NTI president: Ottawa must act on Arctic shipping boom

Iqaluit Mayor Madeleine Redfern works on her computer during a meeting of the Baffin Mayors Forum in Iqaluit, Feb. 14, 2011. (PHOTO BY CHRIS WINDEYER)

Ottawa needs to step up to help Inuit deal with the potential boom in shipping through Canada’s Arctic waters, the president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., Cathy Towtongie, said Feb. 14 at the Baffin Mayor’s Forum in Iqaluit.

“Our communities are the basis of Canada’s presence in the North,” Towtongie said.

Towtongie said the lack of basic marine infrastructure makes it impossible to respond quickly to spills or shipping accidents, while hampering the ability of hunters to travel or even protect their boats from damage.

“In most cases our boats are not even sheltered by basic breakwaters.”

At the same time, the prospect of commercial shipping through the Northwest Passage offers not only the spectre of maritime disasters, but also the more routine threat of leaks and the discharge of bilge water from ships plying Arctic waters, Towtongie said.

Ottawa has put up the money for one small craft harbour in Nunavut, at Pangnirtung, but various municipal and territorial plans for marine improvements languish without action.

And the Canadian Coast Guard has distributed oil cleanup kits to Nunavut hamlets, but those are designed to handle only small, localized spills.

Meanwhile, the closest large port with the ability to handle major marine incidents is St. John’s.

“Right at this point, Nunavut is not prepared,” she said.

Towtongie said it’s time to convene a conference to create a marine transportation strategy for Nunavut.

The federal and territorial governments need to commit stable, long-term funding for infrastructure, and consider public-private partnerships to get projects built, she added.

“If there is increased transportation in the High Arctic, then the Government of Canada needs Inuit,” Towtongie said.

“Inuit are recognized for their sovereignty in the Arctic. There’s no question about it. It’s not negotiable.”

Premier Eva Aariak said Nunavut and Greenland view the potential rise in trans-Arctic shipping with concern and need to be consulted on maritime policy by national governments and the Arctic Council.

“The waters that we share are so delicate that we have to take part in the decisions that are made by outside [decision] makers,” she said.

During a recent visit to Iqaluit, the Greenlandic MP, Aleqa Hammond, said the future of the marine shipping in the Northwest Passage is of direct interest to Greenland.

There, lawmakers are also concerned with how prepared Canada is to provide search and rescue and environmental responses to new shipping traffic.

“The world is opening up to the Arctic and its potential,” Hammond said.

Russia’s Northern Sea Route, which has a head start as an active shipping channel, could offer a preview of what’s to come.

The Barents Observer reported Feb. 11 that various Russian companies plan to ship 600,000 tons of iron ore, 400,000 tons of condensed natural gas and at least 150,000 tons of oil via the route to China this summer.