Praise for mining jobs dominates Nunavut symposium

Speaking April 5 at the Nunavut Mining Symposium in Iqaluit, Patrick Tagoona, president of Nunavut Investments Ltd., a management and holding company, says mining has increased the middle class in his home community of Baker Lake. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Agnico Eagle Mining Ltd. employees Travis Rusk and Devon Killulark, who both work at the Meadowbank gold mine near Baker Lake, say working at the mine has opened new job possibilities for them. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Jack Anawak, Alex Buchan and John Main, representing Nunavut’s three regions, April 6 at the Nunavut Mining Symposium in Iqaluit. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

If you wonder about the impact of mining on people in Nunavut, two Inuit employees of Agnico-Eagle Mining Ltd. in central Nunavut can tell you the mining industry helped change their lives.

Travis Rusk, 44, a haul truck driver and auxiliary equipment operator at Agnico Eagle’s Meadowbank gold mine, started work at the mine in 2011 as a labourer hired by a contractor.

After switching to Agnico Eagle and training for his present job, he’s now driving a variety of vehicles. Thanks to his job, he was able to buy a house in his home town of Rankin Inlet.

And then there’s Devon Killulark, 36, of Baker Lake, a certified mechanic at Meadowbank, who entered the mine as a mechanic’s helper: with on-site training, he’s now earned his Red Seal certification as a mechanic.

Full of praise for the training and jobs they received, Rusk and Killulark handed out information about mining to members of the public April 5 at Agnico Eagle’s trade show booth at the Nunavut Mining Symposium in Iqaluit.

These men’s careers provide two examples of how mining and the roughly 300 jobs that Agnico Eagle has brought to Nunavut to date have increased the standard of living in communities like Baker Lake and Rankin Inlet—a theme underscored by others at the symposium.

That’s why when you’re in Baker Lake, you’ll probably have trouble finding a parking space in this community of about 2,000—the community closest to Meadowbank—due to the many new trucks bought by mine workers, Patrick Tagoona, president of Nunavut Investments Ltd., told a session on business development April 5 at the symposium.

And, if you’re staying in Winnipeg, you’re likely to run into families from Baker Lake at hotel swimming pools while they’re on holiday like other Canadians, Tagoona said.

All of them have some connection to the Meadowbank mine, which has operated since 2008, Tagoona said

“Meadowbank has literally created a new middle class,” said Tagoona, whose businesses also benefit from money generated from the mine. “There are new opportunities that didn’t exist before.”

Speaking at the same session, John Main of Arviat, the president of the Kivalliq Chamber of Commerce, said mining boosts jobs and is also good for regional businesses

“We need jobs in Nunavut” to build wealth and get people off social assistance, said Main, whose home community has run diamond drilling training courses to qualify residents for mining and mineral exploration jobs.

Another session around the symposium’s theme of “reflecting on the past, looking to the future,” featured speakers from Nunavut’s three regions, who brought a similar message to those at the symposium.

Alex Buchan of Cambridge Bay, director of community and external relations for TMAC Resources Inc.’s gold mine in western Nunavut, talked about the long history of mining among Inuit, citing copper mining among the Inuit living near the Coppermine River and today’s community of Kugluktuk.

And longtime Nunavut politician Jack Anawak, also recalled being the son, brother and uncle of Nunavut miners, saying his father who spoke only Inuktitut moved off the land to work at the Rankin Inlet nickel mine, which operated from 1957 to 1962.

“The Rankin inlet mine is where our future came from,” said Anawak of today’s community of nearly 3,000.

And his father didn’t lose his culture on the job, Anawak said.

So mining isn’t incompatible with Inuit culture, said Anawak—his father made use of his knowledge of teamwork and affinity for the land, among other traditional skills, on the job.

The Nunavut Mining Symposium, which wrapped up April 6, also handed out awards April 5 for contributions to the mining industry in Nunavut, the largest private sector contributor to Nunavut’s economy, which directly represents more than 18 per cent of Nunavut’s gross domestic product.

The corporate awards went to the active mine operators in Nunavut—Agnico Eagle, Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. and TMAC Resources.

The Government of Nunavut received the government award, while four individual awards went to Graeme Dargo, Bernie MacIsaac, Barry McCallum and Denise Lockett “for her work providing advice and consulting to people wanting to work in Nunavut for over a decade, including teaching introductory courses on prospecting, exploration and mining,” a release from Nunavut Mining Symposium organizers said.