IQALUIT - After a boating accident resulted in the death of a man on Nov. 5, boaters and residents of Iqaluit want to know if the buoy the boat collided with will be removed and who is responsible to move it.

Seeglook Akeeagok, a 55-year-old conservation officer from Grise Fiord, was killed when the boat he was riding in collided with a buoy in Iqaluit harbour. - NNSL file photo

"It's known as a hazard that's caused a death and the total lack of response or responsibility to remove a hazard is just really really frustrating," said Glenn Williams, an Iqaluit resident and a friend of Seeglook Akeeagok.

Akeeagok, a 55-year-old conservation officer from Grise Fiord, was riding in an eight-metre aluminium boat with former Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Paul Kaludjak and Paul's son, Daniel.

It was getting dark and the boat collided with the buoy with the impact killing Akeeagok. Paul and Daniel both sustained injuries.

RCMP Sgt. Jimmy Akavak said the buoy measures 1.2 to 1.5 metres in diameter and is about three metres long.

"It's a hazard all year round," he said.

A boater himself, Akavak said you have to have direct light on the buoy and be pretty close to see where it is.

"We encourage people to slow down, know their surroundings, use a spot light to manoeuvre around rocks and buoys," he said.

He said the buoy has been there at least 20 years. It used to be painted bright yellow but is now rusty brown due to wear and tear. Old lumber has been used for extra support. Akavak said some oil tankers use it for mooring.

This is not the first time this buoy has been involved in an accident.

In the late 1990s, Williams was coming into the harbour in his boat in light fog and he said he got distracted.

"I struck the buoy, put my head through the windshield. There was glass everywhere. I had facial cuts and scars, cracked ribs and severe bruising," he said.

At the time, Williams went to the Canadian Coast Guard and Transport Canada.

"They said it was my fault and I was responsible," he said, adding they were not prepared to do anything about it.

According to Transport Canada, any federally-regulated buoys are the responsibility of the Canadian Coast Guard. Transport Canada, under its Navigable Waters Protection Program, handles the administration and enforcement of the Private Buoy Regulations.

"Transport Canada is currently reviewing the circumstances surrounding the marine accident in Frobisher Bay which includes determining responsibility for this particular buoy," stated Melanie Orlowski, Transport Canada's regional communications officer for the Prairie and Northern Region, in an e-mail.

She said the department would not grant interviews on the matter as a review is underway.

Mooring buoys, according to the Private Buoy Regulations, must have a yellow light and yellow retro-reflective material. In the case where retro-reflective material needs to be added to a buoy to improve visibility, the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities could step in and request changes be made or have it removed, the Transport Canada website states.

The buoy in the harbour does come up on radar.

Orlowski stated in her e-mail that boaters can consult nautical charts available through the Canadian Hydrographic Service. A visit to the website reveals a chart for the area is available for purchase for $20 plus GST. The charts are sold at more than 800 dealers across Canada and around the world but none of the dealers are in Nunavut.

On a 1984 version of the harbour chart #7127 of Frobisher Bay and and Koojesse Inlet, three mooring buoys were marked, two off Inuit Head and one on the south side of the Polaris Reef near the suspension bridge.

At city council on Nov. 9, Councillor Simon Nattaq said he has heard, over the years, many residents have been concerned about the lack of visibility of the buoy.

"It should be painted a bright colour and have lights on it," he said.

For Williams, determining who is responsible for the buoy could mean looking at who put it there.

If he had to take a guess, he speculates it might have been the Coast Guard as they would have a ship or the landing craft to do so.

He said he thinks there should, at least, be an inquiry into Akeeagok's death.

"It would determine if the death was preventable and it may prevent somebody else from getting killed if recommendations are made," he said.

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