A manager for the company behind the Grays Bay Road and Port Project says the company intends to submit a proposal for funding from the federal government’s billion-dollar Arctic Infrastructure Fund now that Ottawa has formally invited companies to apply for funding. Nunavut has several big projects in the works that could benefit from the federal fund. (File Photo)
Nunavut infrastructure proponents eye $1B federal fund
Companies backing big projects say they’re interested in making pitches to get a piece of Arctic Infrastructure Fund
The company behind the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link is “assessing” how it might get a portion of $1 billion in federal funding now that the government is seeking applicants for a fund to help pay for northern and Arctic infrastructure projects. So are some other big projects in Nunavut.
“Nukik Corporation is attentively assessing the fit and possibility to engage with these federal programs,” said Anne-Raphaëlle Audouin, the CEO of the proponent for the energy and information link, in an interview Wednesday.
“These programs could represent an important pathway for major Arctic nation-building projects.”
Audouin was reacting to Transport Canada’s announcement that its Arctic Infrastructure Fund is open to receive proposals.
The federal Liberal government created the Arctic Infrastructure Fund as part of its 2025-26 budget. It’s meant to help pay for key transportation corridors, close longstanding northern transportation gaps, and bolster defence operational readiness in the Arctic and Canada’s North, a Transport Canada news release said Wednesday.
The Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link infrastructure project intends to connect five communities in the Kivalliq region to the North American power grid through Manitoba.
It will be a 1,200-kilometre high-voltage transmission line connecting Gillam, Man., to Arviat, Whale Cove, Rankin Inlet, Chesterfield Inlet and Baker Lake, as well as to Agnico Eagle Mines’ two gold mines in the region.
The most recent cost estimate for the project is $3.3 billion.
There are several projects in Nunavut, at various stages of development, that could benefit from the $1-billion fund.
The Grays Bay Road and Port project expects to submit a proposal for funding, said Gavin Law, West Kitikmeot Resources Corp.’s environment manager, in an email Wednesday.
Grays Bay is a “strong fit due to its dual-use civilian and defence importance [and] its role in strengthening Arctic sovereignty,” he said.
That project would connect the Arctic Ocean to Yellowknife via a deepsea port and all-weather road. It is projected to cost $1 billion.
Also on Tuesday, the federal government invited proposals for infrastructure projects to be funded by the $5-billion Trade Diversification Corridors Fund.
The corridor fund will “strengthen trade‑enabling transportation infrastructure and help double non-U.S. exports,” Transport Canada’s news release said.
Both funds are intended to bolster defence, improve transglobal and transnational trade networks and increase infrastructure to connect communities with each other.
Nunavut MP Lori Idlout said Wednesday the government’s calls for proposals were a “welcome announcement.”
But she lamented the Arctic Infrastructure Fund will not be enough over the long term. She said she would much rather have seen permanent, sustained investment in Nunavut’s infrastructure.
Get Lupin on the road so the innuinak outpost camp there can also benefit from the road as well, those people have been on their own since we took the land away from NWT .
Isn’t the point of an outpost camp to be on your own?
No money for Kivalliaq to connect communities but money for private enterprises.
These companies who build/create roads, people have noticed the decline in caribou for years because of it. For several years now, in some communities, people have to rely on caribou tags. My thoughts as an elder who has not been amused at mines building created.
You ever consider the decline in the caribou population maybe caused by over hunting for profit?
Is the largest Nunavut heard in the Kivalliq right now? Where there are 2 active mines? Doesn’t seem to bothering the herd does it!
There are caribou around the Hope Bay project, around the Goose Lake project and they are still around the Lupin mine, where they were when mining was still happening.
To me it doesn’t appear that mining scares them away. The decline is more likely due to the effects of climate change and predatory hunting, both from humans and predatory animals.
this ..not about caribou..be political about it ,look 50 yrs ahead and beyond.