Hunters block Mary River mine airstrip, road to protest Baffinland expansion
Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. says it’s communicating with the hunters
A small group of hunters have taken over the airstrip and the road going from Baffinland’s mine site to Milne Inlet in protest to the mine’s expansion. (File Photo)
A group of hunters have situated themselves on an airstrip at Baffinland’s Mary River project in addition to blockading a road leading to Milne Inlet.
The road is used by a large fleet of haul trucks that carry ore to the Milne Inlet port.
According to several posts on social media overnight, the hunters are protesting a proposed expansion of the company’s Mary River iron mine. Baffinland’s proposal to expand the mine by building a 110-kilometre railroad from the mine to a port at Milne Inlet has been the subject of two-week Nunavut Impact Review Board hearing, now in its 10th day.
A news release from Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. says “security personnel were alerted to the presence of a hunting party on the airstrip” at around 10 p.m. Thursday night.
“Baffinland respects the right to peacefully protest and continues to work with the hunting party to maintain the safety of everyone at Mary River,” states a news release from the company.
“Communication between the hunting party and Baffinland is ongoing.”
Pond Inlet RCMP said they are aware of the demonstrations and were monitoring the situation and keeping contact with the protestors. Police reported Friday the protests were peaceful and there was no need to dispatch additional resources.
Last March, some Rankin Inlet residents briefly blockaded the road leading from their community to Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.’s Meliadine gold mine. Protesters there, worried about the spread of COVID-19, wanted to stop Quebec-based workers from getting to the mine site. The blockade came down after the company announced strict measures to prevent spreading the virus.
What a total clusterfudge!
Just a quick point. Regardless of who is trespassing, their remote location and possible wildlife in the area, there’s 7 guys walking around with guns that are also starting fires on roads and an airstrip. On the other hand you have a lot of people with no guns and no control over their incoming food or whether or not they get to leave this situation. This is definitely starting to resemble a hostage situation out of a bad 1990s movie. The strangest part is the hostages(Baffinland) can’t negotiate with the guys with guns because the guys with guns are upset with the hostages’ landlord(QIA). What happens now?
What about the people who are supposed to come up this week hope this is settled soon but all sides seem to be at fault here sad
My son is a worker there due to come home on Tuesday. He’s been there for three weeks. Please let the innocent employees go home to their families and open the airstrip! ??
My husband is being held hostage up there. The only people allowed to work are the Cooks. In addition they are Feeding the hunters, inside in the lunch room. Some of the workers have been up there 6 weeks or more. With no fresh supplies coming in or new staff, things are gonna get ugly quick.
It is great to see that some realize they are not forced to go along with this hollow process of reviewing the proposed expansion when the company seems intent on ignoring everyone and pushing through with it anyways.
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People power matters more than any formalities like the neutered discussion process so far!
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It’s good for big corporations to be reminded that not everything they say goes. We don’t have to live with the consequences of their plans, they have to live by the desires of the people in the area.
People power? That’s a load of nonsense. These people do not represent anybody except themselves. Who elected them?
This also shows blatant contempt for the rule of law.
The Nunavut Impact Review Board is the legally constituted authority on this issue, with the federal government.
But these people are not even willing to wait for the NIRB’s report and recommendation. So what are they protesting?
They show no respect for the rule of law.
This is just a small group of uninformed people who don’t understand the process. They are an embarrassment to the community of Pond Inlet. Don’t listen to them
I’m a lot more worried about people’s wellbeing than the ‘rule of law’.
Residential schools were operated according to the ‘rule of law’. Mothers who refused to send their children were breaking the law.
Instead of complaining about people not ‘respecting’ the law, maybe we should be asking what laws we need to change to create a more just and fair society.
MRM and followers remains me of trump administration days and Qanon that followed him. Ppl are fed up and have learned from the world that you just have to take things into your own hands sometimes. I think this is just a start of things to come.
Uninformed? Says the person who doesn’t have to rely on hunting for sustenance and good. You have absolutely no jurisdiction or say over this, so get out of here with your profit ass opinions
Baffinland has nothing to do with the decline of the Caribou any of the other game. Inuit have no one but themselves to blame for that. If it wasn’t for regulations we would hunt this island to a husk.
The days of the subsistence hunter supporting a family are long gone. Some of us just have a hard time understanding this.
