Nunavik closes deal on revamped search-and-rescue fleet

GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS

Spurred by the tragic boating deaths of a well-known family last year, Nunavik’s regional government has joined forces with the Makivik Corporation to buy millions of dollars worth of search and rescue equipment.

Government officials expect 14 fully-equipped search-and-rescue boats will wend their way to Nunavik this year, providing each community along the Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay with the means to retrieve victims or survivors who get lost on the water.

The price-tag for the boats and equipment reaches upwards of $3 million, split between the regional government and Nunavik’s birthright corporation.

But Larry Watt, communications officer for the Kativik Regional Government, said frustration from last year’s failed search for a family of four, as well as past search missions, made the purchase a priority for regional councillors.

“I think it was a need that goes back many years,” Watt said. “It was a need that was evolving. The leadership in Nunavik have made a choice to accomodate this important need.”

KRG councillors committed to the purchase at a Feb. 14 meeting in Quaqtaq, after the administration advised them that money is available through the 2002 Sanarrutik Agreement on economic development, under which Quebec will give Nunavik more than $360 million over 25 years.

The confirmed purchase marks a political coup for regional councillors, most of whom campaigned in last year’s election to pressure the regional government to deliver a search boat to each community. Politicians and residents have long complained that Nunavik deserves its own fleet, considering the region contains 2,500 kilometres of coastline.

Until now, Nunavik has depended mainly on southern search teams because the region doesn’t have even one boat equipped for search and rescue missions.

The debate over developing a made-in-Nunavik policy and program for such programs exploded most recently in August, last year, when the Kauki family went missing while canoeing on Ungava Bay.

At the time, politicians, including Kativik Regional Chair Johnny Adams, accused southern authorities of fumbling the rescue effort by waiting too long to begin the search, and offering dubious support, such as map services, which Adams said Inuit who know the land don’t need.

Regional government officials expect the arrival of the 14 boats by the end of this year will help ensure any past bureaucratic mistakes or communication breakdowns between North and South don’t happen again.

“How it’s going to change is the search-and-rescue capabilities of Nunavuk wil be more up to par with what available in the South,” Watt said.

Council also approved the purchase of 28 snowmobiles for search and rescue purposes. The regional government plans to deliver two skidoos to each community by the end of the summer.