More Inuit involvement in mining a must, Quebec minister says

A roundtable of Nunavik leaders and Quebec ministers met March 3 in Kuujjuaq to discuss how the region will factor in the province’s soon-to-be=launched Plan Nord. Natural resources minister Nathalie Normandeau assured Inuit that they would be “part and parcel” of any project. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

KUUJJUAQ — Quebec’s natural resources minister Nathalie Normandeau says Inuit will be “part and parcel” of any future mining projects in Nunavik.

Speaking at a roundtable of Nunavik leaders and Quebec ministers March 3 in Kuujjuaq, Normandeau said Quebec wants mining to develop “in partnership” with Inuit and will talk with mining companies about how to do this.

After Xstrata’s Raglan mine started operations outside of Kangiqsujuaq in 1995, positive spin-offs, the project produced new jobs, royalties for local Inuit and a new three-star hotel in town.

But the more negative aspects followed closely behind, with increased air and sea traffic coming though the Hudson Strait region.

Now, a second nickel mine, the Nunavik Nickel mine, located about 90 kilometres west of Kangiqsujuaq, is set to open for business next year, and with that another 500 jobs, a new port and other impacts to the land.

“Even if we try and say “that’s enough,” it just keeps coming,” Kangiqsujuaq mayor Mary Pilurtuut told Quebec ministers “If I had the authority, I would stop them.”

Normandeau promised Pilurtuut that Quebec will bring together the 11 mining companies involved in Plan Nord so they can discuss how to work with the local population.

Normandeau pointed to Goldcorp Inc., which recently signed an agreement with the James Bay Cree nation of Wemindji to develop the Éléonore gold project.

The Cree have a stake in the mine, which will provide them with jobs, fixed payments, a seat on many management committees and future profit sharing, she said.

“This is exactly the type of partnership we have to develop to maximize the spin-offs, and to avoid allowing mining companies to act like they rule the territory,” Normandeau said.

But Makivik Corp.’s vice-president Michael Gordon questioned why Inuit couldn’t be the ones developing their natural resources themselves on lands that are Inuit-owned lands.

“It seems only southerners can do this, but we’d like to do this, as Inuit people,” he told Quebec ministers.

When Gordon campaigned to keep his seat on Makivik’s executive last winter, he said one of his goals was to bring a “mining observatory” to Nunavik, that is, a facility staffed with mining experts who could keep Nunavimmiut better in touch with the regional industry.

“A lot of southerners have their eye on the North, not only in Canada and Quebec, but across the Arctic,” he said. “Greenland approved research to look for oil in the sea. They’ve started drilling in the Alaskan sea. Here, it seems like we’re always saying “hold on.”

Gordon repeated the position that emerged from a meeting of the Inuit Circumpolar Council last month, where Inuit leaders declared that the Arctic was open for business – so long as there are benefits for its surrounding communities.

“I don’t think that’s a new message,” Geoffrey Kelley, Quebec’s native affairs minister, told Nunatsiaq News. “But it’s not development at any cost. Done right, mining programs can bring a lot to the region.”