My two thoughts are 1 I look at that picture and I see pollution, it is the same as the coal piles in the ocean near Vancouver. You get a big rain or a storm and ore gets washed and flooded into the sea, big wind it’s blown into the sea. As far as the caribou population not sure what it’s like there but I have seen and heard of many wasteful mass slaughters by First Nations. The last time I was in resolute bay was probably 30 yrs ago and there were 5 polar bears skins stretching on the end of houses
Those are iron ore heaps. They are too heavy to wash away. There isn’t enough concentrated precipitation in Baffin for an overland water event to disrupt stored extraction.
Vancouver coal from the Rockies stored at Point Roberts terminal has never washed into Tsawassen and is kept moist to prevent dust.
The main dust generated at the Baffin mine is from road use. The railway is designed to reduce the dust issue. The main wildlife concern is shipping traffic increases disrupting marine animals all the way through the food chain. Nunavut has to make a choice between industrial resource extraction or preserving wildlife for the old ways. If the latter, prepare for a drastic cutback in the Western lifestyle. No more cellphones or snow machines. If you want to preserve he old ways, then live in the old way.
I do agree with the statement about road dust being an issue and the railroad will improve it. The true source of the iron ore dust has not been discussed in depth. Many believe it is from blasting, but that is not true either. Dust at the mine is mainly produced during the crushing of the ore into class 3 fines. This process is currently outside and the dust clouds are distributed in all directions by the mult-directional wind that hammers the crushing area every day.
Phase two involves the use of the world’s largest indoor crusher which was specifically designed to mitigate this problem by containing the dust and separating it from the ambient air by use of centrifugal separators, shaker boxes and filters. The only crushing that will happen at the mine is to reduce the ore for a suitable size to be transported by rail car. All fines crushing will occur indoors at the Port, thus reducing the dust involved even transporting the ore.
All of this information is in the publicly available proposal. If you don’t want to read it, there’s a Youtube video as well.
There’s only two ways to deal with the dust issue; shut the mine down completely or allow phase two to go through which has the potential to drastically improve the issue.
why is it a choice between the two? Resources or ‘preserving wildlife for the old ways’ – which, by the by, are living beings that, in and of themselves, have a right to exist. Caribou, just as every other beast, are a part of a whole system. – if we decide that they don’t matter, then who’s to say you don’t matter, or I don’t, or dogs don’t, or maybe bees dont matter….. its not up to humans to decide who has rights to live in whatever way they live.
You saw 5 Polar Bear Skins being stretched, and calling it mass slaughter!?! Really?? Take a REAL GOOD LOOK at what happens outside Nunavut! With all your Farms for Cows, Chicken, Etc.! There is YOUR MASS SLAUGHTER!!!
Subsistence hunting is still strong in Nunavut, we have to travel over 400 kms by boat one way to catch a single caribou. That’s over 800 kms return trip.
They are representing the people in their communities. They want to protect their way of life.
How do you know they are uninformed people? Do you realize that baffinland is giving the worst royalties and benefits to the effected communities? Maybe they are protesting that? The railroads and trains can do alot of damage to the environment and wildlife in the area. If that’s not informed, I don’t know what is
Quote: “They are representing the people of the community.”
Okay. So who elected them?
You don’t need to be elected to represent a community.
Thank you for the clarification.
Now I know that if you set yourself up as an unelected dictator, well then, that’s okay.
Because you don’t need to get elected.
So just because unelected people are representing their communities interests makes them a dictator? I didn’t realize you need to be elected to represent where you are from. It’s good to know. I didn’t know you have to be elected to protest something. Learned alot today. Thanks rule of law
Huge difference between a “dictator” and someone bravely representing their community.
Stepping up and taking responsibility for making your community safer and healthier is called courage.
People still trying to resuscitate the toxic corpse of the fossil fuel industry…not courageous at all. Just stupid and greedy.
And then there’s no way to know if they represent the community of their personal opinion claiming to represent the community. I can claim to represent all brown-haired people, but that doesn’t make it so.
The people of the North Baffin Communities elected them.
The Hamlets of 7 North Baffin communities formed their own organization to represent themselves because QIA wasn’t.
Maybe you missed that news…
The railway will have less impact on the environment two or three train engines versus sixtie trucks. no continuous road maintenance with mud running in the water ways and no dust flying everywhere…its a way better system.
I second that Doug!
FYI its 10 trains per day. Trains are 1.25 or more km long. Horn blasts 700 times a day. No biggie!
With zero knowledge of the people and simply following the few crumbs of a news article there is an automatic assumption of them being uninformed. Is this what you associate Inuit hunters with? I think your preconceived notions run deep and if you automatically associate Inuit as uninformed then there is clear racial bias.
