Montreal's airport can be a culture shock for Inuit. These front-line workers are there to help
CBC
Four years after Kautjak Qaunnaaluk's sister died of an overdose while she was experiencing homelessness in Montreal, the front-line worker is trying to ensure it doesn't happen again.
Originally from Ivujivik, in northern Quebec, Qaunnaaluk is one of a team of five Inuit workers in the Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport in Montreal on rotation seven days a week. It's part of a new project run by Makivvik Corporation, the organization representing Inuit in Nunavik in northern Quebec.
"For me it's part of a healing journey to be helping the community on the streets or here at the airport," said Qaunnaaluk.
She says her sister found herself unhoused in Montreal after originally travelling south as a medical escort for a family member. When Qaunnaaluk saw a job posting for the front-line worker role at the airport, she says she felt pulled to apply.
"It's emotional," said Qaunnaaluk. "At the same time it's also uplifting knowing that maybe I did prevent something like this from happening."
Equipped with yellow arm bands, the team focuses on support and prevention — offering assistance to Inuit in their first language as they arrive in Montreal.
They are also there to help people who want to get back home navigate the rules of the airport.
Even something as mundane as a flight being cancelled can start a spiral that can lead to homelessness if a person doesn't have the resources to regroup and figure out how to get another flight home — or where to stay in the meantime.
Qaunnaaluk says she already helped one individual who was experiencing homelessness fly back to their community.
"They get stuck and they end up in the streets," said Qaunnaaluk. "All they need is someone to talk to, that's all they need. To be able to do this, for me, it's a big thing."
Friday marked the end of the first full week of work for the team, says Joey Partridge, director of the Reaching Home Urban Inuit program for Makivvik.
He says the program was nearly a year in the making and is the first of its kind run by an Inuit organization.
"We try to make sure that we don't leave anyone behind," said Partridge.
"It's very challenging for us to try and understand how we can try to help everyone, but at the same time knowing that it's really needed."
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.
Registered nurses rallied in St. John's Wednesday as part of a week-long convention, again calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to create permanent solutions to staff shortages and workplace violence.