Kivalliq hunters’ org opposes Nunavut’s first uranium project

Workers haul equipment at Areva’s Kiggavik advanced exploration site near Baker Lake. (FILE PHOTO)

Hunters’ organizations in the Kivalliq are banding together to oppose the Kiggavik uranium project, days before a blizzard-delayed final hearing on the project is set to start in Baker Lake on the afternoon of March 3.

A Feb. 26 resolution from the Kivalliq Wildlife Board — created under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and made up of the chairs of each hunters and trappers organization in the region — made their position clear.

“The Kivalliq Wildlife Board does not agree with approving the Kiggavik proposal at this time,” said the resolution, obtained by Nunatsiaq News.

The KWB said it is not necessarily opposed to the project itself, but will remain firmly opposed until two conditions are met:

• protection, either through a land use plan or legislation, of caribou calving and post-calving grounds; and,

• a firm and realistic timeline for the project, including a project start date.

The Kiggavik project, owned by Areva Resources Canada and originally proposed in 2008, consists of two properties roughly 80 kilometers west of Baker Lake, overlapping with caribou post-calving area.

Areva’s proposed project spans two properties and would include five pits, a mill, a 20-km road, and an airstrip to transport uranium, as yellowcake, to Saskatchewan for processing.

In comments submitted to the Nunavut Impact Review Board on the proposal in January, wildlife boards and community organizations identified major concerns about the proposal, including the lack of a project start date and a lack of protection for lands known to be used by female caribou and their young offspring.

Without a project start date, a number of commenters said, the current environmental assessment and project certification process could become out-dated and unrealistic.

“If Areva is allowed to proceed without a timeline, it will make a mockery of the assessment process Inuit fought so hard to create through our land claims agreement,” wrote Douglas Aggark, chairman of the Aqigiq HTO of Chesterfield Inlet, in a Feb. 19 letter.

The letter, written after the HTO called a special meeting Jan. 28, throws support behind the Baker Lake HTO’s opposition to the project.

In a similar letter from the Arviq HTO out of Naujaat, vice-chairperson David Tuktudjuk wrote, “Arviq HTO fully supports that we have to stand together to protect the Kivalliq caribou herds, and currently there are no regulations to protect their critical areas from the mining industry.”

A draft land use plan written by the Nunavut Planning Commission last June, did include some protection for caribou calving and post-calving ground, but that process hit a snag in August, 2014, when the NPC launched a court action against the federal government over allegations that Ottawa is breaching its obligations under the land claim by failing to fund a final public hearing on the land use plan.

Another major concern raised in those comments is the potential for Areva’s project — if approved — to lead to a rapid expansion of uranium activities in the Kivalliq area, piggybacking on the infrastructure Areva proposes to build.

“If Kiggavik is approved,” Aggark wrote in his letter of support, “other companies may increase their exploration and opening of mines [and] it will become difficult to implement caribou protection for critical areas.”

The KWB resolution pointed out that the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board and the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board are opposed to mining and exploration in calving and post-calving grounds.

The Government of Nunavut and every HTO in the Kivalliq region are unanimously opposed to mining and exploration in calving grounds, the resolution said.

The Nunavut government’s policy on uranium mining and exploration says the support of Nunavummiut is required, “with particular emphasis on communities close to uranium development.”

Following a weekend blizzard that disrupted air travel in the region, the final hearing is now set to start a day and half after the original start-time of March 2, at 9 p.m., March 3, the NIRB said in an email March 1.

An aircraft chartered from Summit Air will put on additional flights March 2 to accommodate stranded passengers in Rankin Inlet who need to get to Baker Lake for the hearing.

Under the NIRB’s original schedule, the hearing was to have begun with six days of technical sessions, followed by six days of plain language presentations and community roundtables.