Rollout of Nunavik’s cellular service faces delay

In other KRG news: cost-of-living agreement will have to wait; Nunavik works with Naskapi nation to protect watershed

By SARAH ROGERS

Once cellular service is up and running, Nunavimmiut will gain access to 3G/LTE technology, which includes services like texting, apps, voice-phone, and internet surfing on their smartphones. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)


Once cellular service is up and running, Nunavimmiut will gain access to 3G/LTE technology, which includes services like texting, apps, voice-phone, and internet surfing on their smartphones. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

KUUJJUAQ—Cellular service, set to be delivered to all of Nunavik’s 14 communities last June, has hit a few road bumps.

Ice Wireless, which already operates in Iqaluit, is set to offer national and international roaming and cell phone service in the region, through its parent company Iristel’s Canada-wide network.

The Kativik Regional Government’s Tamaani will offer the bandwidth through its telecommunications infrastructure, which was recently upgraded.

But Tamaani has run into issues with its software supplier, said Daryl Combden, director of the KRG’s administration department.

“So I don’t have an answer as to when we’re going to launch it,” he told regional councillors on Sept. 10. “We’re getting there.”

Once the service is up and running, Nunavimmiut will gain access to 3G/LTE technology, which supports internet-based apps and web browsing, on top of texting and voice calls.

All of the company’s smartphone plans include unlimited calls, texts and roaming throughout Canada, United States and Mexico, starting from $49 per month. Voice-and-text-only plans start from $9 per month.

New cost-of-living subsidy will have to wait

Nunavik officials were hoping to negotiate a new cost-of-living subsidy for the region under Quebec’s current Liberal government, but it looks as though they’ll have to wait.

That’s because the province is in the midst of an election campaign that runs until Oct. 1, the day Quebecers go to the polls.

“We were hoping to have a finalized cost-of-living agreement before the election,” KRG treasurer Chahine Noujeim told regional council meetings on Sept. 11.

But Noujeim said that he’s not concerned that a new government might pull its support.

“We know that there is a big interest in this program from the people we met in the government,” he said. “They know it has done a lot of good and they want to continue it.”

The Quebec government pays an annual subsidy to the KRG and Makivik Corp. to help offset the high cost of living in the region.

In 2014, Quebec paid $33 million as part of a four-year agreement that ended in March 2017. That agreement was then extended one year, until March 2018, to allow more time for negotiations.

That funding has been extended yet another year, while the KRG and Laval university researchers process the data collected in a 2016 study that tracked the spending habits of Nunavimmiut.

It found that Nunavimmiut pay 48 per cent more for store-bought food than residents of a southern city, and up to 23 per cent more for transportation, clothing and personal care.

“We are just working with them on the amounts that are needed for the next five years,” Noujeim said. “And we hope to have something by the end of the year.”

The KRG uses that money to administer six regional cost-of-living measures, which subsidize elders’ expenses, airfares, household appliances, gasoline, food and harvesting equipment for Nunavik Inuit.

Nunavik watershed slated for partial protection

The KRG is working alongside its neighbours to the south, the Naskapi of Kawawachikamach, to preserve a watershed located between the two regions.

Roughly midway between Kuujjuaq and Kawawachikamach sits the Caniapiscau River watershed, including Lake Cambrien, Lake Nachicapau and Fort Mackenzie.

Hydro-Québec has long eyed the area for hydro development, but it also serves as a traditional harvesting area for Inuit and is home to Naskapi burial sites.

Under Quebec’s Plan Nord, the province has committed to classify 20 per cent of the territory as protected areas, as parks or nature reserves.

As part of talks with the Quebec government, Hydro-Québec, the KRG and the Naskapi nation are working towards a compromise that would see development halted around Lake Cambrien, Lake Nachicapau and Fort Mackenzie over a 20-year period, except under exceptional circumstances.

“This offers the area some protection,” said Michael Barrette, assistant director of the KRG’s department of renewable resources, environment, land and parks.

“This is an important step and all the groups are in agreement.”

The agreement to protect Lake Cambrien, Lake Nachicapau and Fort Mackenzie has yet to be signed, Barrette noted, and that won’t be counted as part of the Plan Nord protected areas, because the agreement would only offer partial protection of the area.

A map of the areas in Nunavik flagged for protection under Plan Nord will be presented to KRG regional councillors at their November meeting, he said.

Roughly mid-way between Kuujjuaq and Kawawachikamach sits the Caniapiscau River watershed, including Lake Cambrien, Lake Nachicapau and Fort Mackenzie. Nunavik Inuit are working with the Naskapi nation to protect the area from development.


Roughly mid-way between Kuujjuaq and Kawawachikamach sits the Caniapiscau River watershed, including Lake Cambrien, Lake Nachicapau and Fort Mackenzie. Nunavik Inuit are working with the Naskapi nation to protect the area from development.

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