Stranded medical travellers at Nunavut airport say they were left cold
Some medical travel passengers flying home to Nunavut last month say they were left stranded at an airport for hours with little food, water and warmth.
CBC News has spoken to several passengers on board a Canadian North flight from Yellowknife to communities in Nunavut’s Kitikmeot region on Feb. 20.
They say that flight stopped in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, mid-morning, but it couldn’t proceed further because of bad weather. They say they spent nearly nine hours at the airport before they were flown back to Yellowknife.
Taloyoak’s Abel Aqqaq, who was with his wife, says Canadian North and Nunavut’s medical travel agents would not provide the passengers any meal or taxi vouchers, and the airline only offered them a few bottles of water and some measly snacks that were already on the plane.
“We haven’t had lunch and [it was] supper time and there’s no supper yet, and we’re really short on water,” he said. “This is not right. It shouldn’t have happened at all.”
Aqqaq says he ended up asking a contact of his in Cambridge Bay to bring the passengers some food.
It was a frigid day in Cambridge Bay, with temperatures hovering around -44 C. It was incredibly hard on Valerie Pooyatak, who was flying back to Gjoa Haven with her 18-year-old daughter and two grandchildren who are just infants.
She didn’t board the plane back to Yellowknife. Instead, she chose to stay in Cambridge Bay for three nights to wait for the next flight to Gjoa Haven and paid out of her own pocket.
“It was pretty, pretty brutal cold in the airport and the babies were getting cold and cranky,” she said. “[My granddaughter] got a cold from being there for all that time.”
Aqqaq says it was tough on the flight’s roughly 17 passengers, and especially the elders. He saw some elders sleeping on metal benches, while others huddled by the building’s heating ducts to stay warm.
In a statement to CBC News, Canadian North says it is looking into how the delay was handled, and it will implement any improvements identified in the review.
Nunavut’s health department says it cannot comment on specific clients or circumstances for privacy and confidentiality reasons, but it is aware of the incident.
It says generally, airlines are responsible for managing airport operations and passenger safety when there are weather or operational delays. But it says the medical travel program is available for additional support where there are medical or mobility concerns.
The department says the office of patient relations received one call from a client about food reimbursement, and that person was referred to Canadian North for direct support.
Aqqaq says he has reached out to the office and hopes there won’t be a repeat of what happened in Cambridge Bay.
“I really would like to see medical travel and the airline Canadian North … to come to the community and get what we went through.”
A report written by Samuel Wat
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Canadian North teams up with university to tackle pilot shortage, Eye on the Arctic
Norway: Air France launches flights to three destinations above the Arctic Circle, The Independent Barents Observe
