A8 FOLIO O THEGLOBEANDMAIL | TUESDAY,FEBRUARY18,
A
bele Ikkusek opens the passenger
door of an abandoned black pick-
up and crawls inside. He covers
himself with a blanket, pulls his
father’s parka up to his chin and lies down
on the back seat.
This is where he’ll sleep tonight, in a
broken-down truck leaning on a spruce
stump where one of its front tires used to
be. The overnight temperature will be
mild by northern Labrador standards, just
around -8 C, but Mr. Ikkusek knows that
winter, and nights cold enough to freeze
him to death, are coming.
“Tonight will be 93 nights in here,” said
Mr. Ikkusek, 57, who digs graves and
sweeps up at the local hotel to earn mon-
ey for food. “Sometimes my legs hurt
from the cold. But I am Inuk, and I am
strong.”
In Nain, a growing community of 1,
where nearly 50 families are on a wait list
for housing, there are many people like
Mr. Ikkusek. Most choose to stay indoors
with extended family, but squeezing into
crowded homes can also be dangerous.
In 2018, a tuberculosis outbreak hit
Nain, killing a 14-year-old boy, forcing an-
other 50 people into treatment and ex-
posing a persistent housing crisis in La-
brador’s remote Inuit communities.
Tuberculosis – a disease that spreads
through the air when someone coughs or
sneezes – is a historical problem here, in-
flamed in large part by overcrowded
homes with poor ventilation and a lack of
timely access to medical help. This corner
of Labrador has the highest rate of tuber-culosis in Canada – 248 cases for every
100,000 people, nearly 50 times the Cana-
dian average.
It was an outbreak of tuberculosis in
Hebron, an abandoned Moravian mission
on the northern tip of Labrador, that led
to Nain’s first housing crisis back in 1959.
Concerned about cramped living condi-
tions in the community, the federal gov-
ernment relocated most of the Inuit pop-
ulation to Nain. “It became a problem,
and it stayed a problem,” said Joe Dicker,
the AngajukKak, or mayor, of Nain. “They
were promised housing, but that did not
happen. They couldn’t keep up. To this
day, this community still can’t house ev-
eryone properly.”
Nain’s population nearly doubled as a
result of the influx of people from Hebron
and nearby Nutak, as dozens of families
moved into tents on the beach or other
temporary housing. Many here trace their
roots to that displacement and say they’re
still living with the legacy of the 1959 tu-
berculosis outbreak.
“My grandfather died waiting for a
house,” said Mary Andersen, known as
Binky. “There are still a lot of people af-
fected by the housing problem in this
town. It doesn’t matter who you are, your
income, whether you’re Inuk or not,
young or old. This has been a historical
struggle, it’s been going on for years.”
Ms. Andersen, 23, is one of many edu-
cated young Inuit who have returned to
Labrador’s coastal communities after uni-
versity to find there’s no place for them to
live.
Last summer, she moved into her
mother’s three-bedroom house–amod-
est dwelling shared by 13 people. Unable
to find another place to live and frustrated
with the overcrowding, she planned to
leave Nain, until her employers at the Nu-
natsiavut government made a home
available for her and her young daughter.
Many others aren’t so lucky, she said.
“They don’t want to leave, but they
don’t have a choice,” she said. “Most peo-
ple here without a home are couch surf-
ers. It’s like they’re invisible homeless.”
The housing shortage causes more
than just tension in families. Children are
sometimes removed from homes by pro-
vincial child-protection officials because
extended families are too crowded togeth-
er, and it tears families apart, she said.
Ms. Andersen’s mother, who is the
town manager for the Nain Inuit Commu-
nity Government, said the community’s
families are feeling the pressure of over-
crowded homes that are in some cases
falling apart. It’s estimated three-quarters
of Nunatsiavut’s houses need major re-
pairs.
“We take turns sleeping on the couch. I
had to sleep on the floor a couple of
times,” Benigna Ittulak said. “It’s very
stressful, because you just don’t have
space. But that’s just what you do here.”
Ms. Ittulak points to a list on her wall of
dozens of local families who have waited
years for housing.
The community spent three years de-
veloping a new subdivision with 29 build-
ing lots, but at $250,000 just to prepare
and service each site prior to constructionNorthernLabrador’shousing
shortages,tuberculosisoutbreaks
aretwofacesofthesamecrisis
TheInuitcommunityofNainhasahistoryofovercrowdedhomes
thathavehelpedspreadtheinfectiousdisease.Now,variouslevelsof
governmentaretryingtostopthecyclefrombeginningonceagain
GREGMERCER
NAIN,N.L.
HomesborderUnityBay
inNaininNovember.
Thecommunity’sremote
locationcoupledwitha
shortbuildingseasonand
thawingpermafrostcan
makenewhousing
projectsdifficultto
complete.PHOTOS BY
DARRENCALABRESE/
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