Bob, that only works if people making comments are not Inuit, and you have no way of nowing that.
Many of us Inuit think that these protestors are poorly information and are thinking only of themself.
Actually, racial bias and discrimination exists within and towards one’s own ethnic group. Colonialism/racism has created internalized shame towards some individuals Inuk identity (or otherwise) as well. I know many like this who look down on Inuit as Inuit themselves. Needs to be realized and unlearned, Inuit or not.
Now that CBC has also done a story on this and named 3 of the hunters and their elder advisor, they’ve opened themselves up for anyone to air out their dirty laundry which takes all of five minutes to find with a google search.
Charlie Inuarak, a legendary hunting guide of the north, former Pond Inlet mayor, Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond award recipient and elected QIA community director. He participated in the negotiations for the recent inuit certainty agreement between QIA and Baffinland. Since 2017, he has pushed to create a new North Baffin Association, Qikiqtaaluk Uangnangani Katujjiqatigii, in which 7 communities recently formed the non-profit in December and Charlie is regarded as the president. Charlie is also the owner of Inuarak Outfitters in Pond Inlet, the business model consists of selling big game trophy hunting (mainly polar bear) to foreign interests. He is serving as the Elder Advisor during this blockade.
Namen Inuaruk, resident of Pond Inlet and owner of Nanooq expeditions. The company’s business model is also that of big game trophy hunting (mainly polar bear) being sold to foreign interests. Namen is also a photographer and member of the MHTO. He has gained employment as a guide for many local environmental studies on land and at sea.
Erik Ootoovak is the chair of the MHTO, he is also the sales representative for Baffin Fisheries. An ex RCMP constable from Pond Inlet he was discharged from law enforcement after he plead guilty in 2010 to two charges of assault in a domestic setting.
Tom Naqitarvik has created quite the name for himself as a hunter. In 2004, he shot a five meter long, double tusked narwhal at the age of 18. He was also a member of the seven hunters that miraculously survived being stranded on an ice floe for two days and rescued themselves by dragging their boat across the ice and making their way home to Arctic Bay. He is also the owner of Tom’s Place, a variety store in Arctic Bay.
Feel free to check this information, it is readily available with a google search. These are the representatives of your communities at this blockade. Some seem true of heart, yet some seem very conflicted.
Baffinland has approvals in place to do what they do today, no one has the right to block them today. Maybe people should be blocking the NIRB hearing process if they want to stop Baffinland’s plans to move forward.
All this is doing is proving that Baffinland is willing to negotiate whereas the Hunters and Trappers go to the extreme without even trying.
This will just boost the idea that Baffinland is in the right
My fear is how the hunters have put themselves in danger, literally. This could potentially cause a serious accident to themselves. Aside from the danger, they are placing themselves to criminal liability.
Lastly, there is a difference between a peaceful protest and advocacy. I would encourage participation in due process and informed decision-making, as this type of behaviour undermines legitimacy of Inuit concerns.
Should we expect military armed forces, Armed RCMP special forces soon. I won’t see if some of the locals part of the blockade are rangers.
Allianiit !!!!!!!
What we have to do to get real representation !!!!!
Poorly negotiated royalties…remember when the IIBA was being negotiated and Okalik Eegeesiak took a 5 star trip to the London Olympics sponsored be Acetor?
Aluki and PJ have had zero leadership on bridging development and Inuit protections. They have shown absolutely no leadership on Inuit rights which is why Inuit in North Baffin wanted the split. NTI came out of true leaders wanting to protect Inuit rights and way of life and fought for this. Aluki has dropped the ball big time on her watch. I commend the hunters, I’m proud of them. I hope southen news outlets will report the blockade and show the photos of the damages the iron ore dust is having on the land.
How is bringing guns to a protest peaceful? As well as refusing 2 aircrafts with food from landing. This is a hostage situation as far as I’m concerned as they are also refusing an airplane in to escort the employees out. Hopefully this gets resolved soon. The problem is with Baffinland and not the employees who just want to make a paycheque and support their family as well.
Kind of sad situation, most of the hunters can afford to purchase hunting equipment and supplies! Majority of Inuit in the communities cannot go hunt to support their families so they find employment at place like Mary River or other jobs available in the communities.
The people blocking I hope long term goal for the communities to be able to provide enough food for all community members and explain to hungry kids why their parents should work at the mine and provide them with food at the same time.
