'I can't keep bugging them': Behchokǫ̀ elder pleads for help with frozen pipes

Behchokǫ̀ elder Celine Whane starts her day by climbing up on a chair so that she can reach her water tank, and then using an axe to break the inches-thick layer of ice on top.

Then, she carefully fills a bucket of water from the tank and lowers it down before climbing off the chair.

Whane, 77, estimates she hauls about 10 buckets of water a day from her tank by hand — and that's just for drinking, cooking and washing dishes.

Her home has been without running water since about a week before Christmas.

The Tłı̨chǫ government has told her it will repair her home as soon as they have secured temporary rental housing where she can stay during the repairs. But she still hasn't heard anything about when that will be — and after years of difficulty getting repairs on her home completed, she feels helpless.

"I don't know nothing about [repairs]. So how am I going to do it? I asked them already, I can't keep bugging them," she said. 

For the past week, five of her grandchildren have been staying with her, along with their parents, because they had no heating in the cabin where they were living. In total, there are 13 people staying in her home right now.

Since her pipes froze, she hasn't been able to do laundry.

For showers, the family is relying on sponge baths every few days with water heated on her stove.

And because the toilet isn't flushing, they are using a honey bucket for the washroom. Whane or one of her sons has been taking out the full honey bucket.

"It's deeply sad inside, but I can't show them. But I cry," she said. 

"I say I can't do anything for my grandchildren because we have no running water. We all need a good bath, you know, we all need a good bath. I need a good bath, a good shower."

It's not the first time she has been without running water for an extended period of time. CBC covered Whane's situation in 2021, when she was unable to use running water for over a month after her sewage pipe froze completely.

According to Whane, the pipes in her home, where she has lived since 1988, were never properly insulated. Her common-law partner used to fix them himself, but since he died in 2017, she says they have frozen every year.