Safe cargo competition for the Kivalliq?

Thanks in part to an investigation done by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada into the Aug. 26, 2000, Avataq disaster, federal and territorial officials are now working to make sure Nunavut boat owners know how to operate safely — especially those who operate as informal cargo carriers.

Transport Canada is slowly attempting to identify small boat owners who offer commercial cargo services, so their vessels can be inspected. Such inspections will provide operators with potentially life-saving information, especially knowledge of how much cargo they may carry safely and what equipment they need to cope with emergencies. Transport Canada is also working with the government of Nunavut to translate its ship registration guide into Inuktitut.

Six or seven years ago, the Canadian Coast Guard translated another document, its Small Fishing Vessel: Safety Manual, into Inuktitut, and produced four Inuktitut-language documentaries on boating safety that were broadcast on TVNC.

As well, the Coast Guard has now started monitoring hunters’ MF radio frequencies. This effort is already bearing fruit, as we saw this week in Iqaluit when the Coast Guard heard that three Iqalungmiut in a freighter canoe ran into trouble on Frobisher Bay.

For its part, Nunavut Emergency Services is providing more boating safety education, and is working with the Coast Guard to develop a community-based auxiliary coast guard.

All this is useful. These agencies deserve praise for what they’ve done so far.

But the terrible loss of the Avataq’s captain and three crew members raises other serious issues that the government of Nunavut, especially the Department of Transportation, does not appear to be taking seriously.

The most serious of these is this question: Why are contractors and other shippers in the Kivalliq region using unsafe, unregulated small carriers?

Most Kivalliq communities are served by a barge operated out of Churchill by Northern Transportation Company Ltd. It is to be presumed that NTCL’s vessels are properly inspected and that their crews are properly trained.

But despite the availability of an established shipping company with more than 60 years of experience in northern Canada, Sanajiit Construction used an unlicenced lobster boat to ship more than 12 metric tons of building supplies. Combined with a smaller load of propane tanks, the Avataq ended up carrying 15.8 metric tons of goods.

The most chilling detail in the Transportation Safety Board’s Avataq report is this: After being loaded with its deadly cargo, the vessel sank so low its deck rode below the water line. The Avataq’s scuppers — deck drainage holes that are supposed to sit above the water — had been stopped up with barrel plugs to prevent sea water from gushing back onto the deck.

In a very real sense, the Avataq was half-sunk even before it departed the Port of Churchill. Yet, Louis Pilakapsi decided to head for Arviat that morning. Sadly, the heavy seas he encountered later merely finished the job that he himself had started when he overloaded his boat.

Pilakapsi may have been a popular politician and leader, much-beloved in his region. But on that day his actions were foolish and showed reckless disregard for the lives of his three crew members.

The safety board says that on at least one previous trip, his boat heeled over because of the amount of cargo on deck, but that after some cargo spilled into the sea, the boat righted itself and he continued on. Having had this experience, he ought to have known better. Given that three other men died with him, his actions might have warranted a charge of criminal negligence causing death.

So why have small boat-owners taken such appalling risks to supply what appears to be a badly needed alternative cargo service in the Kivalliq region? The Avataq incident is strong evidence suggesting there’s a powerful demand for such an alternative.

But this is not the way to do it. For example, no one would ever tolerate the use of unlicenced, uninspected aircraft flown by half-trained pilots as a way of providing competition for an airline monopoly. Why should commercial marine transportation be treated any differently?

The government of Nunavut’s Department of Transportation needs to work out a better marine resupply policy for the Kivalliq region. Such a policy might include working with NTCL to find ways of ensuring that its barge schedules better suit the needs of contractors and other shippers. It might include working with the Department of Sustainable Development to find ways of helping small boat owners enter the cargo business safely and responsibly.

Other Nunavut government departments and agencies, such as Public Works and the Nunavut Housing Corporation, should penalize contractors who use unregulated carriers in the fulfillment of government contracts. No one should get a financial reward for turning their boat into a death trap, and neither should those who hire them.

Finally, the federal Department of Transport should accelerate its efforts to identify, inspect and licence small boat owners who operate as commercial cargo carriers. After that, they should crack down — and crack down hard — on anyone who fails to comply with current safety rules.

If organizations such as the Kivalliq Inuit Association want to make themselves useful, they could help Transport Canada communicate with unilingual Inuit who may not understand the federal government’s English-language materials. Ignorance is no longer an option. As we now know, ignorance kills.

JB