Kevin Wilson
Northern News Services
Body count
Nunavut's population is projected to continue growing for the next 25 years. Here are population statistics for the last five years: - 1996 25,700 - 1997 25,900 - 1998 26,500 - 1999 27,000 - 2000 27,700 |
The territory's population is in a state of what is known as "demographic shift," as it moves from a society characterized by a high birth rate and high mortality to something more comparable to what is seen in the rest of the country.
"What's happening here is entirely explainable," says Jack Hicks, director of evaluation and statistics for the government of Nunavut.
As Nunavut has moved from nomadic populations of pre-European contact to the settled communities established in the 19th and 20th centuries, readily available health care meant the number of births increased and the death rate dropped.
While the birth rate slowly drops, the population continues to grow larger and younger faster than anywhere else in Canada.
The most obvious indication of the problems posed by Nun-avut's population growth is in Kuugaarruk, where the community's diesel tanks no longer have enough storage capacity.
"There is a capacity issue for diesel here," said Quinn Taggart, Kuugaarruk's senior administrative officer.
Twice this year, Kuugaarruk had its tanks topped up, extraordinary measures that cost almost $1 million.
"Generally speaking," says Ross Mrazek, deputy minister of public works and services, "the communities are growing very fast and increasing demand on the infrastructure."
He adds that several tank farms are at or beyond their limits.
"In the former government of the Northwest Territories, there was very little capital expenditure," on fuel infrastructure," says Mrazek.
Hamlets are now starting to feel the effect of those years of neglect. Taggart says that, while the community has the capacity to hold up to 1.3 million litres of diesel fuel, the hamlet is using 1.6 million litres annually.
A 2.2-million-litre tank farm is on the drawing boards for the community, but it won't be ready until 2004 at the earliest.
Arctic Bay has similar problems -- it ran out of gasoline this year. Cecil Marshall, the hamlet's senior administrator, says only a stroke of luck averted a crisis.
Neighbouring Nanisivik had a ship come in to resupply the community, and "five or six truckloads" of gasoline were diverted to Arctic Bay, said Marshall.
According to Marshall, the hamlet's population is "growing in the neighbourhood of 25 people per year." All those extra people, plus their houses and vehicles, are beginning to strain the hard infrastructure in the community.
In addition to running out of gasoline, Arctic Bay's heating oil supply has nearly run dry three years in a row.
"We never seem to be able to catch up," says Marshall.
Other communities are encountering difficulties providing adequate housing and educational facilities for residents. Earlier this year, Gjoa Haven Mayor Joseph Aglukkaq told News/North his community has a chronic housing shortage and inadequate continuing education facilities.
