Sanikiluaq, Nunavut residents return home after gasoline spill evacuation

Government says 5,000 litres of gasoline were spilled after fuel tank was overfilled

Residents of Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, can return to the community after they were told to evacuate earlier on Monday over a gasoline spill.

Yvonne Niego, Nunavut’s deputy Environment minister, confirmed to Radio-Canada Monday afternoon that there was a gasoline leak at the community’s fuel tank farm and the territory suspects approximately 5,000 litres of gasoline had leaked.

Isabelle Boily, who works in construction in the community, estimated there were about 800 to 1,000 people had gathered on the west side of the island, several kilometres outside of the community.

Boily said people were told they could return to Sanikiluaq just before 6 p.m. local time.

“For safety reasons, residents and pets are advised to stay away from the tank farm containment site until further notice from local authorities,” a news release issued Monday evening from the territory’s Department of Community and Government Services (CGS) said.

Active investigation underway 

CGS also said the spill occurred “due to tank overfill” and was first reported to the Petroleum Products Division around 1 p.m. E.T.

Niego said there’s an “active investigation” into the spill.

CGS said it did not issue an evacuation order for the community and the current risk to the community is “minimal.”

“The spill occurred within the containment area of the facility, and no fuel has been released outside of this controlled environment,” the release said.

CGS also said photoionization detector readings, which detect gas and vapour in the air, taken at 3 p.m. ET “did not detect any fumes beyond the containment area.”

Local response teams, including the Petroleum Products Division, the RCMP and the fire department are managing the site, and an environmental firm has arrived in the community to investigate and help with remediation, the release said.

Sanikiluaq is a municipality of close to 1,000 people on the Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay. It’s the most southern community in Nunavut.

Bruno B. Dufour, who is working to build Sanikiluaq’s new hamlet office, told Radio-Canada that people were told to evacuate to the school around 12:30 p.m. local time.