“We live off the land. We are not farmers. We are hunters and gatherers and we need our game to be clean,” said Jimmy Oleekatalik. “We want it cleaned up as soon as possible.” The Transglobal Car Expedition, with crew members from Iceland, Ukraine, Russia, Canada and the United States, lost a modified Ford F-150 through the ice northwest of Taloyoak on March 23. The incident happened after the mission successfully traveled ashore from Yellowknife to Resolute Bay, Nunavut, while part of the team was returning to Cambridge Bay. The vehicle is now at the bottom of the ocean between the islands of Tasmania. Oleekatalik and Joe Ashevak, president of the Spence Bay Hunters and Trappers Association, said the area – 240 miles (240 km) northwest of Taloyoak – is an area known for migrating beluga whales, narwhals, seals, sea urchins, sea urchins. marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine marine and Arctic. “It will harm wildlife, one way or another,” Asevak said. Jimmy Oleekatalik, left, and Joe Ashevak, right, are leaders of the Spence Bay Hunters and Trappers Association in Taloyoak. They worry that the sunken truck is infecting marine animals in one of their community’s top hunting grounds. (Submitted by Jimmy Oleekatalik)
According to a report operated on a 24-hour leak line serving both Nunavut and NWT, the truck contained 40 liters of fuel, another liquid and a spare generator. Ashevak said people in Taloyoak and Gjoa Haven, a community south, “are not happy” about what happened. They worry that fuel and lubricants will leak from the vehicle and contaminate a food chain that is an integral part of their lifestyle. The mission told CBC News that the truck’s fuel tank appeared to be intact and a closed system containing antifreeze would have to be destroyed in order for liquid to leak. Ashevak pointed out, however, that the vehicle is not far from the surface of the water and is “forced” to be hit by icebergs in spring and summer. Andrew Dumbrille, an independent shipping consultant, said any kind of ocean leak was “very catastrophic”. He is a consultant to the Clean Arctic Alliance and has been a Leading Specialist in Shipping and Conservation at the World Wildlife Fund-Canada. “Oils and lubricants and gasoline and diesel, bioaccumulate in the environment, do not disappear, do not leave,” he said. “They accumulate in the adipose tissue of marine mammals or fish; and from there it affects human health.”

Loss of the truck could have been avoided

Contamination concerns are not the only reason Oleekatalik and Ashevak say their communities are upset. Oleekatalik said the Tasmanian islands are “very dangerous” at this time of year because of the rapid flow of water flowing under the ice. If the mission had consulted people in Taloyoak, they say the incident could have been avoided altogether. “We could at least have informed them of areas where there is fast water and open streams or places where it is dangerous to travel,” Asevak said. “You could at least tell them some of its areas [the] “The ocean is not safe for heavy vehicles to travel.” The prenun 2022 of the Transglobal Car Expedition took them from Yellowknife to Resolute Bay and back. They lost a Ford F-150 on the ice on the return trip. (CBC)
On the trip north, the mission said the ice was 50cm thick between the islands. When the truck sank in the same area five days later, they said they were shocked to discover it was only 15cm thick. “They should have consulted with us,” Oleekatalik said, adding that the community would be “happy” to provide a guide. “This is our hunting ground. This is our livelihood. We know that.”

“We are very sorry”

Emil Grimsson, an Icelandic member of the mission tasked with assessing whether the truck could be recovered, said the team was very sorry for what had happened. Without fully committing to it, Grimson said it was “very likely” they would recover the vehicle. He expects to have a decision by the end of May, after assessing the risks, costs and what kind of permits are needed. “We are not going to do anything until the ice is gone,” he said. A photo of Taloyoak, Nunavut, in late February 2014. Leaders of the local hunters and trappers’ association say they are concerned that a truck that sank 240 kilometers away is contaminating wildlife that is an integral part of their way of life. (Tristan in Ottawa / Flickr)
A spokesman for Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC), the lead leak service, told CBC News in an email that they were not involved in the actual recovery of the vehicle. The spokesman said CIRNAC’s responsibility is to abide by Canadian law – in this case, the Nunavut Waters and Nunavut Surface Rights Tribunal Act – and to ensure that the necessary restraint and clean-up measures are in place. CIRNAC could also fine the shipment. “It is still in the early stages of the investigation to determine whether sanctions will be applied. Any form of enforcement will be evaluated and re-evaluated at a later date,” the spokesman said. The Nunavut Impact Review Committee conducts impact assessments of activities and developments in Nunavut. Its executive director, Karen Costello, said the mission did not require an assessment because it did not include archaeological research, water use or wildlife sampling.

Example of destruction

The mission was a month earlier for a land voyage around the world – and made headlines when its crew flew to Yellowknife on a Russian charter plane in early March. Fine on Canada transports a Russian passenger who chartered the aircraft, the two pilots of the plane and the pilot of the aircraft. The plane violated the airspace regulations imposed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Transglobal Car Expedition traveled from Yellowknife, NWT to Resolute Bay, Nunavut in modified Ford F-150 trucks and amphibious vehicles called Yemelyas. (Transglobal Car Expedition)
Grimson said there were plans for better consultation and research while he was in Yellowknife, but the team was distracted by the unexpected challenges. “We could have done better,” he said. “What we need to do is find out, we need to know who to talk to.” Grimsson also estimates that the amount of liquid that could leak from the vehicle in a few years would be “less than a liter” and that community members’ environmental concerns may be “slightly overstated”. Oleekatalik said the incident, however, was a “first example of disaster”. “This [is] it really upsets the whole community, the whole area. ”