Iqaluit (July 10/06) - Iqaluit to Resolute return: $1,700. Sanikiluaq to Montreal and then on to Iqaluit (not including overnight stopover), $2,500.

Finding a direct connection: priceless. And often impossible.

While getting around one of the most sparsely populated regions on Earth is bound to be expensive, politicians and travellers are ganging up on the high cost of travelling around Nunavut.

Sanikiluaq mayor Annie Amitook says getting to Iqaluit from Nunavut’s most southerly community is a time-consuming and expensive process. Two days of meetings in the capital can eat up as much as a week, she said.

“You have to go through Montreal and spend a night or a weekend,” Amitook said.

Booked two months in advance, a return flight to Montreal via Kuujjuarapik, costs almost $900. The second return leg to Iqaluit, with a stop in Kuujjuaq adds an additional $1,600 to the bill.

Even the 45-minute flight to Kuujjuarapik, where many Sanikilummiut have relatives, costs roughly $300.

That means people rarely travel out of the community unless it’s for a family emergency, like a sick relative or funeral, Amitook said.

“They don’t go (to Kuujjuarapik) just for the fun of it.”

The terminal at Iqaluit’s airport on July 3 was crawling with passengers coming and going after the Canada Day long weekend.

Pheobe Hainnu, on her way to Cambridge Bay via Yellowknife, estimated the price of her ticket at about $3,000. She thinks part of that cost is because she has to change planes in the Northwest Territories to get to Cambridge Bay. “It’s kind of silly... to have to go out of the territory to get there,” Hainnu said.

Sitting next to her in the terminal, Qaqasiq Kudluasiq estimates his ticket to Arctic Bay cost $1,000. He thinks that’s too expensive, but admits he doesn’t know what would convince airlines to cut the cost.

The lack of direct flights and high costs raised the ire of Peter Kattuk, MLA for Tasiujaqjuaq, and Levi Barnabas, MLA for Quttituq, while the Legislative Assembly was in session last month. But with airline services provided by private sector companies, there’s little the government can do, though Economic Development Minister Olayuk Akesuk said the government can lobby the airlines for change.

“Our answer is to argue with the airlines to come up with ideas of how we can improve... transportation,” Akesuk said.

Fred Gaspar, vice-president of policy and strategic planning with the Air Transport Association of Canada, said with airlines flying over a large and sparsely populated North, it “stands to reason” fares are relatively expensive.

“Ours is an industry with very, very high fixed costs,” he said, which means airlines spend a lot of money on planes, fuel and staff before they ever sell a ticket.

The federal government could help decrease airlines’ costs by phasing out the federal excise tax on jet fuel, which is at four cents per litre. Ottawa also rakes in $300 million annually in airport rent, costs that are passed onto passengers, Gaspar said.