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December 21, 2001
2001 in Iqaluit was year of the trash can
Although Iqaluit became
a "city" in 2001, most residents were too preoccupied with rotting
piles of garbage to notice.
January
- The Nunavut Water Board
issues a water licence to the town to drastically restrict burning at the
landfill site. Under the conditions of the licence, the town is allowed to
burn only food waste, paper products, paperboard and untreated wood. Town
officials say the town's lawyer will review the licence to see if an appeal
is warranted.
- Nunavut Health Minister
Ed Picco announces that work on a new Baffin hospital will begin in the fall.
The hospital experienced two power outages and studies showed power to the
patient ward would have to be reduced to fix the problem.
February
- The GN's capital budget
provides no money for Iqaluit to comply with its new water license, issued
in January 2001. The $335 million in the capital plan for all communities
over the next five years doesn't include money for the city to build an incinerator,
or upgrade the water treatment plant. The government plans to consult communities
and adjust the capital plan to include priority projects.
- The Town of Iqaluit
revises its animal control bylaw, including a section on dog teams, which
sparks public debate. Residents concerned about dog attacks are pitted against
dog team owners who defend the tradition of dogsledding. The revised bylaw
omits a proposal that dog owners carry $500,000 in liability insurance and
allows dog teams within designated parts of the town.
March
- Iqaluit cab drivers
drive off the road on Feb. 28 and vow not to start their cars again until
they get a fare increase. The strike comes a day after council decides against
raising cab fare by 75¢ to $4.50 a trip. By March 27, drivers are back
on the road after council agrees to the fare increase.
- A nine-month conditional
sentence is imposed on Mary Deschenes of Iqaluit after she is convicted of
manslaughter in the death of her live-in boyfriend, Gilles Bergeron. Evidence
at the trial showed Bergeron was an abusive philanderer with an ugly temper,
especially when he drank.
- The town launches its
waste paper recycling program on March 13. The program is a partnership between
municipal, territorial and federal agencies. The paper is collected by young
offenders, baled at the public works department and shipped to Ottawa on First
Air flights.
- Iqaluit Mayor John
Matthews sends an urgent plea to Indian Affairs Minister Bob Nault, claiming
that without extra help, Iqaluit can't meet the requirements of the water
license imposed by the Nunavut Water Board.
April
- Two of three men charged
with beating a Snack delivery man are handed two-year sentences. Joe Akpalialuk
and Herbie Janes, both 21, and Jason Keeyookta, 18, pleaded guilty on April
6 to one count of robbery each. Keeyookta had no criminal record and was sentenced
in his home community of Qikitarjuak.
- Municipal workers turn
down a contract offer from the city and begin a job action campaign one minute
after midnight on April 10. Employees say they won't work overtime or take
on extra duties, but assure residents will continue to receive water and sewer
service, as well as garbage pick-up.
- The City of Iqaluit
locks out workers on April 17 after discovering that water truck drivers are
not filling residents' water tanks all the way.
- Tireless community
leader Eva Adams passes away in Ottawa on April 5 after a swift and sudden
bout with lung cancer. Residents of Iqaluit, where she lived for most of the
1990s, remember Adams at a service at the cadet hall.
- One of Iqaluit's most-loved
Inuit leaders, Ben Ell, dies at the age of 67, of natural causes. Ell served
for more than 20 years as a city councillor and was one of the first Inuit
in Iqaluit to operate a private business.
- The City of Iqaluit
rejects the idea of bringing in an arbitrator to end its labour dispute. The
city's chief administrative officer, Rick Butler, says the municipality doesn't
want someone else deciding how much money it should pay its employees. Union
leaders are angered.
May
- Iqaluit residents,
fed up with potholes resulting from the municipal labour dispute, take matters
into their own hands and try to fix the mess. About 35 people gather at a
public meeting and decide the giant puddles and massive potholes are a hazard
and must be dealt with. A few days later, people push up their shirtsleeves,
grab shovels and go to work on the streets, making national news.
- Unionized GN workers
accept their employer's final contract offer on May 22, against the advice
of union leaders, averting a territory-wide strike. The contract offers a
salary increase of 9.27 per cent over three years, a new northern allowance,
a new travel allowance package, a language allowance increase of 25 per cent
for Innuinaqtun and Iniktitut speakers and a new relocation assistance package.
