Baker Lake throws a 'truck parade' for heavy machine operator retiring after 52 years

It was love at first drive.

Steven Niego of Baker Lake, Nunavut, hopped on a dump truck for the first time when he was 14 years old. His cousin David Papik was working and driving by.

"I stopped him on the road and I got on. I asked him if I can drive it to the gravel pit," recalled Niego. "He said yes."

Then Niego said he got to "load him up" and even drive back into town.

But ashe was on the road, Niego saidtheboss saw him driving and stopped him.

"I thought, 'this is it,'" said Niego, thinking he was in trouble.

"[But] then he said to me, 'You're hired.' And I smiled really much. I got really happy about it."

That was the beginning of Niego's 52 years of serving the hamlet as a heavy equipment operator having had a role in almost every paved road in town, he said.

Love for Baker Lake

Niego has driven everything from a loader truck to bulldozers over the years.

He said he's noticed the trucks have changedfrom being simple machines to ones equipped with more technology.

"I still like the old machines," Niego said, chuckling. "These new machines, they're really nice, but too many gizmos on them."

He also added: "They break down pretty easily compared to the old type."

Niego had become such a skilled operator that when he went for a training session in Fort Smith, N.W.T., the school tried to recruit him as an instructor.

"I said, I'm sorry,there's too many trees there. I can't see very far. I'd rather be in the tundra," said Niego.

"I like it better in Baker Lake."

Despite trying outother jobs with the hamlet's transportation divisionand with housing, Niego always came back to operatingheavy equipment.

Retirement and birthday party

Niego retired on his birthday Sept. 19 this year.

That morning, he said he woke up and got a call from his daughter.

"My little girl called me up [and said] 'Dad, go outside,'" said Niego, who turned 67 years old.

Niego was greeted with a big parade of honking trucks and people.

"Behind the loader [truck], there was a dump truck, and after that was a water truck, fuel truck, and after that there was local people on their own trucks. They were all honking at me."

"They made me cry," said Niego, choking up with tears. "I didn't know they'd miss me."

Niego received a plaque from the hamlet that day for his service.

Niegosaidhe'll continue to do seasonal work once in awhile for the hamlet, because it's"very boring at home."

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