She’s been sleeping on her living room couch for six years trying to fit 10 people into her three-bedroom house, but that’s not even the worst of Christina Innukshuk’s problems.
Mould, sewage and maintenance issues have added up to a miserable situation in her public housing unit.
“My condition in my house is very awful,” said the soft-spoken Innukshuk, a single mother who has been living in her three-bedroom public housing unit for the past seven years.
“There’s mould everywhere. There’s mould under the sink in the kitchen, there’s mould in the washroom, bathtub wall. There’s mould in the laundry room, in the crawl space. There was mould in the ceiling.”
Nine other family members share her home.
“I don’t even have my own privacy,” she said, though her priority is her family’s comfort.
The mould problem especially rears its head in spring and summer.
“As soon as the snow starts melting, the three kids have been coughing lately. They’ve been getting sick,” said Innukshuk.
That’s not the only smell affecting her household, as the entrance room’s sewage pipe is leaking. Innukshuk has tried to cover the gaps with a mixture of lard and dryer lint plus plastic wrap, but the smell is still there.
“That smell’s really awful,” she said, adding that she has to throw out clothing and belongings kept in the crawlspace because of the stench.
A diesel smell also lingers toward the livingroom at times, she said.
Innukshuk said she’s asked for maintenance help many times but hasn’t found the assistance she needs.
“It’s been seven years now I’ve been waiting,” she said about other issues with the porch. “Every time I ask, they’ll say, ‘Oh, things we need haven’t come in yet. They will be coming in next barge.’ But the barge and ships are coming in every year.”
In addition to trying to patch up the sewage leak, Innukshuk has been getting handy trying to remove mould in her bathroom, but she can’t get it all herself.
“Right by the toilet, the floor is moving,” she said. “I heard a crack a few days ago in my living room, in the kitchen area.”
She desperately wants to move to a four-bedroom unit to accommodate her large family. So far, she hasn’t heard much movement on her request to relocate.
‘It’s not worth it’
Innukshuk is currently paying Nunavut Housing Corporation $236 per month for the unit, but she hardly thinks that’s fair considering the condition of it.
“It’s pretty hard,” she said. “And as a single mother, what’s worth paying a rent like that? It’s not worth it, because it’s bad.”
And whether she stays in the three-bedroom unit or not, she wants it to be repaired.
“Few people live in probably even worse than I do,” she said, recognizing she’s not alone with these issues in the community and territory. “If I happen to get out of that house, I’m really hoping Housing will renovate that house properly and get all the mould out.”
Joshua Long, senior communications officer with the Nunavut Housing Corporation, said there were 258 open applications for public housing in Rankin Inlet as of Feb. 14.
“The Nunavut Housing Corporation is committed to ensuring its tenants are appropriately accommodated with enough bedrooms to satisfy their needs through national occupancy standards,” stated Long in an email.
“Those currently in public housing who are living in overcrowded conditions should make their needs known to their local housing organization. Those who are unable to immediately secure housing are placed on a waiting list as soon as their application is received.”
He added that the corporation takes health and mould concerns seriously.
“Public housing tenants are asked to report mould and any other maintenance issues to their Local Housing Organization as soon as they are noticed,” he wrote, adding that the corporation continues to provide training and support for local housing organizations to better enable on-the-ground responses to mould issues.
“The training includes both practical fixes to mould-related problems as well the occupational health and safety requirements needed to safely undertake renovations,” stated Long. “For large, complex remediations, Nunavut Housing Corporation engages engineering services, and where necessary tendering work to private contractors.”
If a tenant is not happy with the level of maintenance they are receiving from their local housing organization, they may bring their concerns to the board or to the district if necessary, he stated.
Stewart Burnett, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Kivalliq News
MONTREAL — Elections Quebec is flipping their usual campaign advertising script in hopes that some fresh messaging will propel more voters out to the polls next month. The province's elections organizer is mounting a campaign of its own — one to "reverse a trend" toward poor voter turnout by taking a humoristic, even absurd approach to its ads and expanding beyond traditional TV and radio to spaces like TikTok. The campaign, created by Quebec marketing and communications agency Cossette, is gett
Work to restore the formerly mysterious ocean-front rock walls on British Columbia's Gulf Islands is reviving Indigenous culture and marine food harvesting practises. Academics were baffled by the origin of the rock walls until they asked Indigenous leaders who told them they were ancient sea gardens used to trap clams, mussels, kelps and other sea foods that came in with the changing tides.