- Residents hoping to
take advantage of the city's offer to open the dump on May 19, take out their
garbage, but are met by locked gates and officials asking them to dump their
garbage on the side of the road.
June
- A massive fire at First
Air's maintenance hangar draws crowds of onlookers. The fire causes millions
of dollars worth of damage to the 12,000-square-foot structure.
- An Iqaluit gunman involved
in a shoot-out with police is sentenced to seven years in jail. Willie Ishulutak,
21, terrorized Apex in July 2000 when he fired a rifle into a crowded house
and climbed on a rooftop to shoot at police officers. The gun battle ended
when an officer shot Ishulutak in his side.
- Bill MacKenzie dies
at his home from natural causes. MacKenzie was well-known to Iqaluit residents.
At the time of his death he lived on a homestead in Apex with a variety of
animals.
- The city lifts its
lockout and municipal workers start a full-blown strike after the union rejects
a federally appointed mediator's recommendation for resolving the dispute.
- The City of Iqaluit
seeks a court injunction to have piles of trash moved from City Hall without
union aggression. Union officials claim they haven't stopped movement of trash
into the dump, and that they've just slowed it down in order to draw attention
to their plight.
July
- Municipal workers return
to the job on July 16, 91 days after the city locked them out. The employees,
represented by local 6 of the Nunavut Employees Union, express relief to be
back at work.
A new collective agreement gives the unionized workers a $2,275 signing bonus.
That's a $1,175 increase from the $1,100 signing bonus workers had rejected
just a month earlier. Overall, the new package amounts to about $2.3 million
in increased wages and benefits over the four years of the agreement.
- Environment Canada
begins investigating the City of Iqaluit after discovering the city spilled
hundreds of tones of sewage in Frobisher Bay in the spring. City engineer
Matthew Hough says pumps at two of the lift stations failed, resulting in
sewage spills. Iqaluit residents weren't warned about the spills.
- Iqaluit residents want
open burning of garbage at the city's dump to stop. Many write letters to
the Nunavut Water Board urging them to ban the practice. Iqaluit's mayor defends
the burning, saying it's the only way to get rid of the heaps of garbage that
have piled up during the municipal strike.
- Confusion arises again
over the City of Iqaluit's water licence. The Minister of Indian and Northern
Affairs refuses to recognize the licence as valid. The water licence, which
sets out strict rules for water usage and waste management, is tangled in
a battle between the Nunavut Water Board and Indian and Northern Affairs.
The NWB says the City of Iqaluit has to follow the rules in the licence.
August
- An adventure-tourism
guide who brings clients to Iqaluit decides the city's garbage-strewn streets
are too disgusting for his customers. Paul Laundry, co-owner of Northwinds
Arctic Adventures says he'll no longer plan stopovers in Iqaluit before bringing
his customers to other Nunavut communities. Many of his clients had complained
Iqaluit was simply too dirty.
- The federal government
denies Iqaluit's request for more cash for road, sewer and water projects.
Federal Finance Minister Paul Martin tells Iqaluit's mayor, John Matthews,
that the federal government already gives Nunavut more than its fair share
of money. The mayor says Iqaluit needs $47 million to pay for infrastructure
projects.
- Iqaluit's municipal
taxes rise for the first time in five years. City Council decides to raise
the mill rate to generate cash for projects such as paving and utilidor pipes.
The hike means homeowners will pay $200 more in taxes this year.
- Nav Canada proposes
to build a radar site at Iqaluit's Upper Base area. It says the site is needed
to improve air-traffic safety in the region.
September
- An Iqaluit woman is
charged with first-degree murder following a fatal stabbing on Sept. 1. The
RCMP arrest Jeannie Manning, 42, of Iqaluit, and charge her with killing Davidee
Adla, a 44-year-old Cape Dorset resident. Manning is transported to the women's
correction centre in Ft. Smith, NWT, where she is held until her bail hearing
in Iqaluit in October.
- The group Citizens
for a Clean Iqaluit face off against the City of Iqaluit in court. The group
wants the city to stop burning plastics at the dump.
- Kirt Ejesiak, a city
councillor, urges the city to ban smoking in some public places, especially
restaurants. Ejesiak says too many people are dying from smoking-related diseases.
The city administration begins researching how to implement a smoking bylaw
for Iqaluit.
