Fire forces Puvirnituq, Que., to declare state of emergency as water shortage continues

As people in Puvirnituq, Que., continue to struggle with a worsening water shortage, a fire has prompted the small village in Nunavik to declare a state of emergency.

The fire, which began Saturday at around 3 p.m., destroyed two housing units in the village of 2,100 people.

No injuries were reported but the firefighters' inability to deal with the fire quickly due to a limited supply of water is what led to a state of emergency being declared. CBC News has not yet been able to confirm if the fire is still raging or if it's died down.

Access to water has been limited since a pipe that connects the pump station to the treatment plant froze in mid-March.

In recent days, patients have had to be flown south due to the limited water supply in hospitals and there have been growing concerns about sicknesses like gastroenteritis (stomach flu) spreading rapidly because of many people are unable to wash their hands.

Difficult weather conditions, including slushy roads, have exacerbated the crisis.

WATCH | Friday's update on hospital patients being flown out of Puvirnituq:

Hospital patients in Puvirnituq, Que., being flown south due to ongoing water emergency

2 days ago

Duration 1:57

Since Wednesday, some patients have been moved to health centres down south, according to Santé Québec — though it wouldn't say how many.

According to Article 19 of the province's Act respecting civil protection to promote disaster resilience, a municipality can declare a state of emergency in its territory for up to 10 days "when a disaster occurs or is imminent there, if the normal operating rules do not make it possible to take the immediate actions required to protect human life, health or integrity and if, for that purpose, the local municipality considers that it must resort to the extraordinary powers."

The state of emergency grants several powers to Lucy Qalingo, Puvirnituq's mayor, including:

• Ordering evacuations when deemed necessary.
• Requiring the services of any person capable of assisting the personnel deployed.
• Requisitioning property and materials deemed necessary for rescue services.
• More spending powers to help address the crisis.
• Renewing the state of emergency every 10 days as long the conditions justify it.

"I feel for our community," Qalingo wrote on Facebook late Saturday night referring to the fire. "I don't know what else to say."

'Please don't fail us'

Earlier that day, hours before the fire started, the mayor had also taken to Facebook to say that "both governments should stop ignoring the high needs of everything in Nunavik" and issued an urgent call for help, writing: "Please don't fail us."

"If we don't see changes from the result of the crisis we are going through, we are definitely nothing to them. What we are going through right now happens in third world countries," Qalingo wrote in the Facebook post.

"We don't have to beg for water. We are also Canadians. Forgotten Canadians."

CBC News also has reached out to the office of Ian Lafrenière — Quebec's minister responsible for relations with the First Nations and the Inuit — as well as the office of Canada's new Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty.

Earlier this week, Lafrenière said he had been in touch with the Kativik Regional Government and the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services for the past three weeks and that his government was ready to provide assistance.

Two planes loaded with water left Montreal for Puvirnituq on Friday morning. The province's ministry of public security said three more water deliveries were scheduled over the weekend, though weather conditions could affect those operations.