Nice, telling someone to go back to where they came from. Really constructive. I wonder how many original inhabitants of the north said that when the Inuit rolled up and started replacing them?
Thank you for mentioning this, I hope we can at least get a plaque one day, maybe an apology too?
Trudeau apologized. It was one of the first on his long list of apologies.
Is that Eskimo Joe, or Paleo-Eskimo Joe?
Well hopefully this is over soon. I’m not sure why they pulled the trigger on a blockade. The phase two hearings have been extended with no decision made. This probably isn’t helping their cause.
They’re also violating a covid exclusion zone, all of Baffinland has been off limits to locals due to CoVid, local workers have been staying home while receiving full pay.
The airstrip and the road are the lifeline for the mine and port. If the hunters manage to brave the cold (January and February are the coldest months up there) and interrupt food and personnel flights, the RCMP may have to get involved. Cutting supplies and transport off to remote mine workers to protest an expansion are not a smart idea.
Anybody know how many hunters are involved in these blockades? Are they all local?
I wonder too if they are funded by a group like Tides, and maybe radicalized by misinformation by activists.
My husband works for BIM and he is there now.
I hope that nobody gets hurt or needs a way out without a runway it would be devastating.
Praying for a quick and peaceful end to the protest.
Your husband should be safe. All high risk activities have ceased at the mine during the blockades and the airstrip is accessible for emergency medical flights. Baffinland is negotiating and trying to keep things friendly. Any damage that has been done to the airstrip can be quickly repaired by the loaders and graders Baffinland has on standby. Hopefully this wall be over soon.
Might want to check your facts on Inuit getting “full pay “
My apologies, local Baffinland Employees required to stay at home during the pandemic are being paid standby pay rates with full group benefits. Does anyone know the percentage relative to full wage?
It’s a sad situation. The communities turned a blind eye to the potential impacts to wildlife and environment and welcomed the Mary River project with open arms, with only thoughts of jobs and royalties. Now that there are visible signs of impact to the environment, the support is gone. Too late.
What we have here is a failure to communicate.
Baffinland has not been listening to what is being said about the concerns for wildlife. they have not been open about their research that has been conducted.. which is so poorly planed and not a good method for the importance of both the mine and the wildlife.
And there is no faith that what the mine says is true. Like that they will not impact wildlife… that is crazy, any researcher that is honest will admit that any time humans and animals are in the same are there is a negative impact…. the real question is how big of an impact and is it worth it.
That is what needs to be determined. Will the impact the mine have on the wildlife be worth it… for me with the desired increased mining i don’t think so. particularly since we dont even know what the impact will be.
No. They gave us an answer but not the answer you wanted to hear. That is why you don’t like it. Research has been done, inuit just don’t like that the scientific results are not to their likings
Their wildlife research is to stand on top of a hill for 30 minutes a few times a year and see if any wildlife are around. Also they will drive along the road to see any tracks in the snow a few times a year.
But if the road and activity keeps animals away then they wont see tracks, which they haven’t. However they use that they never see caribou as reasoning that they have not had any impact on caribou. If they had done proper base line studies that proved that the wildlife has not been impacted they would be shouting them from the roof tops. but they didnt do good base line studies so that now they can say see no animals means we havnt impacted them.
You are talking about Inuit right? I mean Baffinland does actual scientific studies. Inuit look for Caribou and if they can’t find any they blame it on the White Man.
This protest. Gasoline and food were taken from baffinland to do this blockade. They can’t even support themselves. If it wasn’t for BIM they would freeze and starve trying to pull this off. Sad
Maybe some drop out school decided to form mob that represent adversaries and that does not look good for peaceful hearings with NIRB. why did the individuals did not submit comment to qia or hto for proper no playing with laws and animals. lowlife can make things illegal looking good for short period of time when they say it. I bet they can’t read the report.
Take a look at the website at http://www.marinetraffic.com and look at the number of ships in the water in real time. Where those ships are, all over the world, there is sea life. Whales, seals, orcas, fish, you name it, they don’t seem to be affected by shipping. The migration routes of those sea mammals are along the coasts, that is where the majority of ships travel by. All of the orange colours are ships that are filled with fisherman making a living, they too are not scaring the fish away, they are harvesting them, with ships. Where is the evidence that shipping harms the sea mammals? Seems like bad propaganda to me.
So you are factually on the wrong, Studies did find noise pollution from ships to be problematic for sea life. A simple research and not just from looking at marine traffic website for your own propaganda. You’ll find a lot of information on noise pollution. They are deafening and like the narwhals, these amazing mammals primarily vocalize through “clicks”, “whistles” and “knocks” to hunt and communicate. But then again, I’m just a person behind a keyboard and can’t change your non factual opinion.
