The North’s public service unions are offering tributes to Noah Paniyuk, a Qulliq Energy Corp. employee, who died last week in a work-related incident, describing him as “a committed worker.”
In social media posts Wednesday, the Public Service Alliance of Canada and Nunavut Employees Union identified Paniyuk as the worker who died July 5 in Naujaat, where a crew with Nunavut’s electricity provider was performing generator repairs in the hamlet last week.
Paniyuk was a member of NEU’s Local 7, which includes QEC employees, and was previously part of the union’s bargaining team.
“He was a committed worker,” said Jason Rochon, NEU’s president, in an interview.
“We’ve made sure that we offered our condolences to the family and his loved ones.”
The Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission is investigating the incident. Under Nunavut’s Safety Act, employers must report accidents resulting in death or bodily injury to the commission.
Tina Mandeya, QEC’s director of corporate affairs, declined to comment due to the ongoing investigation. The utility has not confirmed the identity of the worker who was killed.
“We want to give the process its due diligence,” she said.
Nunavut RCMP is aware of the death but is not investigating, spokesperson Cpl. George Henrie told Nunatsiaq News on Monday.
As the investigation continues, Rochon spoke about the importance of preventing worker deaths.
“It’s a fair expectation that when we send our loved ones to work at the beginning of the day, we should be expecting them home,” he said.
“Our thoughts are with the family and the loved ones, [and] co-workers of members that we continue to lose, and workers that we continue to lose in the workplace.”
By Jeff Pelletier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
