GN accused of ignoring hunters

A June 11 exchange in the Nunavut legislature about a foot bridge which will someday span the Sylvia Grinnell River saw Paul Okalik, MLA for Iqaluit West, accusing Daniel Shewchuk, Nunavut's environment minister, of letting down hunters in Iqaluit.

"You have turned your backs on them," Okalik told Shewchuk after learning that the Government of Nunavut supports the construction of a pedestrian-only bridge across the river.

"We had discussed this at cabinet and we are proceeding in the direction of a pedestrian bridge," Shewchuk said, responding to Okalik's first question.

Shewchuk said his department is reviewing the plans for the bridge with the Department of National Defence, Trails Canada, and the Rotary Club, who promised back in 2002 to fund and build the bridge.

"Once we have these further commitments in place we will move forward and then I would advise the member at that time where we are," Shewchuk said.

Okalik wanted to know whether this meant Shewchuk was denying the request made by "the original residents of Iqaluit, the hunters, who wanted to use the bridge with snowmobiles and four-wheelers."

"We are not denying anybody's request," Shewchuk said. "Originally this bridge is identified as a pedestrian bridge under the park master plan for the Sylvia Grinnell Park. We have all the correspondence and documentation from the City of Iqaluit and all interested groups and parties of Iqaluit, and everybody is in support of a pedestrian bridge."

Shewchuk said the Canadian military had offered to construct and erect the bridge in 2002.

An agreement between the Trans Canada Trails Foundation and the defence department called for a 100-metre-long, one-metre-wide foot bridge to be built across the river.

This suspension-style bridge would hover 4.5 metres above the high water level and cost about $1 million.

The Grinnell bridge would be part of a recreational trail system winding through every province and territory in Canada. When completed, it would be the longest of its kind in the world at about 17,898 kilometres, with Nunavut's trail slated to run between Iqaluit and Kimmirut.

But the agreement to build the bridge, which was linked to a Department of National Defence engineering corps program called "Bridges for Canada," ended in 2003.

Shewchuck said the defence department and other partners are reviewing the current request as well as their past offer to build a foot bridge.

But Okalik said there had been an agreement last year with the military that the "bridge should be able to be used by our residents of Iqaluit, and now we hear that it is going to be a pedestrian bridge. I really apologize to Iqaluit residents."

Shewchuk chose not to respond to Okalik's final comments.

On June 12 Hunter Tootoo, MLA for Iqaluit Centre, tabled a petition that said "We the undersigned petition the Government of Nunavut, the Government of Canada, and the City of Iqaluit to restrict the new bridge across the Sylvia Grinnell to foot traffic."

About 250 names are on this petition, which was circulated in 1999, Tootoo said.

"All are residents or were residents of Iqaluit, including original residents of Iqaluit and constituents of all three fine representatives that Iqaluit has here in the Legislative Assembly," Tootoo said.