Exemptions to oil heating ban hurts Nunavimmiut, says housing bureau

Samuel Wat · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 17, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 12 minutes ago

The Nunavik Housing Bureau wants assistance to power the region's houses distant from oil-powered heating, saying exemptions for the portion aren't needfully helping them. 

There are already definite bans crossed Quebec connected lipid heating. In 2021, the state prohibited caller operation projects from including lipid furnaces, and it has besides banned replacing existing lipid furnaces with fossil-fuel-based heating.

By 2040, each homes successful the state are acceptable to be required to usage renewable gas, which is generated by integrated waste. 

But Nunavik's 14 villages rely heavily connected diesel power, and the portion is mostly exempt from those bans.

Lupin Daignault, manager wide of the Nunavik Housing Bureau (NHB), said determination are consequences to being the unusual 1 out: less radical are grooming successful oil-powered heating, and parts for repairs are becoming hard to travel by.

"All the suppliers say, 'Why don't you power to earthy state oregon electricity?' But we don't person these options up here. So astatine a definite point, we're going to deed the wall," helium said.

He added that the impacts of a spill oregon leak from an lipid furnace tin beryllium much damaging erstwhile it happens successful the north, compared to down south. Contaminated ungraded is costly to cleanable up and often has to beryllium sent down south, and there's besides a quality outgo arsenic well.  

"You tin ideate if you're a household and you're losing the location [due to a spill]. So you person to unrecorded determination else. And we are already surviving successful a lodging situation successful Nunavik," helium said. 

Emily He is the manager of Pembina Institute's renewables successful distant communities program. 

She said exemptions beryllium for bully reasons, specified arsenic for distant communities that don't person the indispensable infrastructure to marque an casual power to different vigor sources. But she said those exemptions indispensable besides travel with other support. 

"I deliberation that these exemptions truly exemplify — from this unsocial provincial lawsuit — what happens erstwhile argumentation moves guardant without afloat considering section impacts," she said. 

Nunavik needs a solution now 

In the agelong run, some Daignault and He judge renewable vigor is the mode to go.

But Daignault said Nunavik needs a solution now. For starters, helium wants to spot much grooming successful Nunavik, truthful they person radical locally who tin hole the region's heating systems. 

Another option that helium proposes further study is for Hydro-Québec to physique bigger powerfulness generators. 

Those powerfulness generators would inactive tally connected diesel, but helium believes they'll beryllium capable to proviso energy for heating much efficiently, and it'll beryllium easier to support compared to each location having its ain lipid furnace. 

NHB owns astir 4,100 units, which is 90 per cent of the region's full lodging stock. 

"That means possibly astir 2,500 mechanical rooms [across their lodging units]. So each these mechanical rooms person their ain lipid tank," Daignault said. 

Hydro-Québec disagrees, saying location lipid furnaces are much businesslike astatine producing vigor than a powerfulness plant.

"In bid to conscionable the accrued request associated with a power to electricity, the diesel plants' capableness would person to quadruple, and the substance usage successful the portion would request to triple," the inferior institution said successful an email. 

"Another important facet — a litre of airy substance lipid (residential heating oil) is little polluting successful presumption of greenhouse state emissions than dense diesel substance astatine the thermal powerfulness plant."

Working together

Quebec wants to beryllium net-zero by 2050. It besides wants to little its greenhouse state emissions by 37.5 per cent beneath its 1990 levels by 2030.

According to the provincial government's 2024-29 implementation plan, buildings relationship for astir 10 per cent of the province's greenhouse state emissions. 

In the abbreviated term, Emily He believes determination are quicker solutions for Nunavik's lipid heating issues, specified arsenic retrofitting homes to beryllium much vigor efficient, and wood stoves, which she said are used successful distant communities successful the Northwest Territories and Labrador. 

"I bash deliberation though … the world successful distant communities is that heating lipid systems are inactive often needed arsenic a backup. So argumentation and utilities some request to guarantee that communities are capable to entree the systems to enactment those backup needs," she said. 

Any solution, Daignault said, has to beryllium collaborative. 

"We request to enactment together," helium said.

"When there's immoderate exemption, you person to marque definite you commencement treatment with this … you can't conscionable accidental determination are exemptions and past hide astir it." 

Hydro-Québec said it is alert of Nunavik's challenges with labour and the availability of substance lipid heating parts, which is thing it typically addresses with the Makivvik Corporation, though it besides acknowledged the request to enactment together.

"Finding solutions to these important issues requires a co-ordinated attack with respective economical and governmental partners, including the Québec government," it said.