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NUNAVUT - Nunavut Emergency Management held its first municipal training program last week in Iqaluit.

Elisapee Sheutiapik, mayor of Iqaluit, joined city staff last week for a training program in emergency management offered through the Government of Nunavut. - Carolyn Sloan/NNSL photo

Consultant Mike Hand went over the concepts and principles of emergency management and put participants' knowledge to the test with a tabletop exercise.

“It’s mostly for the municipal staff, but we have Nunavut Power Corporation here, Nunavut Risk Management office has been here as well, Department of National Defence, we’ve had military here, and the RCMP,” said Hand. “It’s really good because a lot of the bridges have been built and a lot of avenues have been opened. It’s a very positive thing for the community.”

The training sessions, which will take place across the territory, will help municipalities practice and implement emergency plans based on risk assessments that have already been done by several of the communities.

It is also intended to bring community partners and all levels of government together to work towards a common goal.

“Overall, I think it’s huge, the inter-agency and this cross-the-line co-operation and involvement that is very good for the territory, very good for the community,” said Glen Higgins, manager of emergency preparedness with the Government of Nunavut.

“Because it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when that something will happen and we need to make sure that people are prepared. We have to show some due diligence to make sure that we are doing what is expected of us, what is expected of every government across this country.”

Iqaluit did its risk assessment in April, listing power outages as one of its greatest concerns.

“With Iqaluit, total power outage is right near the top of the list, if not number one,” said Higgins. “Also, huge blizzards, major storms and the frequency and the nature of the storms are becoming greater with the weather changes.”

Among the participants in Iqaluit was RCMP officer Peter Pilgrim, who had first-hand experience dealing with emergencies when he was living in Rankin Inlet last year.

“We had both the seven-day storm, where no flights came in and the shelves were getting pretty low on food and water, and also the power outage last year,” he said. “This training which is going out by the EMO throughout the territory, if we had had it, we would have been much better prepared in Rankin, just like we will be in Iqaluit anytime in the future.

“We’re all learning how to work together."