New Inuit firm starts work at Churchill port

Nunavut Connections President Elizabeth Copland and OmniTRAX Canada President Brad Chase in Churchill, Manitoba, for the first shipment of sealift materials loaded by employees of Nunavut Connections. The vessel moved north on July 28 with 3,000 tons of general cargo destined for various communities in the Kivalliq. (PHOTO COURTESY OF NUNAVUT CONNECTIONS)

A new joint-venture company wants to tap into the growing volume of shipping traffic out of Churchill, Man. that’s bound for businesses and mines in Nunavut.

Nunavut Connections, a newly-formed majority Inuit company with shareholders from the Kivalliq and Baffin regions – in partnership with OmniTRAX Canada – provide stevedoring services at the Port of Churchill.

“Stevedoring” means loading vessels and co-ordinating the movement of fuel and freight from the port to destinations in Nunavut.

“We have assembled a great team of business people and are extremely excited about the employment and economic potential of our business plans with OmniTRAX Canada,” Elizabeth Copland of Arviat, president and chair of Nunavut Connections, said in an Aug. 2 news release.

Copland, who told Nunatsiaq News she’ll play an active role in the new joint venture, said she feel it’s important for Nunavut beneficiaries to tap into the territory’s growing mining industry.

Nunavut Connections also includes shareholders from the Baffin region, including Merkosak of Pond Inlet, Elijah Evaluardjuk of Igloolik, Peter Kilabuk of Pangnirtung.

While it’s starting up in the Kivalliq region, Nunavut Connections also “definitely” plans to pursue business throughout Nunavut, Merkosak said.

“Nunavut needs these type of ventures to benefit not only the people of Nunavut but also our young Nunavut government,” he said.

Nunavut Connections will be working closely with Nunavut Sealift and Supply Inc., a partnership of Transport Desgagnes Inc. and Arctic Co-operatives Limited.

OmniTRAX Canada president Brad Chase said Nunavut Connections will try to redirect some of the sealift traffic now flowing out of Montreal to Manitoba and the West.

“It’s a real opportunity for us to regain some of the business that has historically used Manitoba and the port of Churchill,” Chase said from Rankin Inlet, where Nunavut Connections is holding its Aug. 2 launch.

OmniTRAX Canada’s operations include the Port of Churchill: the Churchill Marine Tank Farm; the Hudson Bay Railway; the Carlton Trail Railway, based in Saskatchewan; and the Kettle Falls International Railway connecting British Columbia to the United States.