For one family of 11 in Arviat, a COVID-19 lockdown and a broken boiler means there hasn’t been hot water in their three-bedroom public housing unit for more than two weeks. While everyone is well, Cecilia Akammak says she has to boil water to hand wash and disinfect surfaces.
The lockdown ended on Wednesday in the rest of Nunavut, where the number of active cases has fallen consistently throughout the week, leaving only a handful in Whale Cove and none in Rankin Inlet.
But Arviat still has 44 active cases as of Friday. The community of about 2,550 people remains in full isolation with no travel in or out of the community while health staff work to curb community transmission.
With schools closed and families confined to their homes in winter, the outbreak is highlighting the territory’s ongoing struggles with overcrowding and inadequate housing.
WATCH | Nunavut’s chief public health officer on restrictions in Arviat:
Nunavut’s chief public health officer, Dr. Michael Patterson, warns Arviat needs to keep its tight restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19. 1:04
Emergency repairs only
Because maintenance staff with the local housing authority are isolating, too, the Nunavut Housing Corporation says only emergency repairs are possible.
“I was even thinking to call the Health minister,” said Akammak, who lives with her husband, children and grandchildren. “It’s a kind of urgent emergency because we have to have hot water in hand, too. We have to boil it to be clean.”
We have nothing, absolutely nothing in our community.– Jenny Gibbons, Arviat resident
Federal relief funds helped the municipality send food hampers to families who can’t go out to the store. Essential workers are delivering water more often and cleaning supplies are being given out.
Resident Jennifer Aulatut says these kinds of supports are helping a lot. But she says because her unit is old and run down, she still doesn’t feel safe using her water without boiling it.
The water in her home is yellow and makes her children sick, she said.
“It’s not good water to drink or wash your hands,” she said. “If I want to have coffee, I buy some water at the store.”
However, due to financial constraints, Aulatut said buying water is often not an option for her.
Jennifer Aulatut, seen here with her children, said their Arviat home doesn’t have safe drinking water, but they can’t stay with family because it isn’t safe to visit during lockdown. (Submitted by Jennifer Aulatut)
Usually, she stays with family when her 60-year-old dilapidated home needs urgent repairs.
But right now, she said, it isn’t safe to visit.
A recent territorial survey on hidden homelessness found that more than 140 people in Arviat are homeless, and over 60 children live in unstable housing situations.
There is no homeless shelter in the community and the territory’s Department of Family Services said to get one, a non-profit community group would have to organize it.
Jenny Gibbons, another Arviat resident, has been working to build support for a shelter in her community for the last two years, but faces her own struggles, like lack of Internet to access the forms and information from the government.
Gibbons says she knows what it’s like to rely on other people for housing.
Nunavut’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Michael Patterson says there aren’t enough separate spaces in Arviat for people sick with COVID-19 to isolate away from their households. (Submitted by Dylan Clark)
“There are too many people in one house,” she said. “We have nothing, absolutely nothing in our community, and we need it.”
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Michael Patterson said there are some separate isolation spaces identified in Arviat to help deal with the COVID-19 outbreak, but that these spaces are nowhere near the amount that would be needed to keep all sick people separate.
Because many households have a large number of people living together, Patterson said isolating one person isn’t helpful when others may already be infected. He also said it may be harmful to remove people from their support network while they’re ill.
However, by following safety measures like cleaning and mask wearing, he said contact tracing teams are seeing that not everyone in a household will become ill.
Housing corp. can’t meet demand
Since 2018 there have been 45 public housing units built in Arviat, bringing the community to ninth place out of 25 on the territory’s list of communities most in need of housing.
Territory-wide, the Nunavut Housing Corporation says more than 3,000 units are needed. But President Terry Audla says the 120 to 130 units the territory is able to build annually are not enough to keep up with demand.
Each year, it costs the territory around $20,000 in upkeep for each of its 5,000 plus public housing units, and Audla said these overall maintenance costs increase as more units are built. Water and electricity are the highest bills, he said.
Terry Audla, president of the Nunavut Housing Corporation, said the recent COVID-19 outbreak in the area has highlighted the strains that a territory-wide housing crisis puts on residents. (Kieran Oudshoorn/CBC)
Audla hopes to access COVID-19 funding from a $1 billion pandemic-related rapid housing initiative announced through the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. So far, he said COVID-19 support funds have only gone to personal protective equipment for his staff.
“We are continuing to try and lobby for more dollars because of the housing crisis here in Nunavut, and the COVID-19 pandemic just magnifies it all,” Audla said.
He views Arviat as a prime example of the crisis with “how it spread so quick, so fast.”
Housing units built in the territory are allocated based on the number of housing applications filed with a local housing office, as well as population growth and rates of overcrowding.
The Nunavut government is currently having an independent review of that allocation method conducted, after MLAs said the housing wait lists reported for their communities did not accurately reflect what is needed on the ground. Audla said the report is expected to be done by summer of next year.
No pandemic money
In an interview with CBC News last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called housing one solution to poor health, low education and high rates of family violence experienced in Nunavut.
“We know how important it is to invest in housing and this pandemic has only exacerbated that and highlighted the need for more investments, and we will be there to do more for housing in the North,” Trudeau said.
But in a news conference following last month’s announcement of $19.36 million in federal relief money for Nunavut, Premier Joe Savikataaq said pandemic funds so far aren’t meant for housing.
In the meantime, residents like Cecilia Akammak, Jennifer Aulatut and their families are doing their best to follow the public health restrictions despite the shortfalls of their living conditions now amplified by the pandemic.
