Busy travel season grounds food shipments to Nunavik

By Sarah Rogers, Nunatsiaq News - August 17, 2017
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Nunavimmiut say they have seen bare store shelves across the region and restaurant closures in its largest community, Kuujjuaq, as the regional hub prepared to host its major annual music festival.

That was due to a higher than usual amount of air freight and a higher number of passengers destined for the region this month, leaving many food shipments grounded in Montreal over the last week.

August tends to be a busy season for both air passengers and cargo destined to Nunavik; First Air said demand is even higher this year. That's delayed the shipment of food and other goods to the region's largest community. (Sarah Rogers / Nunatsiaq News)
August tends to be a busy season for both air passengers and cargo destined to Nunavik; First Air said demand is even higher this year. That’s delayed the shipment of food and other goods to the region’s largest community. (Sarah Rogers / Nunatsiaq News)

“Cargo has been slow the last two to three weeks,” said Eric Pearson, owner of Kuujjuaq grocery story Newviq’vi. “We’re not getting all of our product in. There’s a lack of everything.”

The Kuujjuaq Inn, home to the community’s largest full-service restaurant, closed for dinner Aug. 13 and again for breakfast Aug. 14 as a result of the delayed cargo deliveries.

Food shipments come into the region by air through the two airlines that service Nunavik: First Air and Air Inuit.

Early August tends to see an increase in both passenger and cargo volume with the return of teachers from the South as well as Kuujjuaq’s Aqpik Jam, which runs Aug. 14 to Aug. 17.

This year in no exception; First Air said it’s seen an even greater increase in demand this year from all sectors.

To respond to the demand, the airline said it brought in an extra freighter on Aug. 11 and again on Aug. 13 to ferry some 41,000 kilograms of goods. Another cargo flight was scheduled for Aug. 15, the airline said in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

“We understand the frustration this backlog has created and we are committed to meet our customer expectations and needs while continuously looking for ways to improve our service,” First Air said.

Pearson said the extra flights helped, but some of the produce arrived rotten—it had been in transit for almost a week—and, as of Aug. 14, the store was still waiting on 6,000 kilograms of food stuck in Montreal.

“It seems to be recurring over the last few years,” Pearson said of the backlog. “But we met with the airline’s new vice president who guaranteed us this would not happen again.”