure in Grise Fiord often get sidelined.

“They don’t seem to give a doodle to us,” Audlaluk said.

He said he feels similarly slighted by the federal government.

During Audlaluk’s recent pass through Resolute, he said he saw a First Air jet chartered by Environment Canada employees, en route to Eureka with supplies for a new building.

“I was thinking, that must be one heck of an important building.”

Meanwhile, another neglected building in Grise Fiord is the daycare, located in an old RCMP building that was built in the mid-1950s, according to Audlaluk.

The building was brought up to code during the mid-1980s, Audlaluk says, and became a temporary office for the housing association. But since then it’s continued to deteriorate.

The daycare building’s pipes freeze during the winter, and the ceiling leaks during the thaw. Qaapik said he’s heard of mold in the building, and of children developing rashes.

Representatives from the daycare’s board of directors could not be reached before press time.

Talk of Arctic sovereignty usually focuses on the Conservatives’ election promises to build a deep-water sea port and military training facility in Nunavut.

Few references are made to those forcibly relocated from their homes in Inukjuak during the 1950s to the High Arctic, and the condition of the buildings their descendents live and work in.

“Resolute and Grise Fiord were created in the name of sovereignty,” Audlaluk said. “When we were brought up here, many of us remember nothing but promises: Our lives would improve.”

“They’re still making promises.”

So why stay put? For Audlaluk, the answer’s simple.

“It’s home,” he said.

“Most of us are proud of what we do. We created this community through hardship and toil. We feel proud, but we feel ignored.”