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Letter to the Editor: A great guy at Rankin Inlet’s Siniktarvik Hotel

From: Wayne Langenhan

Dear editor,

Earlier this summer, I and my staking partner Carl Williams flew into Rankin Inlet by chopper from Baker Lake.

We had just come back from a staking job near Baker Lake and were to make connections and fly back to Yellowknife. Our plane went mechanical so the airline put us both up at the Siniktarvik Hotel free of charge with vouchers for meals. This was to be until the next plane arrived the following day.

The meal vouchers were for supper, and breakfast, lunch and supper the following day.

The airline, although very accommodating to their clientele, failed to do an updated survey of restaurant prices. This led to unsatisfactory dollar amounts allotted to the meal vouchers that were not sufficient for meal purchases.

This oversight I learned from some of the locals has led to some medical travel patients not eating as the vouchers were not of sufficient dollar amounts to cover the cost of the meals. I also learned from staff at the Siniktarvik restaurant that meal vouchers could not be combined to cover one meal cost, i.e., having breakfast and lunch vouchers combined to cover lunch or vice versa. We asked if vouchers could be used at the local grocery stores but this also was not permitted.

The vouchers for some meals were enough to just cover the meal but not the beverage, nor dessert.

This all came to an abrupt end when we talked to the food and beverage supervisor of the Siniktarvik restaurant Luke A. Webb. This man treated us as if we were family. He made our dining experience at the hotel a memorable experience.

I let him know before we left that his generosity and kindness would be known. This man is truly a great employee and the Siniktarvik Hotel should recognize him as such.

We owe Luke an apology for the length of time it took for us to compose this letter. We do hope you get to read this as well as your employers.