Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Resolution Island (Dec 10/01) - As Harry Flaherty sipped his morning coffee on Resolution Island this summer, he was startled by sounds he'd never heard during the four years he'd worked at the abandoned military site.

"The birds are slowly starting to come back," said Flaherty, director of environmental services for Qikiqtaaluk Corporation.

The man in charge of cleaning up the contaminants left behind by the U.S. military during the Cold War has seen the number of animals and birds grow as the toxins disappeared.

"You can really notice the result," said Flaherty. "When I first went there, there was nothing, it was dead. Now you notice birds in the lakes, falcons around for the whole season ... and it was the year where we saw more bears. Almost every day there was a bear passing through."

The battle for cleanliness has not been an easy one. The scene, 100 kilometres off the southern tip Baffin Island, is considered the most toxic abandoned military site in the North. Lead, asbestos, mercury and fuel residues poisoned the soil. The level of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was 160 times what Canadian laws consider safe.

Despite a shrinking annual budget from the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, QC crews have made significant headway in the last four years. Contaminants have been isolated, thousands of barrels shredded, waste oil incinerated and toxic landfills excavated.

As a bonus, dozens of Inuit now have training and valuable work experience. In the past year, 90 per cent of the 58 employees and 100 per cent of management were Inuit.

Government has poured more than $20 million into the project since 1998, but Flaherty said that unless funding returns to prior levels, plans for next summer may have to be put on hold.

Besides constructing a state-of-the-art landfill on the island, more contaminated soil must be removed. The highest priority for 2002 is shipping it to a private incinerator in St. Ambroise, Que.

"Our PCB storage facility is full now, so we can no longer excavate soil. There is no longer any option but to ship the soil off the island," said Flaherty.

That initiative will cost up to $12 million over three years.

"If we don't get more money, there's not much we can do this year," said Flaherty, estimating year 5 will cost at least $4 million.

"We don't want this to be stalled when we're so close. The budget has to be larger this year."