Nunavik park still delayed while Quebec ponders park borders

Many Nunavimmiut say that Quebec’s Tursujuq park project should protect the lands and waters around the Richmond Gulf, known for its striking cliffs and rich wildlife. (FILE PHOTO)

It’s been a long time coming, but Nunavik’s Tursujuq park project should gain official park status in 2012.

The proposed provincial park, carved out of more than 26,000 square kilometres along the southeastern coast of Hudson Bay, was set to become Parc national Tursujuq in 2011.

But the creation of Nunavik’s third provincial park continues to face delays as Quebec’s department of sustainable development, environment and parks considers requests to add the nearby Nastapoka River watershed to its boundaries, said department spokeswoman Sophie Roy.

That’s a river which many Nunavimmiut and environmental groups have urged Quebec to protect from hydro-electric and mining projects.

But it’s a river with exactly the kind of potential which Plan Nord, Quebec’s 25-year development scheme, could see developed.

As it stands now, Tursujuq’s borders still include only part of the headwaters of Nastapoka River where Quebec’s power corporation, Hydro Quebec, has said it may eventually build a hydroelectric project.

The vast majority of speakers at Tursujuq public hearings held since 2009 asked for the addition of the river’s watershed to the park.

Many would like to see the park protect the river’s population of landlocked salmon, the only salmon to be found on eastern Hudson Bay.

And there’s also a chain of inland lakes near the river, called Lacs des Loups Marins or seal lakes, which are home to a rare population of fresh water seals.

But the Nastapoka River, whose development was mentioned as a possibility in the 2001 Sanarrutik deal on economic development, signed between Nunavik and Quebec, could produce up to 1,000 megawatts of power.

That’s enough to meet the daily needs of about 250,000 homes.

The Kativik Regional Government wouldn’t comment on the delays in finalizing the park’s creation, while it waits on an announcement from the Quebec government.

In the meantime, the KRG, which manages provincial parks in Nunavik, passed an interim agreement at its February council sitting that will allow it to move forward on the construction of the park’s visitors centre and a garage this summer, using money from Quebec.