GN, NTI want more and better docks for Nunavut

Premier Eva Aariak, right, gets a tour of the GN’s newly-launched research vessel, the MV Nuliajuk, in July 2011. The premier called on stronger government investment into Arctic waters at an Iqaluit conference this week. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Ottawa must spend more money on marine infrastructure in Nunavut or the territory’s economy and environment will be at risk, Nunavut leaders said this week at an Iqaluit conference on northern oceans.

Nunavut communities don’t even have the most basic marine infrastructure, said Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Cathy Towntongie, speaking Oct. 18 at the Oceans Innovations 2011 conference.

“Even here in the Nunavut capital the ships have to wait for tides to offload their goods,” she said. “If Canada is serious about sovereignty, let’s see some money to build proper docks in our communities.”

Docks are a must, Towntongie said, if Inuit are to take part in the development of Arctic resources.

In her talk to the conference, Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak said Canada is falling behind other Arctic nations.

Russia recently announced it’s planning to pour billions into its research, and search and rescue capabilities in the Arctic, and plans to turn its Northeast Passage into a bustling sea-route.

“Canada is not matching that investment, let alone catching up on the lack of historical investment,” Aariak said Oct. 18. “As it stands today, we do not have basic search and rescue functionality, let alone are we able to manage intensifying commercial traffic through our internal waters or take advantage of the bounty of our waters to offload the catch from our fisheries.”

Nunavut’s fishing ships must offload in Greenland before their catch can be shipped off to restaurants in Boston or New York, Aariak added.

The lack of basic marine infrastructure will hold back Nunavut’s future development and even endanger the environment, she told conference delegates.

That’s because this lack of capacity could prove devastating if a ship ran aground off Nunavut, resulting in an oil spill, Aariak said.

“The risks of a disaster are frightening,” she said.

This is why Nunavut must push for more decision-making power over its land and waters, she said, so that no longer “a minister in Ottawa has the final say on how and when development of our resources will take place.”

“Devolution of powers over the land and waters to those who know it best, to those who will suffer the consequences of decisions currently being made far away from our Arctic homeland, is a basic condition to unlocking the potential of Nunavut.”

Oceans Innovations 2011 was scheduled to wrap up Oct. 21.