Nunavut Impact Review Board chairperson steps down

The chairperson of the Nunavut Impact Review Board is stepping down after 14 years as a board member.

“Throughout my tenure with the board, I have had the privilege to listen extensively to proposals and interventions first-hand for major projects in Nunavut,” Marjorie Kaviq Kaluraq said Wednesday in a news release.

“I will miss doing this work and it will always be an experience I cherish.”

She said she resigned to accept a role as vice-president at Nunavut Arctic College.

Kaluraq was first appointed as a NIRB board member in 2011 and began serving as chairperson in 2019.

She was at the helm while NIRB considered a controversial proposal to expand Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.’s Mary River iron mine. The board recommended in 2022 the proposal be rejected and Dan Vandal, the northern affairs minister at the time, followed that recommendation.

Kaluraq also helped keep the board running during the COVID-19 pandemic, something very few organizations were able to do, Dionne Filiatrault, executive director for the board, said Wednesday.

“One of the things that was amazing was this board’s ability during the worldwide pandemic to continue to do its work,” Filiatrault said.

Filiatrault attributed that achievement to Kaluraq’s leadership.

The impact review board’s role is to study the physical and socio-economic impacts of project proposals in Nunavut and offer recommendations to the federal northern affairs minister, who is ultimately responsible for approving or rejecting submissions.

Discussion on nominating a replacement for Kaluraq is underway, Filiatrault said. The board will convene May 26 to pick a nominee. The final decision rests with Northern Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand.

In the interim, vice-chairperson Albert Ehaloak will chair the board.

“She’s not the first woman chairperson of the board, but she brought a lot of vitality and energy and experience,” Filiatrault said of Kaluraq. “The board is going to miss her.”