NUNAVUT - All summer, residents of Kimmirut did not have access to their community freezer.

"It wasn't running in the summer months from the end of June and it started running at the end of September, beginning of October," said Mary Akavak, office manager with the Mayukalik Hunter and Trappers Organization in Kimmirut, which looks after the freezer.

Across the territory almost all the communities have freezers residents can use to store country food and other perishables. Some freezers are in better condition than others. This new community freezer was being installed in Chesterfield Inlet in July 2009 thanks to funds from the Department of Economic Development and Transportation. - photo courtesy of the Department of Economic Development and Transportation

Akavak said she noticed the roof was leaking, which caused the fans to stall. They broke and repair work had to be done.

"It was a big mess, everything had to be thrown out," she said.

The freezer might be working for now but she is telling people they are putting food in there at their own risk.

Kimmirut and many other communities in the territory have community freezers dating from the 1980s. Some are in better shape than others. At the cabinet retreat earlier this fall, Premier Eva Aariak said the current government wants to provide energy-efficient freezers to all communities. This goal falls under Nunavut's Poverty Reduction Action Plan launched at the end of October.

Grise Fiord's community freezer was fixed this past July.

Located across from the school on the beach, it is about 1,500 square feet in size.

A repair person was brought in from Manitoba, who changed the freon coolants.

"We did it all by ourselves, it was not working for the last two years, we kept waiting for the GN to do this for the community and finally just said we would take care of it ourselves," said Marty Kuluguqtuq, assistant senior administrative officer.

He said the community hopes to keep it running for as long as possible.

"It works, but barely, we're told it might blow out within the next couple of months," he said.

As in Kimmirut, residents of Grise Fiord store country food and other food individuals might not have room for at home in their community freezer. It is run from April to the beginning of October, until it gets cold enough outside to turn the power off.

The first step in getting community freezers to every community by making repairs or getting new ones is to figure out how many there are.

The last survey was done on August 2007 and found 20 communities had freezers, 15 of them were working at the time.

"We are definitely dealing with aging equipment and aging buildings," said Ed McKenna, director of the Nunavut

anti-poverty secretariat.

In some communities, freezers are run by the hamlets or the hunter and trapper organizations.

"We've got to do our homework first and talk to people in communities about what they feel their needs are," McKenna said. One community that seems to have a good model is Arviat.

"It is really a vital necessity here for the community, especially during the summer months," said Ed Murphy, senior administrative officer for the hamlet.

Their freezer is 600 to 700 square feet and is open all summer until the first of November. Murphy said that this year, because of an increase in bears in the community, the freezer will remain open until Dec. 1. meat left outside would only attract more bears.

"It gives residents the ability to collect some of the food and keep it," he said, adding beluga, waterfowl, fish, caribou, muskox and walrus are stored. Residents bring their meat in labelled boxes to the attendant when the freezer is open and they are stored on shelving units. It is usually open seven days a week for four hours a day, but in November it will be open five days a week for two hours per day. Community and Government Services staff maintain the building and the freezers while the hamlet has responsibility for the operations.

"It works well here, it does take some co-operation and understanding," Murphy said.

McKenna said the government is well aware technology has changed since the 1980s and the GN has been talking to a research unit with Natural Resources Canada to discuss options for freezers which would be more energy efficient.

"We want to explore other technologies to see if we can make them much less costly and much easier to operate," said McKenna.

The goal now it to get a couple of pilot projects up and running within the year that would be tailored to each community's needs. However, whenever the government decides to get new community freezers, the need is there.

Akavak said the freezer in Kimmirut is constantly being used, not only by members of the community but also the HTO, which stores caribou meat before it gets shipped to another community for feasts.

"We need it, without it, a lot of food would be spoiling and we would be wasting a lot of money," said Kuluguqtuq.

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