Aglukkaq tables bill aimed at creating new Nunavut national park

This map from Parks Canada shows the boundaries of new national park being proposed for Nunavut: the Qausuittuq National Park in the High Arctic. The purple shows the proposed park boundaries, the beige Inuit-owned lands and the green Polar Bear Pass National Wildlife Area. The proposed park borders, intended to protect habitat for the endangered Peary caribou, skirt the oil-rich Bent Horn oil field on Cameron Island where a commercial well produced oil until 1996.

(Updated June 16, 6:00 p.m.)

The creation of a national park on Nunavut’s Bathurst Island in the High Arctic, first proposed over two decades ago, is a step closer to becoming reality, a June 16 news release from Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq says.

Aglukkaq, the federal minister responsible for Parks Canada, announced June 15 the introduction of a bill in the House of Commons to establish Qausuittuq National Park under the Canada National Parks Act, the release said.

“The bill is a step towards creating Qausuittuq as Canada’s 45th national park,” the release said.

Qausuittuq, the “place where the sun doesn’t rise” in Inuktitut, covers about 11,008 kilometres on the northern portion of Bathurst Island and would be Nunavut’s fifth national park.

The new national park “will give the adventurous tourist unprecedented access to one of the more remote corners of the world,” the release said, while protecting natural and cultural heritage, “including the endangered Peary caribou.”

Although the Peary caribou are listed as an endangered species, a regional biologist with the Government of Nunavut told Nunatsiaq News in December 2014 that the Nunavut herd likely numbers around 4,000 caribou.

Before the park can be made official under the National Parks Act, the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement requires that an Inuit Impact Benefit Agreement be signed between Parks Canada and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association.

A representative from Parks Canada told Nunatsiaq News in November 2012 that IIBA negotiations at the time were in “last stages.”

Aglukkaq’s news release did not say if an IIBA had been finalized with the QIA, but the QIA released what appears to be a copy of the IIBA late on June 16, when it popped up on the organization’s website, undated and unsigned.

At the same time, the QIA said in a news release they celebrate the creation of the national park.

The IIBA provides for co-management of the park through a joint Inuit-Parks Canada committee, as well as training for a small number of workers and financial provisions for tourism and education.

It’s not clear if the enabling legislation for the new park will get passed before the House of Commons dissolves for a federal election that’s expected no later than Oct. 19, 2015.

IIBA for the Proposed Qausuittuq National Park