Iqaluit woman says housing authority took nearly 3 days to fix flooding in her home
Water leaves permanent damage, Joanne Manning says, but she does not want to move
Joanne Manning shows how she’s mitigated a flood in her home over the weekend. She used all her towels, bedsheets and spare clothes trying to contain water flowing from her kitchen sink. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
When sewage water from a backed-up toilet and kitchen sink started to flood Joanne Manning’s home early Friday, she immediately called the Iqaluit Housing Authority.
Murky water flows over Joanne Manning’s kitchen sink. She tried calling the Iqaluit Housing Authority dozens of times Saturday and Sunday in an effort to get somebody to fix the problem. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
She called. And she called. And she called.
“I have called them like 30 times already,” she said Saturday in an interview at her public housing unit on Nipisa Street. By that time, her toilet had stopped running but the kitchen sink continued to overflow.
Manning said that all told, she called 40 times on Friday and another 12 times Saturday morning before someone finally picked up.
When she did get through, she said, she was hung up on.
“You guys answered the phone, I’ve been calling for two days,” Manning said she told the person at the housing authority, who said the office phone has been “having issues.”
“So because your phone has issues, nobody’s answering me?” Manning asked.
The call ended.
“They just hung up on me. Are you serious?” she said, before dialling again.
When the same person picked up again, Manning asked for their name but the call ended again.
So Manning called back, but it went to voicemail.
“I have been doing this for two days,” she said.
Nearly three days after the flood, which was contained to her bathroom and kitchen floors, housing authority workers arrived Sunday night to fix the problem.
Manning’s plumbing struggles at her home, where she lives with her dog, started early Friday at about 3 a.m.
She heard a “bubble sound” coming from her bathroom. When she flushed the toilet, the water started rising and flooded her bathroom floor.
Soon her kitchen sink also filled up with murky water that overflowed onto the counter and floor.
Manning tried to wipe up the mess on the floor as much as she could, using about a dozen towels and her bedsheets.
“I had to throw them out, because they stank like … you know,” she said.
By then, her kitchen floor was covered with blankets and nearly all of her clothes that she used to sop up the mess.
“I can’t do anything,” she said Saturday morning. “I can’t even wash my face. I can’t even take a shower.”
Manning, who works for Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre in Iqaluit, has lived in her one-storey public housing unit for the past 20 years. There were two similar sewage backups in the past, but each time the housing authority responded quickly.
On Saturday, Tasha Sandbach, general manager of Iqaluit Housing Authority, declined to comment on the situation when reached by Nunatsiaq News.
As of midday Monday, the Iqaluit Housing Authority hadn’t responded to another request for comment. The City of Iqaluit also hasn’t responded to a request for comment.
The flooding was contained to her bathroom and kitchen floors, but Manning said it left permanent damage. Her kitchen cabinets became swollen from the water.
Despite it all, she said she doesn’t want to move.
“Where am I going to go?” She said “I’ve been here 20 years. It’s my home.”
Did she call?
Work plans, pushing for better performance from the two top dogs NHC. Earn your pay for change. Sitting pretty up there. We need change at the top who have brilliant brains that have yet to show up.
I believe her. There is nothing more she could have done. There is no excuse for how this turned out. Good for her and for Nunatsiaq for making a story out of this. People should lose their jobs over this. It isn’t a one-off.
The prez and vice should go. the latter? there just for $$$ now? (8500-9K biweekly, not bad), not a care in the world for Nunavut housing needs.
In arviat the housing workers just drives around all day and it takes two people to get a smoke detector back at the office
This is a failure from management and from the staff member. Staff have so little respect for management that they feel they can do this.
The woman tried so hard to get help only to be ignored and get rude service.
Now the whole unit is at risk of mold and further damage.
“ The flooding was contained to her bathroom and kitchen floors, but Manning said it left permanent damage. Her kitchen cabinets became swollen from the water.”
Worse. That’s not just water. That’s sewage backup. The standard is, anything that water touched is supposed to be removed.
They don’t seem to do that though. Actual raw sewage backed up into a friend’s place near happy valley, and housing did little to clean it, and they certainly didn’t remove the flooring or drywall.
I believe her. People feel they can get away with a lot at their GN jobs and they’re right. Not professional at all.
There is an incredible lack of accountability in our governance.
Can anyone explain to me why there is virtually no accountability to speak of in Nunavut?
Is this a cultural thing or opportunism or what?
It’s called government culture…
Iqaluit Housing shouldn’t be neglecting their tenants. However, every tenant and homeowner should know where the water shut off valve is, in the event of an emergency.
A friend called them all weekend too and couldn’t get not one person to respond. This is dangerous in cold weather when one can’t get inside .
Why not call and get help from a lawyer at legal aid then they can’t get out of it? More people that have housing issues should call legal aid for help
NHC Needs a major overhaul with they’re Maintenance Department Personnel!
to any or all people living in housing in the arctic, a friendly bit of advice i’m throwing out there. if you cannot turn the sinks, tub or toilet in the off position, may I suggest that you switch off all the water valves in the off position to avoid flooding the entire household. once this is done, then may I also suggest you contact those in charge of rents. living in a home is like a child, we have to learn by our MISTAKES within the household.
Sewage coming up out of your drains has nothing to do with turning off water. Can I remind all the people in the south that living in Nunavut doesn’t make a person stupid or incompetent.
Your 100% right Jenni. There are controls in place for that “not” to happen but unfortunately, those controls are never maintained regardless if those controls have been presented to the higher ups. It’s a shame that our Northern Friends have to live the way they do. The incompetency within NHC is ridiculous!!!