QC, Sakku Investments buy into NSSI

Here, NSSI’s Anna Desgagnés carrier sits on the shores of Pangnirtung. (PHOTO COURTESY OF NSSI)

The Qikiqtaaluk Corp. and Sakku Investments Corp. have signed a joint agreement that gives them ownership interest in the shipping company Nunavut Sealink & Supply Inc. (NSSI), the companies announced in an April 17 news release.

Arctic Co-op Ltd. remains NSSI’s majority shareholder while Desgagnés Transarctik Inc. serves as its managing partner.

QC and Sakku, the development arms of the Qikiqtani and Kivalliq Inuit organizations, said the deal would give Inuit beneficiaries in both regions shares and voting board positions with the Iqaluit-based carrier.

“Qikiqtaaluk Corporation is proud to be an active and dependable partner for both Inuit and companies that are developing or looking to develop sustainable business in Nunavut,” said Qikiqtaaluk Corporation president Harry Flaherty in the release.

Sakku Investments president Patrick Tagoona said its new partnership with NSSI “…will provide Sakku with an opportunity to share in the wealth of our land, while providing necessary services to the mining industry.”

The move helps to explain why both investment corporations recently sold their shares in Nunavut Eastern Shipping Inc.

QC announced in February that — as of September, 2011 — it had sold all of its interest in Nunavut Eastern Shipping Inc. to Nunavik’s Makivvik Corp. and would “no longer have any continuing relationship or affiliation of any sort with NEAS.”

At the time, Flaherty said the corporation was looking to pursue other joint ventures in Nunavut’s marine transportation industry, without hinting at where the company planned to invest.

“As a birthright organization, we owe it to Nunavummiut to provide the best possible marine services,” he told Nunatsiaq News.