October 1996

October was a cold month in the Arctic in 1996. I was pretty well used to the cold as I had the very best in cold weather clothing and footwear. I had much on my mind that day as I was expecting a minister of municipal affairs to arrive and give me the green light on a plan for the district. My plan was to put all the resources from the government in the social needs section in one pot and call it a wellness initiative.

I realized that there was plenty of money sent to our community for social issues but it was not utilized in a timely fashion. My idea along with a woman's group was to join together a working group with a full time leader to serve the needy . As it stood some people were being serviced by 3 or 4 different agencies and it was wasteful. As I drove to work that morning it was still dark but I could see a group of kids on bicycles crossing the bay.

It was 35 below zero and I wondered where these kids were going. It did not take too long to find out as there was a terrific explosion a few minutes later. there was a problem in our area with young people sniffing propane gas and even regular gas to get high. In this case four kids had gone to a place where a large packing case became the small space where a propane tank was opened and the kids got high. One young person lit a cigarette and boom.

I was on sight in minutes as well as half the hamlet and discovered two dead , two badly burned and a town in shock. The medic vac took the two youngsters to Yellowknife and on to Edmonton to the burn clinic.

This incident cemented the community in realizing that decisive action had to be taken. That afternoon the minister arrived as well as the press and needless to say our plan for a wellness committee was approved.

A community funeral was held and leaders spoke of the problems facing the new committee and how important it was for everyone to help. I could have picked nearly every person in the hamlet to serve but the community chose seven people. Three elders, the minister , two students (1 boy 1 girl ) and the mayor . The mayor appointed a lady councillor to take his place as he felt he was not ready for this undertaking.

Some times it takes a tragedy to wake people up and in this case it did. The committee hired an outsider to be the wellness director and made a great choice. The two boys who were badly burned eventually recovered and one returned to walk the streets and be a living example of the dangers of sniffing gas and the other never made it back in to society.

My work there took a turn and for the next few years this committee became a model accepted in many hamlets in Nunavut. Incidentally our Minister of Health for Canada was a resident of that hamlet at the time and was influenced as were all to make their communities better, safer and more in tune with the social needs of the Inuit.