Iqaluit economic committee says no to Kimmirut road

Members of the City of Iqaluit’s economic development committee say they’re adamantly opposed to the Iqaluit-Kimmirut road-port project that the Nunavut government is currently studying.

The GN proposal, still in its infancy, would punch an all-weather road across the mountainous terrain of the Meta Incognita Peninsula, linking Iqaluit to a deep-sea port that would be built at Kimmirut.

Officially, Iqaluit city council has yet to take a position on the idea. John Matthews, the mayor of Iqaluit, said this week he’s still “open-minded” about the notion, and that he and most other councillors need more information.

“I know the council will be fairly conservative initially. They’ll want to get a lot of information before they do make a decision on what side they choose to be on,” Matthews said.

But the Iqaluit council’s economic sub-committee, and the two city councillors who sit on it, have already made up their minds.

The economic committee’s chair, Glen Williams, is on vacation and can’t be reached for comment. The other councillor on the committee, Chris Wilson, says committee members are opposed to an Iqaluit-Kimmirut road for three reasons:

“Number one is the fact it’s believed the community itself [Kimmirut], doesn’t want that kind of growth in its community…. Then the other thing is just the money. It’s estimated that the cost would be astronomical…. Then the third issue is the environmental impact, it would also be substantially great,” Wilson said.

In September 2002, the department of community government and transportation hired SNC-Lavalin, the giant Canadian engineering and construction firm, to study the feasibility of an Iqaluit-Kimmirut road and deep-sea port.

Tony Wachman, SNC-Lavalin’s manager of infrastructure engineering, didn’t return a telephone message before Nunatsiaq News’ deadline this week.

As for the GN, officials appear reluctant to say anything in public right now.

“I am not in a position where I would be prepared to make any statement on this issue on behalf of the government in any way, and in fact I don’t know whom I could direct you to on this issue,” said Bob Mulhern, the CG&T department’s manager of transportation programs.

Mulhern later said his bosses prefer to keep a “low profile” on the issue right now, but he did say Lavalin’s study could soon be finished and made ready for release in about four weeks.

After that, it would be up to the CG&T department’s new minister, Peter Kilabuk, to decide when to make the study public.

Iqaluit’s community economic development committee jumped into the issue earlier this month after getting a letter on the Kimmirut road-port proposal from a GN official.

After discussing the scheme, the committee directed Cheri Kemp-Kinnear, the City of Iqaluit’s director of community economic development, to draft a lengthy letter to Lavalin stating their strong opposition to the Kimmirut road and port.

The letter, dated April 11, cites a long list of reasons for not building the road and port, a project that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

“The cost to construct and maintain a road for the number of months and in the condition that would be required for truck transport was considered to be far in excess of its potential benefits,” the draft letter states.

The committee also fears that the GN scheme could wreak havoc with two territorial parks.

“The route across the Meta Incognita Peninsula from Iqaluit to Kimmirut, besides being costly to to build across a number of rivers, and very mountanous terrain, would destroy significant portions of the Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park and the Katannalik Territorial Park,” the letter says.

The Soper River, which flows through the heart of Katannalik Park, was designated as a “Canadian Heritage River” during an elaborate ceremony held in the summer of 1992.

Another worry is the social and cultural change that such a huge development might bring to the people of Kimmirut.

“The expected result would be to destroy the lifestyle and quality of life enjoyed today by the residents of the community and visitors to the area,” the committee says.

Yet another reason for their opposition is their belief that Iqaluit, not Kimmirut, is a better place for a deep-water port.

Though Kimmirut has a much longer open-water season than Iqaluit, they say Iqaluit’s existing infrastructure and large work force make it a more suitable location for a deep water port.

And while John Matthews, Iqaluit’s mayor, is adopting a neutral stance, he appears to lean heavily toward the idea of an Iqaluit port.

“There’s some councillors who are very much in favour of having a port here,” Matthews said. “It would seem more practical to have it here rather than having the road and the disruption the road would cause and the potential disruption to a very small community of a deep water port.”

Matthews said, however, that the Iqaluit council wants to sort out its relationship with its economic development committee before moving ahead on discussion of economic development matters. That process could take a week or two, he said.

Kemp-Kinnear, the director of economic development, said the draft letter was tabled at the April 22 Iqaluit city council meeting, but that councillors decided not to talk about it until later.

“The comments that are in there are certainly valid as far as we’re concerned, but if council wants to agree or disagree with the comments, we don’t know yet,” she said.

Under the GN proposal, a deep-sea port would be built at Kimmirut to take advantage of that community’s longer ice-free season.

Supplies would be off-loaded at Kimmirut, then transported by truck across a road to Iqaluit.