The mysterious life of a sidewalk lounger

DAN BENOIT

Rick Thompson’s job is cold and mysterious.

Thompson’s been sitting outside the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development building in Iqaluit for the last two-and-a-half weeks, as of this Tuesday, holding a place in a line for a mining company that won’t even tell him its name.

Thompson’s job is simple: hold the front of the line until the mining office opens Dec. 1, so a representative of the company can file a claim.

So he waits. And waits.

He’s not alone.

A few feet away, wrapped up like a mummy and sleeping in an armchair under a pile of blankets, is a man whose name Thompson doesn’t know, who works for a competing company.

The work sounds dull and boring, but there’s a touch of cloak-and-dagger to keep things interesting.

Claim staking is big business and sometimes, trickery is used to get ahead.

In 2001, a Vancouver company called Aviat Project Joint Venture, now called the Stornoway Diamond Corp., outfoxed two of the world’s biggest diamond companies to grab exploration rights to more than seven million acres of land in the Baffin region’s Melville Peninsula.

Aviat Project representatives arrived in Iqaluit in November 2001 to ensure they were first in line when DIAND opened its doors to claim-stakers Dec. 3. But when they got to the building, they found employees of BHP and De Beers parked in front to make sure no one got ahead of them.

In the wee hours of the last night, one of the Aviat representatives drove a truck around the building, blinding the BHP driver with his headlights while his partner jumped out from hiding to become first in line. When DIAND opened its doors, the company got permits for 1.3 million acres of land.

Thompson said the job is very mysterious. “You don’t know who you’re working for,” he said Tuesday afternoon.

But he likes it like that.

“I’d rather not know. The less I know, the less trouble I can get into,” he said, laughing.

He and his replacement, Shannon Johnston, have been sitting outside the office everyday since Nov. 15. And every day that goes by it gets colder.

Seeing them waiting puts you in mind of what throngs of devoted fans did in the months leading up to the last Star Wars premiere in 2005.

“I was actually thinking about that earlier,” Thompson said, “laughing at those people who waited in line for months.”

The days are quickly ticking down now. The job wraps up Dec. 1.

He heard about the job by word of mouth.

“The money is good,” he said. “Worth sitting in the cold for. Definitely. They take care of us,” he said.

A hot coffee, a sandwich or someone to sit in for him while he takes a bathroom break are only a cellphone call away.

Thompson used to work at the Subway restaurant across the street a couple of years ago and saw people lined up outside the same office doing the same thing. He didn’t know what they were up to then though, he said. “I thought they were all on strike.”

He’s had his share of puzzled glances and in-your-face questions since he started, he said. “I had two girls walk by and ask me if I was homeless.”

He does look like the stereotypical image of a homeless person, sitting in front of a building under half-a-dozen blankets, quilts and sleeping bags with pillows under his feet.

But don’t be fooled. This is work. Cold work.

“One night it got down to -28°C. That was a rough night,” Thompson said. “One day I forgot my gloves. I was kicking myself all day.”

At 1 p.m., his replacement, Shannon Johnston, shows up. Thompson stands, steps away from the chair, and Johnston drops into it, wrapping himself up and trying to get comfortable. Sometimes it’s not so easy, Johnston said. One night it snowed and started to drift all over him. “My body heat started to melt the snow.”

But besides the physical discomfort, it’s not so bad, Thompson said. “It’s a pretty easy job. I’ve never had to move.”

Thompson plays handheld video games, uses a portable DVD player and listens to music to entertain himself, he said. Johnston grips a paperback novel in his mittened hand.

“I don’t have all that hi-tech shit. I’ve just got the old-fashioned stuff,” he said, waving the book.

Thompson stretches. With his shift over, he’s off home to bed.

“The end is near,” he said, then shivers.

“It’s pretty cold.”