MONTREAL — Elections Quebec is flipping their usual campaign advertising script in hopes that some fresh messaging will propel more voters out to the polls next month. The province's elections organizer is mounting a campaign of its own — one to "reverse a trend" toward poor voter turnout by taking a humoristic, even absurd approach to its ads and expanding beyond traditional TV and radio to spaces like TikTok. The campaign, created by Quebec marketing and communications agency Cossette, is gett
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says the discovery of top-secret documents at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate raised concerns that sensitive data was compromised and called it “irresponsible.” Biden, who rarely does interviews, spoke to CBS’ “60 Minutes” in a segment that aired Sunday. He said that when he heard about classified documents taken from the White House, he wondered how “anyone could be that irresponsible.” Biden added: “And I thought, what data was in there t
VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — A dilapidated villa outside Malta’s capital where a young Princess Elizabeth and her husband lived for a fondly recalled period before she became queen has become a focal point of the country's Malta’s remembrance of the late monarch and her ties to the former British colony in the Mediterranean. Flowers and wreaths have crowded the door of Villa Guardamangia, where Elizabeth and Prince Philip spent months at a time between 1949 and 1951, since the death of the woman who w
U.S. fruit sellers are looking north to Canada as severe drought and water shortages continue to wreak havoc on crops in California, the biggest state for agriculture. American berry giant Driscoll's has partnered with Sébastien Dugré, co-owner of Massé Nursery in Saint-Paul-d'Abbotsford, Que., to test whether commercial production of blackberries and raspberries is viable in the province. Quebec's colder climate can limit berry crops, so growing them on a larger scale is unusual for that part o
When Terry Fox Runs were halted due to the pandemic, a Kingsclear man set a goal to collect 10 bags of garbage on the beach — one bag for each kilometre he'd normally complete in a Terry Fox Run. Carl Duivenvoorden said he always participated in the Terry Fox Run, so instead of doing a solo run during the pandemic, he wanted to do something with more impact. "In the end, I got way more than 10 bags," he said. "And it went so well that first year, I decided to do it again last year." Last year, D
According to bioethicist and Western University professor Maxwell Smith, history has shown how initial backlash to some earlier public health or safety measures eventually transitioned into acceptance.
HUDSON'S HOPE, B.C. — An evacuation order for British Columbia's largest wildfire has been rescinded, though the BC Wildfire Service says the blaze remains out of control. The Battleship Mountain wildfire in the Prince George Fire Centre is now estimated at more than 302 kilometers. The fire in the northeast corner of the province led to an evacuation order for about 1,000 residents on Sept. 10, but the District of Hudson's Hope says that has been lifted. The BC Wildfire Service says the blaze a
The European Union executive recommended on Sunday suspending some 7.5 billion euros in funding for Hungary over corruption, the first such case in the 27-nation bloc under a new sanction meant to better protect the rule of law. The EU introduced the new financial sanction two years ago precisely in response to what it says amounts to the undermining of democracy in Poland and Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban subdued courts, media, NGOs and academia, as well as restricting the rights of migrants, gays and women during more than a decade in power. "It's about breaches of the rule of law compromising the use and management of EU funds," said EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn.
News bulletin 2022/09/18 08:39View on euronews
The Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has ordered an investigation into the death of a young woman who was arrested by the country's so-called "morality police" for wearing an inappropriate headscarf.View on euronews
PEMBROKE, NOVA SCOTIA — Police say they are investigating a motor vehicle collision that killed a cyclist in Pembroke, N.S. The RCMP says officers were called to Highway 215 late Saturday afternoon. Police issued a release on Sunday saying a sport utility vehicle travelling southwest on the highway hit the cyclist, who was trying to cross the roadway. They say the 58-year-old man from Halifax was pronounced dead at the scene and no one else was injured. They say the 64-year-old driver of the spo
DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Borussia Dortmund captain Marco Reus’ injury is not as bad as initially feared, meaning he should still feature at the World Cup for Germany. Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl said Sunday the player “will be out for three to four weeks and will then hopefully be available for us again.” Germany coach Hansi Flick included Reus in his squad for upcoming international games against Hungary and England and was counting on the attacking midfielder as a key member of h
Atikamekw chiefs were stunned by premier François Legault saying the "problem that happened at the Joliette hospital with Mrs. Joyce is now resolved" during the TVA electoral debate Thursday evening, two years after Joyce Echaquan's death. "The problem is far from settled," said the Chief of Manawan, Paul-Émile Ottawa, and the Grand Chief of the Atikamekw Nation, Constant Awashish, stressing systemic racism must be acknowledged in Quebec to move forward. "It is a very big statement that he made,
News bulletin 2022/09/17 10:16View on euronews
WOLVERHAMPTON, England (AP) — Erling Haaland added a strike from outside the area to his repertoire of goals since joining Manchester City in a 3-0 win at 10-man Wolverhampton in the Premier League on Saturday. City had already taken the lead through Jack Grealish after 55 seconds at Molineux when Haaland picked up the ball 40 meters out, drove toward the penalty box and shot right-footed into the bottom corner from the edge of the area in the 16th minute. It was Haaland’s 11th goal in seven lea
"Right now, we just live day to day and that's it. We move forward for the children and that's all." - Victim of the Tajogaite volcano eruption talks over her struggles one year since her house was destroyed.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin mounted on the battlefield and in the halls of global power as Ukrainian troops pushed their counteroffensive Saturday to advance farther into Ukraine's partly recaptured northeast. At a high-level summit in Uzbekistan, Putin vowed to press his attack on Ukraine despite recent military setbacks but also faced concerns by India and China over the drawn-out conflict. “I know that today’s era is not of war,” Indian Prime Minister Nar
A look back at the deaths of some of the world's most prominent heads of state, from Gandhi to Mandela.View on euronews