Fred- Google – whales struck by ships, you will see your evidence
Worldwide fisheries are in crisis with massive stock depletion caused by over-harvesting and marine traffic. Many fisheries are down over 95%. Families in places like the Philippines, Mexico, Sri Lanka, etc. can no longer feed themselves on a fishery. They are no longer self-sufficient.
If the mine expansion is halted and the company pulls out, it will lead to massive cutbacks in the GN budget. This could lead to a loss of the Western lifestyle.
It is almost impossible to have the benefits of a Western lifestyle including petroleum vehicles and modern hunting rifles and central heating in houses, but still claim allegiance to the old ways.
They are mutually incompatible.
Tough choices.
Can’t wait for phase 3!
People power means power of the people. It says nothing about the elected. It is totally about people power and not the politicos.
Though it is a peaceful protest, the protesters are armed. Baffinland security is not. There are firearms at the mine but they are locked away for use as a last resort with nuisance wildlife.
The protesters have received supplies from Baffinland to stay fed and warm.
The optics of this protest are turning against the hunters.
They’ve melted a hole in the airstrip which has to be patched and they’re blocking the tote road which cuts Milne Port employees off from food and passenger flights.
This seems like an unreasonable publicity stunt as the hunting association has already got another extension for the expansion hearings.
This is not a move towards compromise or agreement. This is a move to create hostility between all parties involved.
Voice your concerns publicly, open the road and go home. You will have another chance for your voice to be heard in the next round of hearings.
Creating an armed blockade and calling it a peaceful protest is not a good strategic move, it invites law enforcement and other foreign agencies to get involved.
Unfortunately this protest is all about
“Show us the ?
So armed hunters blocking the air strip and road cutting up too a 1000 people off from civilization and keeping them in a remote area doesn’t that make the mine workers hostage by armed people???
I was reading CBC article on the same story. I was interested to learn that these hunters shot two caribou as they were going to set up their blockade. These hunters always go to Mary River (the mine) to hunt caribou. I am amazed that wildlife is so impacted, yet they can always go to the mine to shoot caribou. They don’t just shoot one either. They shoot multiple, and sell the meat. All of this uproar over the rail causing issues for caribou is funny. I have seen pictures of caribou climbing to the peak of mountainsides. They don’t seem to have any issue climbing small hills like a rail embankment. Namen sells meat every year to Baffinland and makes lots of money. He might be biting the hand that feeds him. Shut down this protest, and let the NIRB Hearing consider everything that is being said. You have got your fame, and recognition. Go back to your community and be celebrated as the conquering heros. What a joke.
The head of the “new organization “ seems to be a mafioso type of guy, hiding behind the conservation of animals, and yet the shoot multiple caribou per trip, as for the narwhal and the sea mammals, how about the newly invasive species that are showing up more frequently, killer whales, maybe that’s why the whales and seals are skinny, swimming away constantly from these apex predators
I think you are right. Mr. Charlie is not hard done by, and makes lots of money from the community. He is always trying to get contracts from Baffinland to make more money. He speaks out of both sides of his mouth. You are absolutely right. The MHTO and Charlie are so concerned with the wildlife and the future food security. Yet they overhunt constantly. Charlie went to the Mary River Mine last year and shot and killed 5 caribou. Was that concern for a dwindling population. There are no conservation efforts at all from any of these people. Charlie, Namen, nor the MHTO or any other Hunters and Trappers. MHTO will get millions from Baffinland. Baffinland is paying their cost to hire all these experts to speak out against them. Frank Tester keeps mentioning Newfoundland and the cod fishery. Frank maybe you should take it a step further and start recommending conservation. Inuit might just be responsible for the declining wildlife. Not Baffinland. Let Baffinland expand. Let Baffinland bring more jobs. Time for residents of Nunavut to have a future, get off of welfare. -and be proud of their mining, their environment. And their territory.
How come nobody’s talking about the frequent sightings of killer whales and the impact they have most likely killing off the young and always keeping the sea mammals on the run thus effecting their weight? ……. oh, they don’t have money
Maybe because the killer whales are protected by the federal government under the species at risk act.
https://species-registry.canada.ca/index-en.html#/species/598-6
They are listed as a species of special concern.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/greenland-hunting-more-killer-whales-as-climate-changes-1.2782297
Greenland has been actively hunting them for food. And although there is some level of protection for commercial purposes there are no regulations that restrict Inuit from hunting them.
