Northern Labrador in ‘crisis’ as people ration food, toilet paper, baby supplies

It’s frustrating for Rosie Harris to go to the two stores in Nain and be unable to buy essential items like toilet paper, baby wipes, cleaning supplies, ketchup, or rice, due to the Kamutik W ferry being unable to deliver to the Inuit community on Labrador’s north coast.

Harris has four young children at home who are picky eaters, and without staple foods they eat, the mother has had a hard time cooking enough food they enjoy. She’s also been unable to buy the sensitive laundry detergent her daughter needs, she says.  

“We are in a crisis, and people need to treat it that way. If not for yourself, then think of the children and think of the elders,” Harris says. “If this was anywhere else in Canada, something would have been done by now.”

On Tuesday, Nunatsiavut Government was distributing the limited number of toilet paper rolls their buildings in Nain had to try to help the community.

Elder Rosina Holwell said Inuit have traditional foods they gather from the land and people have been sharing with others in dire situations, but residents are now bartering and trading essential items for their babies and cleaning supplies because they are unable to buy any staples at the stores. 

“It’s not the way it should be. Cleaning products, our food, everything that we need right now, especially for our children, babies,” Holwell says. “This is deplorable. We should not be living like this, this day and age.”

The Kamutik W usually operates starting on June 15 of the year, until the ice becomes too thick in the fall. The ferry travels to the north coast on a weekly basis and to Cartwright and Black Tickle on a bi-weekly basis. The Kamutik W is delayed in travelling to some of Labrador’s northern communities due to the ice build-up along Hopedale, Natuashish and Nain. 

The previous ferry servicing the northern communities was the MV Ranger, a ferry and icebreaker vessel. The vessel could operate in some ice conditions as it was an icebreaker, whereas the Kamutik W is a flat-bottomed boat and cannot operate when ice is blocking communities. Since the Kamutik W began operating, there have been calls for it to be replaced. 

Elected politicians need to step up and ensure residents of all communities in Newfoundland and Labrador can buy food at their local stores, Holwell says, adding she appreciates Torngat Mountains MHA Lela Evans’s efforts to raise the issue in government, but that other elected officials are silent. 

“This is the worst I’ve seen,” Holwell says. “We don’t have to live like this, while everybody else is living life in a good way that they are not scarce of what they need.”

Holwell says she and other Inuit Elders are praying someone will help. 

Provincial government not providing ‘boat plane’ due to air service 

Holwell, Harris and Evans are calling on the province to subsidize what is locally called the ‘boat plane,’ when freight is shipped at ferry rates by plane to assist communities in times of need. 

“This is an emergency,” said Nunatsiavut Government’s First Minister Melva Williams in a June 20 media release. Williams is calling for immediate action as north coast communities remain without critical goods due to the delays.

In the statement, NG said Williams started talking to the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure back in April, and sent a formal letter on May 28, but did not receive a response from the province. 

The Nunatsiavut Government says under the current marine services contract, if ferry service is interrupted for an extended period and no suitable vessel is available, the contractor (Labrador Marine Inc.) is obligated to implement alternative arrangements. This includes the use of charter air services to transport passengers, pets, and carry-on freight until ferry operations are up and running in all communities. 

In light of this, Nunatsiavut Government is again urging the provincial government to subsidize air freight and passenger service immediately – at least until the ferry is fully operational and serving every community.

The boat plane flies to the southern Labrador community of Black Tickle periodically through the season to assist that community, but the government says it won’t service the northern communities who are without ferry service.

The province’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure said in a statement the northern Labrador ferry service usually begins mid-June and is dependent on weather conditions. It also said the Kamutik W goes weekly to the north coast and only bi-weekly to Black Tickle, and that Black Tickle doesn’t have scheduled air service 12 months of the year. 

“Northern communities, on the other hand, have access to air services approximately 365 days a year,” the department said. “As a result, the air service that Black Tickle receives is not being considered for north coast communities.”

Harris says the idea that the north coast doesn’t need a boat plane while they wait for the ferry is “bullshit.” She says the provincial government isn’t acknowledging the “outrageous” airfare prices for passengers and freight on Air Borealis, and that flights aren’t guaranteed. 

“Why do we have to be treated like we’re nobodies — like we don’t matter? It’s really frustrating to hear the statement,” she says. “The more we speak up, the more excuses they’re giving us. The more we speak up, the more they want to shut us up. We’re only important when it comes to any type of mine.”

Shipping juice from Nain to Hopedale by plane has cost more than $30, Harris says, and when stores in the community ran out of baby wipes and a case was flown in, the wipes were sold for $10 a pack to offset the high cost of flying in freight. 

Nicola Burke say highlighting how bad transportation and shipping is in Black Tickle doesn’t excuse the crisis in Nunatsiavut. The Nain mental health worker says the provincial government is only proving that Black Tickle also needs improvements. “It just comments more on the fact that there’s a need for transportation all in Labrador, rather than just saying that this community also needs it,” Burke said. “There needs to be some form of stability and giving, like groceries and essentials and mail.”

Burke says the province also isn’t acknowledging that weather is a major factor for flights to the north coast, especially in Nain, which does not have an airstrip that can accommodate certain flights, including ones that would arrive at night. 

The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure did not respond to a follow-up request from The Independent about residents trading ketchup for toilet paper due to bare shelves without essential supplies, or the drastically different cost of shipping freight on regular flights. 

Calls increase for Labrador Marine to replace Kamutik W 

Ever since the Kamutik W began operating in Labrador in 2019, there have been calls for the vessel to be replaced as it cannot travel through the ice; the flat-bottomed vessel also can’t operate in high winds or high seas. “We need another ship,” Holwell says. “This should not be happening, not in 2025.”

Holwell points to the fact that the Tuvaq W vessel delivered oil to the north coast, regardless of the ice conditions, this past weekend. Holwell says if that boat can make it in, the ferry service should be using a boat to deliver food and essentials too. 

The Independent contacted Labrador Marine Inc., which owns the Kamutik W, for comment on the calls for it to be replaced. The company did not not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment.

“It doesn’t make sense for the Arctic,” Burke says. “I’m sure these boats are great in other climates, but this is not the same climate as most of the mainland. And I don’t think people necessarily always fully grasp that.”

Burke, who works as a mental health counsellor in Nain, says the community’s lack of basic necessities is impacting residents’ well-being. She says it’s hard to plan even simple meals as there isn’t always ground beef or chicken in the stores. Mailing in goods to Nain takes time and requires paying high shipping costs. There are only two stores servicing the community, which  has grown in recent years. 

Food and essential household items aren’t the only goods being held up. Construction materials are delayed, too. With Labrador’s short construction season, the delays impact the community in other ways.

“People have been saying this since this ship was brought in—that it does not fit the environment—and people should be listening to the people who live in the environment,” Burke says. She hopes Inuit and Innu will be consulted, and that an appropriate vessel that can better service the north coast can be bought for the ferry service as soon as possible.