‘We have to be realistic’: Critics, proponents agree Grays Bay will be built
Proponent hopes all-season road and deepsea port will be completed by 2035
Amanda Dumond, manager of the Kugluktuk Hunters and Trappers Organization, is a longtime opponent of Grays Bay road and port project. She says her organization has to be “realistic” that the project will likely move forward. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
This map shows the approximate location of the Grays Bay port and road project. (Image courtesy of West Kitikmeot Resources Corp.)
While Grays Bay road and port missed the cut for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first list of major projects recommended for fast-track approval, proponents and fierce critics agree on one thing — the project will get built.
“It just gets me fired up every time we talk about it,” said Amanda Dumond, manager of the Kugluktuk Hunters and Trappers Organization, who has been a longtime Grays Bay critic.
She adds, “But we have to be realistic.”
Earlier this month, Carney announced a list of five projects the federal government will give fast-track approval to under Bill C-5.
No Nunavut projects made the list, but the prime minister hinted Grays Bay — with its proposed 230-kilometre all-season road and deepsea port in Kitikmeot Region — might be included on the next list.
“I feel very optimistic,” said Brendan Bell, CEO of West Kitikmeot Resources Corp., the project’s proponent, adding the company still aims for a 2035 opening.
He said he wasn’t surprised Grays Bay didn’t make Carney’s list as it’s still in its “early stages” — it still needs more permits, and has commitments for only about $30 million so far toward its nearly $1-billion estimated price tag.
The company hopes 75 per cent of the cost will be covered by the federal government and the remaining 25 per cent by the Government of Nunavut.
First proposed in 2016, the road would run from the former Jericho diamond mine to Grays Bay on Coronation Gulf, approximately 200 kilometres east of Kugluktuk, where a deepsea port would be built.
The road’s “anchor tenant,” or main user, Bell said, would be the federal government and companies could also use it for mining and exploration.
The project has seen numerous delays.
But Dumond, with the hunters and trappers association, said it’s like a “cat with nine lives.”
“It comes on the table, and then it dies, and then it comes back,” she said.
This time, the road and port are being touted as important to securing Arctic sovereignty, so political pressure might move it ahead more quickly.
Grays Bay is set to be part of larger Arctic Security Corridor that extends all the way to Edmonton and connect southern Canada to the Northwest Passage.
In 2018, it was estimated Grays Bay road and port would raise Nunavut’s gross domestic product — the total value of all goods and services produced in a certain area in a certain time — by a total of $5.1 billion, and Canada’s by $7.6 billion, over 15 years.
“It’s a road to nowhere. It’s only about money,” Dumond said, adding a road to a community would benefit people.
The proposed route will cut through caribou migration paths, putting local herds under a threat, she said.
Andrea Hanke, researcher at Cloudberry Connections, shows migration routes of Kitikmeot caribou herds, whose population has declined over the past decades. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)
The Kitikmeot caribou population has already declined from 38,000 in 1997 to just over 4,000 due to climate change and human activities, said Andrea Hanke, researcher at Cloudberry Connections and consultant for the hunters and trappers organization.
Bell said West Kitikmeot Resources hears those concerns. However, the location of the road was selected by the Government of Nunavut and Kitikmeot Inuit Association, who consulted local elders, and the corporation hasn’t tried to “revisit” those plans.
Although the road will not connect any hamlets, the Grays Bay port will extend the sealift season for Kitikmeot communities, Bell said. It will also provide easy access to resource-rich areas of Nunavut and support federal government activities including national defence.
As for caribou, Bell said rules for vehicles driving on the road will be similar to those on roads leading to Nunavut mine sites — whenever there is an animal in sight, the driver must stop to let it pass freely.
“We think, by and large, there is community support for this,” he said.
“There’s a consensus around this, so when people ask me about, ultimately, can we get there — I feel strongly that we can.”
I am with Amanda “its all about money”
Dolphin Union caribou herd is more important than this road to nowhere. All made up by Kia for money amd not for inuit. Build it from kugluktuk so it will bring benefits for the whole community in “due” time. the region will also benefit if it was started in Kugluktuk ,all the young people will benefit for ever if this road connects to Canada KIA is all about history but as we baby boomers have all our chidren and have grandchuldren and all the millenials have their families in the future they will also benefit greatly from improvements made in town from the road . Be it at Greys bay it will have no real benefit for us in Kugluktuk. It will be just another staging area for the exploration companies and kabloonaks that want this road . If its all about money ? Bring it to Kugluktuk . Quit delving in the past, it is history ! But…the future is a mystery
I stand with Amanda.
This project is an overpriced, unnecessary and poorly thought out boondoggle.
If you build it, they will come. Build a community at Grays Bay, and I will be one of the first to ones to move there.
A new community in Nunavut with an all weather road to the rest of Canada, eh?
If anyone in this territory is getting a road to their community from south, it’ll be a Kivalliq town first. LOL. Eastern arctic politicians does not know Kugluktuk exists. Cambridge Bay will find a way to get a bridge built across the ocean to their island before Kugluktuk gets a road. 😂
Never mind the immense cost of building and, especially, maintaining a road. Just clear a designated route and use hovercraft–like the ones that used to carry trucks, cars and people across the English Channel.
The Grays Bay road seems like it will be in the middle of nowhere. How about building a road from Churchill up to Rankin or Baker Lake? It would benefit the communities along the way.
I am with Amanda, yes it’s all about money, same when KIA & others that wanted to built the Road & Port project near Bathurst Inlet which never happened. Our ancestors, our grandparents relied on caribou, moose and other animals for food and survival. Because of the mines, up until several years ago people had to get tags in order to hunt caribou. It was upsetting that i learn about Goose Bay mine (MLA camp) had opened not far from Bathurst Inlet. Sorry but not sorry for commenting on this.
Dalton highway in alaska one of the busiest highways in alaska cuts right thru caribou migration in the arctic national wildlife refuge and that porkupine caribou herd is the healthiest in the world . As long as they got a lot of wild life officer along the road to prevent poaching. In alaska poachers get jail time big time in canada not so much
Yeah sure buddy, that’s a herd with a crazy amount population. Their is NO comparison between the two herd, the herd around KUG has numbers you can count on one hand!
This whole Greys Bay is the least of our issues here KUG. We have an election coming up and we have two men running. One is a great guy, the other….well lets just say he has to be one of the biggest crooked politicians of our generation. He was president for KIA when the whole Greys Bay thing started, so we know his just in it to line his pockets if he gets in. My Question is why did he quit? Was it step down or we have to release the audit that, we the pubic are not privy too? My vote is for SIMON! The story speaks for itself.
https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/stanley-anablak-steps-down-as-kitikmeot-inuit-association-president/
It’s now a 3 way campaign for Kugluktuk. An ineffective mayor who oversees a totally dysfunctional Hamlet administration. As stated above, a “retired” politician who resigned under questionable circumstances from KIA presidency without explanation (remember that the long time ED left about the same time) who has been a shill for mining companies ever since. And the current MLA who is totally invisible, does not hold public meetings, is not accessible to his constituents. My advice to the good people of Kugluktuk – look south. Yellowknife or Alberta are mighty attractive, better education, healthcare, employment opportunities and overall quality of life.
This project was dreamed up by consultants and driven by the consultants. It will benefit NWT more than Nunavut. Why the heck is Nunavut being asked to pay for a mine road to Yellowknife instead of a Nunavut community.
Wake up None of it, you will pay for this with your tax dollars, lost federal dollars which you badly need to upgrade your local infrastructure to national stands and deprive Kugluktuk of their caribou harvest even further.