John Thompson
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (May 30/05) - Late mail in Hall Beach leaves Jake Ikeperiar fuming.

"It's crazy. It's stupid," he says. Since March he's noticed that when the First Air plane touches down six days a week, it always unloads passengers and cargo, but often no mail.

Iqaluit postmaster Jolene Plunkett stands by a mountain of mail waiting to be shipped off.

Mail means more than Hallmark cards in the North. For residents waiting for government cheques, it's money in their pockets. For consumers starved for more stuff, it's another day without new CDs, books and clothing they've ordered - or tools to repair their snowmobiles.

In Iqaluit, postmaster Jolene Plunkett bears the brunt of this hunger for mail, which at times turns nasty.

During a visit last Wednesday morning, mountains of grey sacks, holding hundreds of envelopes or dozens of packages, piled against the walls. With no flights arriving or leaving the Iqaluit airport for several days before the long weekend due to faulty equipment, the post office was suddenly slammed with a week's worth of mail at once.

"It's like Christmas in here today," she said. "Every shelf is full."

Iqaluit serves as a regional hub for the Baffin region. Most mail for the Kitikmeot and Kivalliq regions passes through Yellowknife instead, or is flown directly to Rankin, although mail from Ottawa or Montreal will travel through Iqaluit, also.

An envelope leaving Ottawa bound for Whale Cove faces many potential obstacles as it flies a long route from Iqaluit to Rankin Inlet to its final destination.

It could idle down south for several days due to full flights or foul weather before arriving in Iqaluit. Once there it could be waiting a while, because only three mail flights leave Iqaluit for Rankin Inlet a week.

"If we get it Wednesday afternoon, they won't see it until Friday," Plunkett said.

Even if a plane is leaving, the envelope might not score a ride. First Air places priority on passengers, followed by perishable goods, Plunkett said. Mail follows only after that.

Still, as Plunkett glances at the records of First Air deliveries, she concludes no mail bound for Whale Cove has fallen below Canada Post standards.

"They were never any further than three days behind," she said.

The Hall Beach postmaster told Plunkett that Ikeperiar isn't the only resident who suspects mail has slowed down in recent months. Some suggest the new First Air plane is at fault, but the company had nothing to say about the deliveries to the Melville Peninsula community and redirected all specific questions to Canada Post.

A First Air base manager said the company does not bump first class mail. The airline's agreement with Canada Post does allow it to hold off shipping what he referred to as "fourth class mail" for about a week if there are more vital deliveries.

"If you order something from Sears, for example, they're going to send it the cheapest way they can," he said. "We can bump that, but we only would if there were glitches with the weather," or equipment that created a backlog, he said.

Waiting in lineups is nothing new for Iqalungmiut, who often face long queues when they go shopping or order a drink from the bar.

But when they enter the post office, moods turn foul.

"We've had our lives threatened. Yesterday I had one guy say I was leaving in a pine box," said Plunkett.

The man was upset because his package had been seized by RCMP for containing contraband materials - nothing Plunkett could control, she said. Others become grumps because they're simply tired of waiting.

In the communities, mail is mostly distributed through Co-op stores or hamlet offices.

By Wednesday afternoon most of the mail in the post office had disappeared, shuffled one step closer to its destination, and Plunkett and her three co-workers were ready to call it quits for the day.

"I think we do a pretty good job," she said.

That's something the First Air official agrees with.

"People are quick to complain about snail mail, but they should think about where the hell they are," he said. "When you can send a letter from Halifax to Resolute Bay in a week for 50 cents, we're lucky to have Canada Post."