September 14 , 2001

First Air, Air Inuit grounded U.S. hunters stranded

JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News

MONTREAL — The disastrous events in the U.S. this week reverberated through Nunavik, grounding planes and passengers throughout the region and setting emergency services into action.

"People were saying, ‘How could something in New York City affect someone in Salluit who needs to have an X-ray in Purvirnituq?’" said George Berthe, chairman of Air Inuit’s board of directors. "But it’s such a serious event I think everyone is going to be understanding."

On Tuesday morning Berthe went on the radio to explain to Nunavimmiut why all Air Inuit’s planes – apart from those aircraft needed for medevacs, firefighting or the Canadian Forces — were grounded.

Berthe also visited outfitters in Kuujjuaq whose clients from the South would be stranded in the community.

Almost all the 50 or so caribou hunters were Americans.

"We have some who work at the Pentagon. They’re very worried," said Nicholas Laurin of Safari Nordik, the largest outfitter in Nunavik.

Laurin said American hunters in his camps were able to use satellite phones to call home and check on their families. All were well, Laurin added.

Bush-plane flights to and from caribou hunting camps were also cancelled, although outfitters weren’t worried because these camps generally have at least a week’s worth of food and fuel.

Hunters due to leave Kuujjuaq on Tuesday morning sat around all day at the lounge of the Auberge Kuujjuaq hotel, wishing they had even more news on what was going on in their home country.

"Of course, we’re very concerned," a hunter from Virginia said.

Meanwhile, during the day on Tuesday emergency-services officials in Kuujjuaq scrambled to accommodate the possible arrival of Boeing 747s — the largest aircraft able to land in the community.

Police and firefighters in Kuujjuaq set up hundreds of cots at the Kuujjuaq Forum in case plane-loads of passengers arrived.

These cots recently arrived on sealift. The makeshift beds are intended for emergency situations, such as the avalanche that devastated Kangiqsualujjuaq two years ago.

"It’s an opportunity to try them out, but we most likely won’t have to use them," Kuujjuaq’s mayor Michael Gordon said.

An emergency centre was also set up at the airport.

All medical staff at Kuujjuaq’s Tulattavik Hospital was placed on standby.

"We hope we will not have any big emergencies," said Dr. Natalie Boulanger, director of professional services at the Tulattavik Hospital.

The hospital performs no major surgery.

In the event of a medical evacuation from Kuujjuaq, Quebec’s air ambulance service via Challenger Jet was given permission to land at the recently-renovated runway at Kuujjuaq, due to open officially on September 15.

At press time, air transportation in Nunavik was still suspended and no diverted flights had landed at the airport.

When regular air service starts up between Kuujjuaq and Montreal, many expect the volume of air traffic to plunge as American hunters decide to stay at home.

Some 4,000 hunters fly through Kuujjuaq from August 15 to September 30, with more than 100 hunters coming and out every day on two scheduled First Air flights. More than 90 per cent are from the U.S.

"When your mother is sick, you don’t want to go out into the bush and have a good time," said Denis Lapointe of the outfitting company, Arctic Adventures.