Three Nunavut businesses receive share of $5M from federal government
Qikiqtaaluk Business Development Corp., Saaku Investments Corp., Nunavut Fisheries among recipients
Three Nunavut businesses received money from a $5-million federal fund for Indigenous businesses administered by CanNor, which is based in Iqaluit. (File photo)
The federal government has announced how $5 million from its fund for Indigenous businesses will be spent in Nunavut.
The funding is administered through the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, also known as CanNor, which is based in Iqaluit.
Larry Bagnell, parliamentary secretary to Mélanie Joly, minister of economic development and minister responsible for CanNor, announced the spending in a news release issued on Monday, Aug. 9, which was the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
The Qikiqtaaluk Business Development Corp. received $1.6 million for water and sewer infrastructure in Iqaluit. The total cost of the project is $3,221,600, with an investment of $1,668,902 from QBDC.
The project introduced water and sewer infrastructure to the Federal Road area, which was previously served by trucked utility services.
Saaku Investments Corp. will also receive $36,694 for the completion of a feasibility study for a retail gas outlet in Rankin Inlet. The total cost of the project is $73,339, with the Government of Nunavut contributing $18,322.
The Nunavut Fisheries Association will receive $20,000 to lead a study on the socioeconomic impacts of the Nunavut commercial fishing industry. The total cost of the project is $29,000, with the NFA contributing $9,000.
In total, 11 Indigenous businesses across the three territories received funding.
“The Nunavut Fisheries Association will receive $20,000 to lead a study on the socioeconomic impacts of the Nunavut commercial fishing industry. ”
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On the one hand, $20k isn’t much of a handout for a study, on the other hand researching the “socio-economic impacts” of commercial fishing is almost certain to yield a rather dull and highly predictable word salad of the usual canned gripes and lamentations (I can hardly wait).
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I hope Nunatsiaq runs a story on the results and lets the public judge the quality of the work and the worthiness of the investment. I think a study on the sustainability of a fishery would be more useful, though perhaps that has been done.
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So be it let us toss the softballs!
“The Qikiqtaaluk Business Development Corp. received $1.6 million for water and sewer infrastructure in Iqaluit… The project introduced water and sewer infrastructure to the Federal Road area, which was previously served by trucked utility services.”
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Meanwhile, Whale Cove residents are on another boil water advisory, 6 years in a row now. Really shows the caste system in place in Nunavut, where Iqaluit is King, Rankin and Cambridge are the Lords, decentralized communities (Arviat, Baker, Pond, Dorset, Gjoa, Igloolik, Pang, Kug) are the Merchants, while the other communities are just peasants.
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Approximate boil water advisory times for Whale Cove:
3 months in 2015.
2 months in 2016.
4 months in 2017.
3 months in the Fall of 2018.
9 months from December 2018 to end of August, 2019, and another two months in the Fall of 2019.
2 weeks and counting so far in 2020.
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If you’re counting, that’s about 2 years out of the last 6 that Whale Cove has had to boil water, which includes suggesting that infants are toddlers are given sponge baths instead of real baths to avoid accidentally ingesting water. Shame.
Maybe Nunavut Fisheries will drop the funding for their 20k fluff piece and allow the funds to be spent on something substantive. Granted, that’s not much of anything, mostly its optics.
I’m starting to wonder if the water advisory for the community of Whale Cove, might have to do with the truck being contaminated or the the plumbing where they get their water from?
Why isn’t the MLA for the community of Whale Cove pushing to get this done as he has been pushing to get things done for Arviat? Why aren’t the community leaders voicing their concern on a louder note?
So much money is being spent on feasibility study over and over and you don’t see real actions,
Are you kidding me?!?! These are three of the most heavily subsidized and I would argue profitable organizations in Nunavut! What do they need federal assistance for?!?! There are any number of legitimately struggling Indigenous SMEs affected by Covid, who could have really used that money and this is the best the feds could come up with!?!?! Shameful.