Fate of road unclear

ARCTIC BAY – Neither pilots nor passengers will shed many tears for the Nanisivik airport, scheduled to close next year when a new airport terminal and runway, much closer to Arctic Bay, is set to open.

Pilots hate the Nanisivik airport because it's on top of a hill and prone to gusty winds and poor visibility.

Passengers hate it because those gusty winds and bad visibility mean cancelled flights – not to mention the bumpy, though scenic, 40-minute ride from Arctic Bay.

"Up in Nanisivik we usually have more storms up there than here [in Arctic Bay]," said Geela Arnauyumayuq, the hamlet's deputy mayor.

"People up here usually go out for hospital appointments and they tend to miss their appointments because planes have been cancelled."

But there is another new project slated for the area: a naval refuelling station at the old dock site at Nanisivik, scheduled to open in 2013, when a batch of naval patrol ships, designed to break through metre-thick sea ice are to come into service.

Or as Brig. Gen. David Millar, commander of Joint Task Force North, describes it: "If you're going to go to the High Arctic you need a gas station."

The Canadian Forces are still figuring out what they have to do with the site to get it ready: whether the existing fuel tank farm needs to be replaced, what other kinds of buildings they'll need to construct, where to locate office space.

Hamlet councillor Frank May said there could be some local benefits from spin-off maintenance contracts, but he doesn't expect a huge impact from the refuelling station.

But Millar said the big question is what will happen to the 32-km road between Arctic Bay and Nanisivik.

Quttiktuq MLA Ron Elliot has said the Government of Nunavut plans to downgrade that road from a highway to an access road.

If that happens, the GN would stop paying to maintain the road and download responsibility to the hamlet, which is a bill the municipality can't afford.

At a meeting of High Arctic mayors in Iqaluit last month, Elliot said he's worried the road could deteriorate quickly if it isn't properly maintained.

"If you can maintain the road [it] has a smaller value than having to rebuild the road after four years of deterioration," he said.

Millar admits that Canadian Forces planners haven't identified the need to keep the Nanisivik road open as part of their preparations for the refuelling station.

But he said the military could pay Arctic Bay's costs for keeping the road open.

Elliot also wants to see if there are ways to tie the military's expansion in the North, with the refuelling station at Arctic Bay and a planned Arctic warfare training centre in Resolute Bay, to ways to relieve the sky-high cost of living in those communities.

The forces also plan to open a district office in Arctic Bay to oversee operations in the High Arctic.

Millar said it will be staffed by soldiers only during the summer shipping season, but it will be available to the local Canadian Rangers patrol for use during the off season.