Kelley: Nunavik must be more “accessible”

“One of our responsibilities will be opening up the region for development”

By SARAH ROGERS

Geoff Kelley, Quebec’s minister of aboriginal affairs, says that plans to connect Nunavik to the rest of Quebec are vital to making the region accessible, although they’re still “very preliminary.” (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)


Geoff Kelley, Quebec’s minister of aboriginal affairs, says that plans to connect Nunavik to the rest of Quebec are vital to making the region accessible, although they’re still “very preliminary.” (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

The $1.6 billion that Quebec plans to spend on Plan Nord projects is only the first step in making Nunavik “accessible” to development and tourism, says Quebec’s minister of native affairs.

“If we want to make wealth, one of our responsibilities will be opening up the region for development,” said Geoff Kelley. “[The money announced in the budget] is the first step towards the ultimate goal of building roads to the North and making the region accessible.”

Quebec’s March 17 budget promises a total of $1.2 billion for new infrastructure across the province’s north under the Plan Nord for development above the 49th parallel.

Just under $90 million of that $1.2 billion will go towards developing major links to Nunavik — a deepwater port at the mouth of the Great Whale River, a road from Kuujjuaraapik to Radission and a road or railway linking Kuujjuaq to southern Quebec’s road network.

The Plan Nord may include the construction of a road from Baie-Comeau on the North Shore leading north from route 389 at Fermont on the Quebec-Labrador border, Kelley said.

This could be the natural launching point for a way to connect Kuujjuaq to Quebec’s road network, via Schefferville.

But Kelley warned projects to build a port, roads or a railway are still at a “very preliminary” stage, he told Nunatsiaq News.

“It’s too premature to draw conclusions,” he said. “These links won’t happen tomorrow, because it will take a number of studies.”

Quebec’s transport department recently conducted a pre-feasiblity study on the Radisson-Kuujjuaraapik road, although the department has yet to release the results.

Any routes south from Nunavik will require considerable study because of the vast and undeveloped terrain these must cover, Kelley said.

Kelley wouldn’t speculate on the choice of location for northern Quebec’s next deepwater port near Kuujjuaraapik, saying that too requires more study before any firm decisions are taken.

Studies should prove — among other things — that a port could help bring food and services to the region, he said.

The remainder of the $1.6 million — about $382 million — will pay for other projects to improve social conditions across the territory targeted in the Plan Nord.

While that money may hold the answer to Nunavik’s housing woes, Kelley said that issue would only be addressed once the plan is officially launched in the coming weeks.

Money earmarked for the plan also will flow from the government’s new “Plan Nord fund,” which will draw tax revenues from new hydroelectric projects, mining and tourism.

Kelley said this new fund ensures that money generated by the Plan Nord development will be reinvested back into northern infrastructure and social programs.

The private sector plays an essential role in this plan, he said.

“The government has its role to play and we’ll be involved in terms of providing infrastructure,” Kelley said. “We don’t do the mining and the tourism.”

Kelley pointed to Xstrata’s Raglan mine as a good example of the relationship which Quebec hopes to develop with other project promoters in the North.

The launch of Plan Nord will reveal the first batch of projects which will get money under the 25-year plan, Kelley said.

“There have been many good projects that came forward during our consultations,” he said. “And those that aren’t announced in first batch, we’ll see them later on.”

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