Greenland promises trade deals for Nunavut, Nunavik

Greenland’s premier Hans Enoksen will visit Iqaluit on July 9, Nunavut Day.

Letia Cousins, director of circumpolar and aboriginal affairs for the Government of Nunavut, confirmed that Enoksen was invited by Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik to come to Iqaluit shortly before many of Inuit leaders travel on to Alaska for the opening of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference in Barrow, Alaska.

When Enoksen comes to Iqaluit, he wants to announce new trade and transportation agreements with Nunavut and Nunavik.

Greenland companies, which are owned by the Home Rule government, say they are looking forward to the prospect of kick-starting business with both Inuit regions in July.

“We expect to make some formal ties to Nunavut and Nunavik, according to the political wishes of our government,” Vittus Qujaukitsoq, chief communications officer at KNI A/S, told Nunatsiaq News.

KNI A/S is the largest retail business in Greenland, with 68 retail stores around the island and more outlets in the smaller settlements than any other company in Greenland. KNI supplies oil around Greenland and produces various seafood and meat products, including lamb, caribou and musk ox.

In preparation for the July 9 visit, KNI plans to carry out a market study, which, among other things, will look at the transportation and infrastructure needed to do business in Canada.

“That’s one of the challenges that we have to consider when we approach Nunavut and Nunavik,” Qujaukitsoq said.

In the past, KNI did supply some products to Nunavut.

“In that sense, Nunavut is not a new market for us, but it’s certainly a market that we would consider quite more in the future,” Qujaukitsoq said.

In 2004, KNI’s board of directors went to Kuujjuaq and Montreal, where they met with representatives of Makivik Corporation, which owns both First Air and Air Inuit airlines, and visited the headquarters of the Fédération des Cooperatives-du-Nouveau-Québec, Nunavik’s cooperative network.

Toennes Berthelsen, a director of KNI subsidiary, Arctic Green Food, was along on that trip.

“What we saw is that your freezers are very good, but they are quite empty. We couldn’t observe any typical Inuit food in the freezer, so we thought we could do something there. We are producing Greenlandic specialties, which are also interesting to the Inuit, such as dried meat and dried fish,” Berthelsen said. “We ate a lot of Inuit food when we were in Nunavik, so I think there are some good possibilities, not just for Inuit, but for other Canadians, too.”

Frozen or dried food could be shipped from Narsaq in southern Greenland via an existing maritime connection to Halifax that runs two or three times a year.

Arctic Green Food also carries fresh meat and fish. These products meet European Union regulations, Berthelsen said. But to send fresh fish, such as Greenland halibut, to Canada, KNI Arctic Green Food would need flights three times a week.

“There should be a connection between Greenland and Nunavut but it should also go through Kuujjuaq or more to the South, to Montreal,” Berthelsen said.

Kenn Harper, Denmark’s consul in Iqaluit, is among those who wants to see a direct connection between Greenland and Canada and would welcome an announcement about the renewal of this service.

“These two governments have to date signed a number of agreements of cooperation and yet they continue to meet only when there is a celebration or a crisis,” Harper said. “I can’t see anything changing unless there is an air route — and I’m not talking about charters which only government can afford — linking Iqaluit and Nuuk.”

Air Greenland completed a feasibility study on a direct Greenland-Canada run two years ago, and, since then, has been waiting for a firm promise of financial help from the home rule government.

A trip to Iqaluit from Nuuk, normally two or three hours, now requires at least 20 hours of air travel through Copenhagen and Montreal, taking three days to complete, and costing thousands of dollars in fares.

The feasibility study said Air Greenland could offer King Air service during the winter months and Dash-7 service in the summer months to Nuuk, or using Kangerlussuaq as its hub to North America, and fly a jet to Iqaluit or via Kuujjuaq to Montreal.

Starting in 1994, First Air and Greenlandair [now known as Air Greenland] operated a Kanglerlussuaq-Iqaluit route together, by pooling revenues and expenses, but the cooperation broke down in 2001 when Greenlandair announced it would pull out of the pool agreement.

The turmoil in the airline industry following the events of Sept. 11, 2001 dealt the final blow to the connection.