Thank you to Iqaluit’s trucked service workers

The installation of piped services to Lower Base this past summer marks the end of an era. While many folks have welcomed the advent of a seemingly endless supply of water (an illusion really), I feel rather indifferent to the idea.

Having briefly experienced, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the earlier era of honey buckets, a 100-gallon water barrel in the front porch, and a kitchen sink that drained to the outside via a pipe protruding through the outside wall, trucked services were to me, a wonderful luxury and nothing at all to carp about.

I want to extend a long-overdue and sincere thank you to the men who provided trucked services to Lower Base and who continue to provide this service to other parts of Iqaluit.

Theirs is a thankless job. They go about their business, quietly and efficiently, providing an essential and valuable service to this community. Despite the fact that it can be a nasty and dirty job at times, never once did I detect even a hint of sullenness or negativity from these men. There was always a friendly smile and a wave from them, even during the worst weather.

It can be argued that like everyone else, they do what they do for the pay cheque. But at the end of the day, ask yourself this: what do you do for your pay?

Paper-pushers like me could fall off the face of the earth and no one would likely be the wiser, but if the men who provide trucked services were not around to do their jobs, the results would be immediate and ugly.

Gentlemen, I salute you. I appreciated your hard work, dedication and unstinting service. You should feel very proud of what you do for a living.

Robert Eno
Iqaluit