Iqaluit parents upset schools weren't closed during last week's blizzard

Parents in Iqaluit are angry that the Iqaluit District Education Authority did not close schools during a blizzard last week.

"It gives me chills when I look at what happened," said Camilius Egeni to the authority during a board meeting Monday.

Egeni was shocked when he came home from work, after the Government of Nunavut closed around 3 p.m., to find his kids weren't home from school.

He didn't have a working vehicle to pick up his three children, aged 10, eight and five — and instead he saw them running through the thick of the blizzard toward their house after they got off the school bus.

City services had been shut down on the afternoon of March 7, stores were closed and the weather was deteriorating quickly. Flights were cancelled and even the prime minister couldn't make it to the capital for an announcement.

Egeni was one of several parents who went to the meeting to complain about how the education authority handled the situation.

"I don't even know how the bus driver managed to drop the kids," said Egeni. "I don't know how the kids managed to even come down from the bus in that really bad blizzard."

It gives me chills when I look at what happened.- 

Egeni was worried about the safety of kids walking home in the storm, or coming off the bus, and drivers not seeing them in the low visibility.

"I was really scared," said Egeni.

In the meeting, Sonja Lonsdale, principal of Joamie Elementary School, said not closing the schools also forced her and two staff to have to wait out the storm inside the school.

Authority apologizes for decision

Doug Workman, chairperson for the authority, apologized at the meeting for not closing schools.

"We are very lucky that there was no fatalities. That would be something that would be very disconcerting for all of us if someone would have lost their life or have gotten hurt over this," he said.

According to a post from Workman on the education authority's Facebook page on Friday, it closes the elementary and middle schools if the windchill reaches –50 C or lower, and the high school if it drops below –55 C. Visibility needs to be less than 200 metres and winds need to be sustained at 60 km/h or higher.

According to Environment Canada, the blizzard never met these conditions, the post said.

There should have been more diligence on my part as the chair.- Doug Workman, education authority chair

Workman's post noted that the school bus contractor contacted him around 2:30 p.m., worried about the visibility, but the buses were already preparing to head out and make pick-ups.

"The weather was certainly very ugly throughout the day, however, I feel strongly as the individual responsible to 'make the call' on school closure [Thursday], I followed the policy to the letter," the post said.

The Iqaluit District Education Authority said that, as a result of the complaints, it will review its blizzard policy.

"The visibility was different all over Iqaluit and certainly there should have been more diligence on my part as the chair," Workman said.