I wonder how many narwhal are slaughtered every year by the Inuits.
I know it’s a way of life but the local I work with says he kills 20+ a year and just uses the tusk to sell to southern for thousands of dollars.
I wish they had the money to go to steensby to bypass all this bullshit regarding more money
You are not wrong. Did you know that a Narwhal only has a calf every 3 years. They have a 14 month gestation period. Which means from the time they get pregnant until they have the calf it is 14 months. So every time Inuit hunt and kill a Narwhal to eat, and sell the tusk, that is no calf and no increasing population. Is there actually strict controls on any hunting in Nunavut? Even with a tag system Inuit just shoot what they see. There is no real control. I am always amazed with this talk about whales being scared away by ships. Every time I go to sea on a ship, marine wildlife, whales, seals, and other animals always come out and play in the wakes and bow spray. They do not seem overly scared. I may be wrong. I study earth science not marine mammals.
@ Jimmy, each community where there’s narwhals have quota to hunt narwhals and they have different quota that can range from 200 to 10 narwhals per year depending on the community. And @ scientist, the marine mammals in Nunavut don’t play around beside the bow of a boat like in the south, they swim away right away when they hear a boat coming towards them.
Charlie, Namen, and Eric are using the wildlife and threats to the wildlife as pawns as they put their hands out looking for more money from Baffinland. They do this at the same time that they show no respect for wildlife and continue to over hunt themselves. Protest are something that I never used to see in Nunavut. An Elder once told me it was not their way, that was back when Feeding My Family started to protest in front of grocery stores here in Iqaluit and elsewhere. But on top of the hunters set up at site, a small protest has formed in Pond Inlet right in front of the CHall. I believe that everyone should have a voice, and should have their voices herad. That is kind of the point of the NIRB Hearings, which now again for Chr@&t sakes have been extended again. But people in POnd decided to protest as well. Well good on them. They took their young childern, decorated signs, and put them front and centre. Makes for good pictures for sure. But I have to think that the childern do not actually understand what they are protesting for. Animals……..maybe. But what about their future. Having a job. Being able to take care of their families. Being able to travel. Being able to afford to buy a skidoo, or an ATV. Being able to buy food. No, better to just use them as Pawns to get some nice pictures in the paper, and use them the same way that the animals are being used to try to extort more money from Baffinland for doing nothing…..Amazing.
Charlie is the elected Pond Inlet community director for QIA. He was part of the negotiations for the Inuit Certainty Agreement. This armed blockade is a result of local hunters feeling they are being ignored by QIA, but Charlie is their Elder Advisor and he is QIA. Now that QUK has been formed in opposition to QIA, Charlie is regarded as QUK’s president as well. None of this makes any sense.
They didnt overhunt, they feed the whole community. Maktaa, caribou, fish. They are talented hunters, not the image you are trying to make. I bet you dont even know them. Thanks for the counry food and teaching my cousin who helped. They always take people to help that need and want to learn. If the QIA and QUK thing doesnt make sense to you its because you are not seeing the effects year after year. We are stronger because of the history, talents, and traditions they share.
Nothing more than thugs with rifles. The Inuit negotiated a process through the NIRB but these people don’t respect that. These people are so uniformed that they seem to target the mine when their problems with royalties is with QIA and NTI. Did they vote? I bet not.
Wow, a blockade, and all of this anger. It got me thinking about how vast Nunavut is, and why there was so much uproar over the Baffinland Mine. So I did a bit of research. Nunavut covers a total of 2.093 Million square kilometers. That is a lot of land. A Huge amount of land for caribou and other animals. Baffinland is mining at Mary River on a mine that stretches over 170 square kilometers. So if I do my math right Mary River Mine takes up just .008 % of the total land mass of Nunavut. But that .008% is the only place that caribou can live. Is that what I am understanding? They can’t live on the other 2,092,830 square kilometers of Nunavut where they will not be interrupted by all the chaos that is bothering them. And the hunters who travel for 2 days to hunt and take multiple caribou off of Mary River can not hunt anywhere else? OK I guess I get that. Not!
Baffin Island is a mountainous island with icecaps and glaciers and the food that caribou eats doesn’t grow on every inch of that 2.092 million square kilometres.
Well if we weld against our will and can’t leave site cause of blockaide that’s over time right ! Show me the money ! But I ran outta underwear 🙁 Because the road is closed