Inuit birthright firm sponsors new Nunavut fishing company

Peter Kattuk, former MLA and cabinet minister, is now chair of the Qikiqtani Fisheries Alliance, a four-community organization supported by the Qikiqtaaluk Corp. (FILE PHOTO)

Qikiqtaaluk Corp., the business arm of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, has sponsored the formation of a new not-for-profit fisheries organization, the company said Sept. 8.

It’s called the Qikiqtani Fisheries Alliance and it comprises four hunters and trappers associations that have never before belonged to a fishing company: Sanikiluaq, Cape Dorset, Hall Beach and Igloolik.

Peter Kattuk of Sanikiluaq, a former MLA and Nunavut cabinet minister, will serve as the new organization’s chair.

“I am very pleased that these four communities, not otherwise affiliated with any Nunavut allocation holders, have now come together to form QFA,” Kattuk said in a news release Sept. 8.

The QC will provide management services to the new entity.

“QC is motivated to work as the management company for QFA. Our company’s mandate gives us the responsibility to work towards increasing the growth and sustainability of economic activity in all of the Qikiqtani region communities, including these four QFA communities,” QC chair Olayuk Akesuk of Cape Dorset said in the same news release.

This means that all Qikiqtani region HTAs now belong to a fishing company.

The Baffin Fisheries Coalition, Nunavut’s first fishing company, which dates to around 2001, comprises most of the HTAs on eastern Baffin Island.

The Arctic Fisheries Alliance, created in 2008, was formed by Qikiqtarjuaq’s Nattivak HTA and the HTAs in Arctic Bay, Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay.

The Qikiqtaaluk Corp. is involved in the eastern Arctic fishery through subsidiaries and partnerships like Qikiqtaaluk Fisheries Corp. and Unaaq Fisheries.

The new group’s objectives, listed in the QC news release are:

• harvest commercial fisheries allocations issued by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans;

• invest in inshore fisheries and community economic and social development;

• develop other potential fisheries-related projects and provide economic support for infrastructure;

• conduct research and surveys to identify species in waters adjacent to various communities; and,

• develop potential inshore and near-shore fisheries in the waters adjacent to Nunavut, which may include scallops, sea cucumber, clams, sea urchins, mussels, char, shrimp and-or crab.

“We see this opportunity as a great example for QC to use its existing knowledge and solid management in the fishery to offer support, guidance, and expertise to QFA to benefit the communities forming QFA,” Akesuk said.