“We have to be clean but it’s kind of hard without hot water,” Akammak said. “It’s tiring, too.”
Most job search advice is cookie-cutter. The advice you’re following is almost certainly the same advice other job seekers follow, making you just another candidate following the same script.
In today’s hyper-competitive job market, standing out is critical, a challenge most job seekers struggle with. Instead of relying on generic questions recommended by self-proclaimed career coaches, which often lead to a forgettable interview, ask unique, thought-provoking questions that’ll spark engaging conversations and leave a lasting impression.
Your level of interest in the company and the role.
Contributing to your employer’s success is essential.
You desire a cultural fit.
Here are the top four questions experts recommend candidates ask; hence, they’ve become cliché questions you should avoid asking:
“What are the key responsibilities of this position?”
Most likely, the job description answers this question. Therefore, asking this question indicates you didn’t read the job description. If you require clarification, ask, “How many outbound calls will I be required to make daily?” “What will be my monthly revenue target?”
“What does a typical day look like?”
Although it’s important to understand day-to-day expectations, this question tends to elicit vague responses and rarely leads to a deeper conversation. Don’t focus on what your day will look like; instead, focus on being clear on the results you need to deliver. Nobody I know has ever been fired for not following a “typical day.” However, I know several people who were fired for failing to meet expectations. Before accepting a job offer, ensure you’re capable of meeting the employer’s expectations.
“How would you describe the company culture?”
Asking this question screams, “I read somewhere to ask this question.” There are much better ways to research a company’s culture, such as speaking to current and former employees, reading online reviews and news articles. Furthermore, since your interviewer works for the company, they’re presumably comfortable with the culture. Do you expect your interviewer to give you the brutal truth? “Be careful of Craig; get on his bad side, and he’ll make your life miserable.” “Bob is close to retirement. I give him lots of slack, which the rest of the team needs to pick up.”
Truism: No matter how much due diligence you do, only when you start working for the employer will you experience and, therefore, know their culture firsthand.
“What opportunities are there for professional development?”
When asked this question, I immediately think the candidate cares more about gaining than contributing, a showstopper. Managing your career is your responsibility, not your employer’s.
Cliché questions don’t impress hiring managers, nor will they differentiate you from your competition. To transform your interaction with your interviewer from a Q&A session into a dynamic discussion, ask unique, insightful questions.
Here are my four go-to questions—I have many more—to accomplish this:
“Describe your management style. How will you manage me?”
This question gives your interviewer the opportunity to talk about themselves, which we all love doing. As well, being in sync with my boss is extremely important to me. The management style of who’ll be my boss is a determining factor in whether or not I’ll accept the job.
“What is the one thing I should never do that’ll piss you off and possibly damage our working relationship beyond repair?”
This question also allows me to determine whether I and my to-be boss would be in sync. Sometimes I ask, “What are your pet peeves?”
“When I join the team, what would be the most important contribution you’d want to see from me in the first six months?”
Setting myself up for failure is the last thing I want. As I mentioned, focus on the results you need to produce and timelines. How realistic are the expectations? It’s never about the question; it’s about what you want to know. It’s important to know whether you’ll be able to meet or even exceed your new boss’s expectations.
“If I wanted to sell you on an idea or suggestion, what do you need to know?”
Years ago, a candidate asked me this question. I was impressed he wasn’t looking just to put in time; he was looking for how he could be a contributing employee. Every time I ask this question, it leads to an in-depth discussion.
Other questions I’ve asked:
“What keeps you up at night?”
“If you were to leave this company, who would follow?”
“How do you handle an employee making a mistake?”
“If you were to give a Ted Talk, what topic would you talk about?”
“What are three highly valued skills at [company] that I should master to advance?”
“What are the informal expectations of the role?”
“What is one misconception people have about you [or the company]?”
Your questions reveal a great deal about your motivations, drive to make a meaningful impact on the business, and a chance to morph the questioning into a conversation. Cliché questions don’t lead to meaningful discussions, whereas unique, thought-provoking questions do and, in turn, make you memorable.
Nick Kossovan, a well-seasoned veteran of the corporate landscape, offers “unsweetened” job search advice. You can send Nick your questions to artoffindingwork@gmail.com.
CALGARY – Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. reported a third-quarter profit of $2.27 billion, down from $2.34 billion in the same quarter last year.
The company says the profit amounted to $1.06 per diluted share for the quarter that ended Sept. 30 compared with $1.06 per diluted share a year earlier.
Product sales totalled $10.40 billion, down from $11.76 billion in the same quarter last year.
Daily production for the quarter averaged 1,363,086 barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 1,393,614 a year ago.
On an adjusted basis, Canadian Natural says it earned 97 cents per diluted share for the quarter, down from an adjusted profit of $1.30 per diluted share in the same quarter last year.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 90 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2024.
CALGARY – Cenovus Energy Inc. reported its third-quarter profit fell compared with a year as its revenue edged lower.
The company says it earned $820 million or 42 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, down from $1.86 billion or 97 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter totalled $14.25 billion, down from $14.58 billion in the same quarter last year.
Total upstream production in the quarter amounted to 771,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 797,000 a year earlier.
Total downstream throughput was 642,900 barrels per day compared with 664,300 in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Cenovus says its funds flow amounted to $1.05 per diluted share in its latest quarter, down from adjusted funds flow of $1.81 per diluted share a year earlier.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2024.
