A couple of stories on the CBC North site today that reminds me just how isolated the communities up here really are. The first involves fuel shipments to Inuvik. A rare and expensive process since most communities try to ensure they bring in sufficient reserves during the summer sea lift season. At least in Inuvik’s case, they have the option of trucking more in; in Nunavut, everything must be flown in. Which brings me to the second story.
Blizzards have cut off several communities on the western shore of Hudson’s Bay from air traffic for about a week, and without the regular shipments of food, the grocery stores are running out of stock.
"So obviously we didn't get the Thursday shipment. That left us with all of our perishables, milk, produce and breads — until we receive something either today or tomorrow — completely empty."
Martha Teenar, a cashier at the Issatik Co-op in Whale Cove, said her store is out of most staple items. As well, she said, little is left on the store shelves and freezer.
"We're completely out of milk — Carnation and two per cent," Teenar said Monday at noon.
"There's completely no bread. No frozen food either, frozen meat, frozen juice … eggs and cigarettes."
Put that same situation in any community down south and it would very likely be a major news event. Here, it’s only mildly interesting. The last time Iqaluit was cut off for more than a week, I don’t recall any news outlet carrying the story. Since situations like this aren’t uncommon, people who have lived in the north for any period of time tend to be well-prepared, (at least for brief interruptions in the food supply. Other issues like a major power shutdown would be nasty during the winter months), but I do feel sorry for anyone coming up from the south where being cut-off from food supplies would only occur in times of natural disasters.
To someone of that background, my storeroom would probably look like I’m some kind of survivalist nut, but no one up here would blink at it. And it’s not just for the times when flights don’t make it in; it’s also for simple economic reasons. Shipping stuff in by boat in the summer is cheaper than paying for the same stuff being flown up later.
It’s always fun explaining these accommodations to life in the north to friends and family in the south; conversations which usually end with the question, “Why would anyone want to live up there?”
