Nunavik’s famous crater lake will become provincial park

KANGIRSUJUAQ — Nunavik should have its first provincial park by June 2001, if all goes according to plan.

The proposed park protects an unusual crater, known in Nunavik as “Pingualuit.” The crater, located 88 kilometers southwest from Kangirsujuaq — and not far from the Raglan nickel mine, is the result of a meteorite that crashed there 1.4 million years ago.

The crater’s lake is noted for its exceptional water. Its 900 billion litres of water are considered to be among the purest on earth and have virtually no salinity, odor, colour or taste.

Pingualuit will be the first of three Quebec provincial parks that are planned for Nunavik.

But this park can’t officially proceed before an environmental and social impact study is completed. Then, public consultations must also be held.

If this required study can be ready by early 2000, and followed by hearings in June, the park could become reality a year later, in June, 2001.

Quebec’s environment department has made the Pingualuit park a priority and has set aside money for studies and planning.

This summer, Arngak and a team of surveyors traveled around the land that’s been set aside for the park. They also catalogued 120 species of plant life.

“It’s so pristine,” said Ulaayu Arngak, the municipal counselor who’s been working on the plans for a park. “But we know airplanes land there, so we’d like to have a park for protection.”

Following the survey results, Inuttitut names will replace the French-language names that had been given to waterways and land formations within the future park. The park’s proposed borders will also be slightly enlarged.

But to effect this change, the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement may have to be amended, because the JBNQA withdrew the land inside Pingualuit’s boundaries from development. This means that the mineral potential of any new territory included in the park will have to be examined.

With so many steps ahead, Arngak wishes that park planners had more money to work with, but the Quebec government has only allocated $5,000 for the planning of the park, although another $100,000 will be spent on the study and hearings.

But Arngak said her community has to learn a lot more about park organization in other Inuit areas and elsewhere in Quebec. They’d like to look at other aspects of Pingaluit, too, such as whether to run a road to the crater and what kinds of visitors’ facilities will be needed.

“It’s so confusing about what steps to go through,” she said. “It’s a totally different concept from a mine.”