NTI calls on Ottawa to bring Nunavut economy “up to the rest of Canada”

James T. Arreak, chief executive officer for Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., left, with Pauloosie Suvega, chair and president of the Nunavut Economic Development Forum, wrapped up the forum’s three-day Sivummut IV conference in Iqaluit, Dec. 4. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

Nunavut needs major investment in infrastructure from the federal government and private investors so the territory can pursue economic development opportunities like other provinces do, says James T. Arreak, chief executive officer of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

In a closing speech at a the Nunavut Economic Forum in Iqaluit Dec. 4, Arreak reminded the audience that Ottawa hasn’t funded any major infrastructure projects in Nunavut since it officially became a territory in 1999.

“All the other provinces and territories received a hand up when they joined Confederation,” Arreak told delegates at the close of the forum’s three-day Sivummut IV conference, where participants worked on mapping out an economic development strategy for the next 10 years.

“When British Columbia joined the country, the Canadian Government built a railway all the way across, to Vancouver,” Arreak said, echoing what NTI president Cathy Towtongie said at the conference opening, Dec. 2.

NTI helps to ensure promises made by the Canadian government under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement are carried out. The 21-year-old agreement laid the groundwork for the territory’s creation.

“Through the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, Inuit changed the map of Canada – and Confederation,” he said. “We’re still waiting for the federal government investments and other types of investors.

“But we are not sitting idly by, and waiting for the cheque to arrive in the mail. NTI is working hard on a number of fronts to acquire the funding we need to build the territory,” he said.

Arreak pointed to a 2006 lawsuit the land claim body launched to compel Ottawa to live up to the land claim agreement and create a monitoring plan to analyze Nunavut’s social and economic conditions over the long term. That matter is expected to go to court in Iqaluit next year.

“Hopefully when [the case] concludes, the federal government will be convinced to accept responsibility financially, and provide the funding needed to fulfill promises made to Inuit,” Arreak said.

“This will go a long way to catching Nunavut up to the rest of Canada.”

Arreak pointed to one recent success NTI helped push through: allowing private Inuit organizations to compete for federal infrastructure funding “to assist in building the critical infrastructure that we need for our communities,” he said.

“We’ve been told by people within the federal system that this was not an easy change to get,” Arreak said. “There was a lot of resistance, but we were successful. And thanks to our member of Parliament, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association deserved credit for raising it first.”

Arreak said the federal government’s New Building Canada Fund, which will allocate $14 billion to infrastructure projects throughout Canada over the next 10 years, could bring good news to Nunavut. The fund is part of the New Building Canada Plan, which will deliver $70 billion for public infrastructure projects in the next 10 years.

“We need to ensure that Nunavut gets its fair share,” he said. “It is a very real possibility that we could access these funds in the near future, to potentially develop our ports, bring broadband internet to Nunavut and improve our septic and water treatment facilities. We may be able to build much-needed housing.

“We are actively working to bring these funds to Nunavut now.”

Delegates at the Sivummut IV conference met to lay out priorities for a second 10-year Nunavut Economic Development Strategy, which governments can use to guide policy.

Terry Forth, executive director of the Nunavut Economic Forum, recalled that the first economic development strategy, which covered 2003-2013, was drafted at a time when Nunavut had “very little of an economy in place.”

That first strategy focused on fostering economic growth.

“We’ve achieved that,” Forth told Nunatsiaq News. “We’re one of the fastest growing economies in the country. But how does that translate into benefits for the people, and prosperity at the community level? That’s the real challenge.”

The second Nunavut Economic Development Strategy will be ready by March 2015, he said.

Nunavut has “vast amounts of resources,” Arreak told delegates in his speech, but the territory lacks key infrastructure needed to develop them.

“Simply put, the status quo of poverty and hunger, and social problems we see every day will continue to haunt us, until all of us — the Government of Canada, the Government of Nunavut, all of us in the territory — invest in ourselves and the infrastructure that we need to develop our resources and become more self-sufficient,” he said.

Speaking as minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) at a keynote address at the conference’s closing event that evening, Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq pointed to some recent highlights and promising signs in the territory’s economy.

Among them is Nunavut’s fisheries industry, practically non-existent 10 years ago, which has grown to an “overall value” of about $87 million, she said.

CanNor’s recent investment in geoscience projects, amounting to $7 million, will feed further development of Nunavut’s mining industry, she said.

“At this time, there are 11 major projects in Nunavut that are either in, or preparing to enter the regulatory process,” she said. “These projects represent $9.7 billion in capital investments and over 4,500 jobs, once these projects go forward.”