Thank you for your help

This is one of the hardest and easiest letters I have ever had to write, but in order for me to try to get to terms with what happened, I feel everything here needs to be said.

On June 8, 2004, my beautiful daughter, Andrea Napayok Ferguson, passed away after she was hit by a car while crossing a street in Winnipeg. She was only 22 years old. I waited 21 years for her to come home to me. Now my only chance of getting to know her will be through the words of her friends and when I join her in heaven.

If you are a friend of Andrea or “Aki,” as she was better known, please write to us and tell us about her, or send us a picture, and help us fill this void. Thankfully, Andrea came to Pangnirtung to visit us when she was a teenager, so her brothers up here, John, 18, Matthew, 12, Quaraq, 11, and sister Lisa, 16, will have a memory of her while she was still alive.

My family and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped us say goodbye to her properly.

I don’t know where to start, because so many people and organizations helped us. We lived in Pangnirtung and the accident happened so far away that getting to my daughter seemed like an impossibility. There was no way we could afford to go to her. All I could do was pray for her. So we applied to Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. for emergency compassionate travel assistance so I could go to my daughter’s side while she was in a coma.

We were turned down. We were told by NTI staff that they can only pay for two people to go see her, and they decided it would be the grandparents who got the tickets. I had no problem with that as I have allowed Andrea’s grandparents, Annie and Jackie Napayok, to raise her, as per their wishes, without any verbal objections from me, because I was taught by my parents to listen to the wishes of elders.

I told NTI that I am Andrea’s father and they should pay for my trip because I am a card-carrying beneficiary of our land claim. The answer I received was even more shocking than the initial refusal. I was basically told that my daughter would have to die before they could pay for my ticket, because under the Compassionate Travel Assistance Program, they can only pay for two people. However, under the bereavement travel program, they can pay for three people!

After I had heard the news that my daughter’s life support was cut off, I was told that NTI approved travel for me alone to attend the funeral in Whale Cove.

My family and I in Pangnirtung felt I should not go to the funeral alone, I knew I had to bring my spouse and my three year-old daughter, whom we have adopted from Andrea. But we needed over $2,000 for their air fares. Fortunately, unbeknownst to us, my nieces Diana, Sheila, and Sandra Kilabuk, and their mother, Daisy Dialla, sprang into action and got together an amazing fund-raising drive for us.

Diana even went on the CBC radio with the help of CBC’s Karliin Aariak to put out a plea for donations. They managed to raise well over $2,000 in a single day!

This was a lot of money, but when we got to Rankin inlet, we found out that we did not have enough money for Sheila’s air fare and my daughter Megan’s air fare to Whale Cove. However, there was another miracle waiting for us in Rankin.

We were approached at the airport by a very kind and compassionate person, Emily, sister of our MP, Nancy Karetak-Lindell. She said we might be able to get on a charter paid for by our MP. I believe she bumped off a couple of people to get us on the charter.

So we got on a Calm Air flight to Whale Cove, and we were fortunate enough to go on standby. We returned to Rankin via the charter. Thank you Emily, you were an angel that day. Thank you Nancy Karetak-Lindell for your kindness and compassion.

The past couple of weeks have been a very painful, confusing and humbling experience for us. Thank you for caring enough to help us. We will be forever grateful.

Thank you Andrea for Megan, she looks just like you.

Andrew Dialla and Sheila Manniapik
Pangnirtung