Nunavut lodge needs to protect history, caribou, commenters say

Ennadai Lake is located 450 kms due west of Arviat and just north of the Manitoba and Saskatchewan boundaries. A Dene group, which has historic ties to Ennadai Lake and nearby Kasba Lake, wants to ensure archaeological sites are not disturbed by new activities and construction proposed for the Arctic Haven Lodge. (GOOGLE MAPS IMAGE)

Visitors to the Arctic Haven lodge on Ennadai Lake watch caribou pass by May 5. The Nunavut government wants the owners to ensure caribou will be protected before the Nunavut Impact Review Board approves the lodge’s proposed new operations. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ARCTIC HAVEN)

Protecting nearby caribou and potential archaeological sites topped the list of concerns recently submitted to the Nunavut Impact Review Board on the proposed expansion of an eco-resort in the southwest corner of Nunavut.

The review board received a project proposal on March 10 from proponents of Arctic Haven, located about 450 kilometres inland from Arviat on Ennadai Lake in Nunavut’s Kivalliq region.

That proposal included increasing an existing airstrip to accommodate larger airplanes and establishing a temporary gravel quarry.

The NIRB then asked for comments from relevant organizations on the proposed expansion of the remote resort, which recently went through a number of face-lifts to cater to eco-tourists, rather than hunters.

“We’d like to get more people interested in the caribou migration and the abundance of wildlife we have here,” part-owner of the lodge, Aziz Kheraj, told Nunatsiaq News in a recent interview.

But the Government of Nunavut, in its submitted comments to the review board, said the lodge’s location could actually disturb the nearby Qamanirjuaq caribou — a herd important to Kivalliq Nunavummiut, as well as to the people of northern Manitoba, northern Saskatchewan and the eastern Northwest Territories.

“Avoidance of disturbance to caribou should be the highest priority during viewing activities,” the GN said.

The project proponents should therefore submit a detailed caribou viewing procedure, which should include no aerial disturbance of the herd and minimal ground disturbance, the GN added.

A member of a Kivalliq-region hunters and trappers organization should be present during all caribou-viewing trips to ensure proper procedures are followed, the GN concluded.

The territorial government also noted a “high potential” for archaeological sites along the shores of Ennadai Lake, even though a systematic archaeological survey has never been done in the area.

The GN therefore recommended the proponents conduct a survey in the areas of the proposed gravel quarry, its related activities such as gravel-crushing, and in the area of the airstrip.

The Ghotlenene K’odtineh Dene went a step further in their recommendations to the review board, asking that a heritage resource impact assessment be carried out in the presence of two GKD representatives.

The lodge sits along a major travel route from Kasba Lake to the lower Kazan River, the GKD said, and it is therefore “quite likely” that important heritage sites exist in the area.

“There are known GKD burial sites along the shores of Ennadai Lake. The quarry activities… and the airstrip upgrade may impact heritage resources in the area,” the Dene group said in their submission.

The group gave its conditional support to the proposal, so long as its request for an impact assessment is fulfilled.

Nunavut Tourism also gave conditional support to the project in its submission to the review board.

“This project has the potential to increase visitation to the area significantly. As long as it does not affect wildlife and their migration patterns and is carried out with community consultation, Nunavut Tourism supports this initiative.”

The GN did not say whether it supported the project but did provide the NIRB with more comments than any other organization.

In addition to permit, license and certification concerns, the GN pointed out that the project proposed to use non-native grass seeds for restoration of the gravel quarry pit.

“The proponent must use a native plant species for re-vegetation to eliminate the risk of introducing an invasive species to Nunavut,” the GN wrote.

Project proponents now have until May 29 to address comments submitted to the review board. The NIRB will then decide to approve the proposal outright, to approve it with conditions, or to reject it.