National security relies on ‘community-based’ infrastructure: Hydro-fibre link proponent
Nukik Corp. estimates project could cost $3.39B
Rankin Inlet, shown in this file photo, as well as Arviat, Baker Lake, Chesterfield Inlet and Whale Cove, would be connected to the south if the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link project were to be built. (File photo by David Venn)
With a heightened interest in more military presence in the Arctic, there is still a need for “community focus” and support for “nation-building” projects like the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link, the project proponent says.
“You sense a degree of frustration, and it’s real,” said Anne-Raphaëlle Audouin, CEO of Nukik Corp., in an interview.
“The lack of investment has really exposed Canada as a vulnerable link in our military presence and our ability to respond to threats.”
Audouin said it’s impossible to talk about national security and sovereignty without “community-based infrastructure.”
Nukik Corp., which is owned by Kivalliq Inuit Association and its business arm Sakku Investments Corp., is leading the creation of the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link.
The project includes a 1,200-kilometre high-voltage transmission line connecting Gillam, Man., to Arviat, Whale Cove, Rankin Inlet, Chesterfield Inlet and Baker Lake along with Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.’s two gold mines in the region.
The link would connect Nunavut to the North American power grid and bring high-speed internet to the territory.
Five Nunavut communities could be connected with the rest of Canada by a 1,200-kilometre high-voltage transmission line. (Photo courtesy of Nukik Corp.)
Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link was one of four projects included on the Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.’s “nation-building” wish list.
But it’s an expensive proposal, with an estimated price tag of more than $3 billion.
John Main, the minister responsible for Qulliq Energy Corp., provided that updated number last week to the legislative assembly.
However, Nukik Corp.’s estimate is slightly higher — just above $3.39 billion, Audouin said.
That’s up from roughly $3 billion estimated in 2022, shortly after Nukik was incorporated and tasked with the projects in 2021. Before that, in 2019, the project’s price tag was estimated at $1.2 billion.
Funding is yet to be secured, so the price could still change with inflation, Audouin said.
The plan is to start “shovelling the ground” in 2028 and then complete the link by 2032, she said, adding that construction alone would contribute $3.2 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product — the value of all the goods and services produced in a year — and bring $8 billion in revenue over the life of the project.
The corporation is looking for federal funding for the project, and with the new government in Ottawa Audouin hopes those conversations will intensify.
Nunatsiaq News contacted the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations for comment, but did not receive a response by press time.
The Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link has received just under $15 million from the federal government since 2018, Audouin said.
The corporation’s long-term “vision” for the link is to help Nunavut become an exporter of electricity one day, she added.
Once transmission lines are up and communities develop their own renewable energy sources, they could use the link to sell electricity outside the territory.
“That is a pathway to independent economic prosperity that should be really seriously looked at,” Audouin said.
National security the umbrella, when in doubt call it a matter of national security. International insecurity has won the day. The Canadian joining with the antagonists in the West… I could go on however I will refer readers to much more knowledgable people in world affairs, Jeffrey Sachs, Ben Norton, Abby Martin.
Isn’t there something you should be attending to at your anarcho-syndicalist commune?
Maybe planning your next trip to Venezuela, or to Xinjiang to observe how the Uyghurs are prospering under the beneficent leadership of President Xi?
The least developed jurisdiction in Canada is Nunavut. As shown in the last issue of Nunatsiaq News, Nunavut has developed at a rate of 7.5%; highest of all the jurisdictions in Canada. With the mineral resources that are being explored across Nunavut and possible mines, Canada must start to develop some of the required infrastructure.
I believe it is only right that Canada build the infrastructure needed in the least developed jurisdiction. With inflation the costs will continually rise and completing the required work sooner will keep the costs down as much as possible.
They are STILL talking about fibre, it’s been 15 years of listening to this, and watching the endless “consultants and surveys”. Millions spent and no further ahead. What a joke
They only way to get infrastructure in Nunavut is to satisfy itinerant workers needs.
For a military presence in the Arctic, we need proper high speed internet!
Elon’s starlink is good but we need to be connected to the south at all the times with a secure connection that’s not going to drop out at any given moment.
For anyone who doesn’t agree with this, they are still living in the 50’s or 60’s and not with the times. Nunavut needs to be in the present and looking towards the future, right now its like we are still in the wild wild west.