Nunavut and Ottawa open geological office in Iqaluit

IQALUIT — The federal minister of natural resources, Ralph Goodale, came to Iqaluit last week to open a new federal territorial facility aimed at improving geological research.

Loosely modeled on the Yukon territory’s geoscience centre, the Nunavut geoscience office will spearhead research into the geology of Nunavut and help co-ordinate research efforts by Nunavut’s Department of Sustainable Development, the Geological Survey of Canada and DIAND.

The three groups have committed a total of $1.3 million per year over the next three years to the centre.

“Nunavut has remarkable natural resources potential,” Goodale said in a federal government press release. “A key to unlocking that potential and to bringing exploration and investment north is expanding geoscience knowledge in the region.”

Among the first projects to help do that will be two geological studies planned by the geoscience office’s chief geologist, Dr. David Scott.

“In the original proposal for the geosciences there were two areas identified for work,” said Gordon MacKay, director of minerals, oil and gas for Nunavut’s department of sustainable development.

One area is in the Kitikmeot region near Committee Bay. MacKay says the geology of the region has good potential for mining, but has not been surveyed extensively.

The second area is central Baffin Island, east of Clyde River. MacKay says that area has an interesting, but poorly understood geology.

A third “geoscapes” project is being planned, MacKay said. That project would study how communities in Nunavut “interact” with the geology around them.

The study would be an opportunity for people living in the communities to learn about geology and at the same time give the geologists an opportunity to learn about the culture of Nunavut.

“Maybe it would give a kid a chance to learn something about one of those scraggly geologists doing a survey of a rock face and make them think ‘hey this is kind of cool. Maybe I’d like to be a geologist when I grow up.”

MacKay says the geosciences centre is all about self-determination and bringing the direction of research back to Nunavut.

In the old days, he said research on Nunavut’s geology was done, but it was always done from remote locations such as Yellowknife, Calgary and Ottawa.

The geosciences office will be run by a six-member management committee. Voting committee members will come from the Geological Survey, DIAND and the Nunavut government.

MacKay will be the Nunavut government representative, while Dr. Scott will be one of the committee’s three non-voting members. The other two members will represent Indian and Northern Affairs Nunavut, and Nunavut Tungavik.

At the opening ceremony last week, Nunavut’s minister of sustainable development, Peter Kilabuk, said the centre will bring new opportunities to the people of Nunavut.