Asbestos cleanup almost complete at Iqaluit school

Nakasuk Elementary School in Iqaluit will be back to normal next week – crews are almost done removing asbestos which was found in the school’s old construction materials.

Crews worked on the school every night for the past six weeks.

"I would suggest that it was a very successful project," said Barry Cornthwaite, who is with the Department of Education.

He said the project went well, even if they had to deal with a few extra requests from the Worker's Safety and Compensation Commission.

Those extra requests added two weeks to the project, and meant getting rid of more asbestos-laden materials than originally planned.

"Instead of having one sealift container of debris from the school, we're actually at five or six sealift containers full of debris from the school."

The delay had no impact on students.

"The repair work was completed in the evenings and on weekends so it didn't interrupt any student instructional time," said school principal Tracey MacMillan.

MacMillan said she's thankful to the teachers, who had to do their prep work at home, and to the contractor, Indoor Air Quality Ottawa.

She said that in addition to the renovation work, the company donated more than 11,000 cereal bars to the school's breakfast, lunch and snack program.