- The city begins advertising
its new recycling program, but some residents question how well it will work.
Under the program, plastics and metal will be sent south on planes to a recycling
plant.
- An inmate flees the
Baffin Correctional Centre and enjoys 14 hours of freedom before he's nabbed
by police. Noah Shoviga disappeared while a group of prisoners were being
escorted to a BCC vehicle. Shoviga faces charges of escaping lawful custody.
The escape is the third at BCC this year.
October
- A clerk at the Corner
Store fights off a rifle-wielding robber. Jordan Bens, 20, attacked the masked
youth who pointed a sawed-off .22-calibre rifle at his head. During the attack,
Bens tore off the robber's mask, enabling him to identify the culprit to the
police.
- Iqaluit's mayor wants
a say in the upcoming court case between NTI and the federal government over
water licences. John Matthews says NTI should use the case to clear up the
confusion about whether a water licence may restrict the City of Iqaluit from
openly burning garbage.
- The leader of the New
Democratic Party, Alexa McDonough, visits Iqaluit as part of an effort to
revitalize her party. Her trip to the capital city is part of a cross-country
tour to discuss the future of the NDP. McDonough holds a public meeting and
visits students at Inuksuk High School.
- A court ruling gives
the City of Iqaluit the right to continue openly burning unsorted garbage
at its dump. Justice Beverly Browne finds that in the court application, lawyer
Paul Crowley failed to prove that burning garbage causes irreparable harm
to Iqaluit residents.
- Iqaluit's mayor heads
to Ottawa to ask the federal government to help pay for its much-needed incinerator.
John Matthews meets with Robert Nault, the minister of Indian and Northern
Affairs, to tell him Iqaluit is facing an infrastructure crisis. The city
wants to install an incinerator so that it can stop openly burning unsorted
garbage.
November
- The City of Iqaluit
takes another crack at getting its bungled $7-million sewage treatment plant
up and running. Leaks were discovered in the tanks last year, and the plant
is two years overdue. An engineering firm will determine how much work is
left to complete and how much it will cost to run each year. The cash-strapped
city is worried the cost will be too high.
- Iqaluit's deputy mayor
is acquitted of a charge of sexual assault. A woman accused Simon Nattaq of
touching her breast at a party. After a one-day trial, the judge acquits Nattaq
of the charge. Nattaq has been on medical leave since having both his legs
amputated after he suffered severe frost bite in February.
- Fire department chief
Neville Wheaton leaves after five years of service. Wheaton, a popular municipal
employee, leaves to become the chief of the Corner Brook department, in his
home province of Newfoundland.
- City council tries
to curb fast drivers and loud vehicles by introducing stricter rules for ATV
use. The revised ATV bylaw calls for a zero-tolerance approach to stunt driving
and forbids drivers from souping up their machines. Iqaluit residents have
been calling for greater public safety for years.
- Some teachers and members
of the local education council say Iqaluit's school children aren't getting
a quality education in the city's schools. They say classrooms are overcrowded,
there's a shortage of teachers and students in any given class have too wide
a gap in their reading and writing skills. The District Education Council
calls on the GN's education department to allot more teachers to Iqaluit schools.
- Iqaluit's much-anticipated
recycling program gets under way. Blue boxes are distributed to households
around Iqaluit. The new program is expected to decrease the amount of plastic
and metal in the dump.
December
- The Amarok Hunters
and Trappers Association wants to close Sylvia Grinnell River to fishing,
motor-boating and kayaking for the next five years. The plan is to allow Arctic
char fish stocks to rise. The falls at Sylvia Grinnell are a popular fishing
spot in Iqaluit. The HTA says a similar river closure, implemented in 1982,
helped to increase depleted fish stocks.
- The City of Iqaluit
faces charges for spilling thousands of litres of sewage into the bay this
spring. Environment Canada alleges that more than 600,000 litres of sewage
poured into Koojeese Inlet during five separate spills between April and July
2001. The city is scheduled to appear in the Nunavut court on Feb. 4 to enter
a plea on 14 charges.
- The newly launched
recycling program tackles its next step: finding a place to separate the metals
and plastics it collects and buying a baler. The Iqaluit Recycling Society
begins fundraising to purchase a baler, which can cost $10,000 for a used
one or $150,000 for a new one.
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Nunavut 99
