City clashes with hunters over beach shacks

Iqaluit council is butting heads with the local Hunters and Trappers Organization over a contract to beautify the shoreline.

During a Feb. 23 meeting of the committee of the whole, Iqaluit’s head engineer and assistant lands planner told councillors that the HTO was refusing to honour a contract to dispose of old shacks from the city’s beach area.

The City of Iqaluit has a five-year plan to clean up the waterfront by replacing old, dilapidated sheds with new ones worth about $45,000 each. Under an agreement with the HTO, city engineer Brad Sokach said people who win the new shacks through a lottery system are to pay to get rid of the old ones.

Since the program started two years ago, the municipality has installed eight new shacks per year.

“I feel like they’re backing out of the agreement,” Sokach told the committee, although he later described the problem as a “misunderstanding.”

Sokach said HTO representatives were invited to the meeting, but have not returned phone calls.

Chief Administrative Officer Ian Fremantle suggested the city cut back the number of new shacks being installed, and use the extra money to pay for the disposal of the old sheds.

Committee asked Sokach to organize a meeting with the HTO to resolve the issue.