The requirement for non-essential workers to go into isolation before coming to Nunavut has complicated progress on four major construction projects in Iqaluit.

The mandated two-week stays at hubs in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Yellowknife are intended to keep COVID-19 out of the territory, but this makes it harder to recruit construction workers, said developer Milan Mrdjenovich.

“And it’s going to hurt the economy,” said Mrdjenovich, the son of Mike Mrdjenovich, whose Edmonton-based Nova Builders Inc. put up many buildings in and around Iqaluit’s downtown core.

His own company, 5437 Nunavut Ltd., and Jam 2016 Investments Inc., owned by his sisters, are in the middle of several projects: a new hotel, an office building, a staff house and renovations for what will become Iqaluit’s new city hall.

But Mrdjenovich said that most workers from the south are not interested in heading to Iqaluit once they hear they must go into quarantine before coming to Nunavut.

Some workers who do agree to the isolation quit after a day or two, he said.

One worker was told he had to restart his two-week isolation after stepping out to buy a soda pop on day 10. He quit.

“I have never heard a good story yet,” Mrdjenovich said of the quarantine.

The obligation to complete the quarantine is also hard on workers who are already in Iqaluit and would like to go out for a break. They don’t because they can’t stand the idea of the isolation on their return, Mrdjenovich said.

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