RANKIN INLET - The Kivalliq Trade Show in Rankin Inlet this past week is being widely regarded as a major success.

Numerous business and government representatives were on hand for the three-day event, which wrapped up with a tour of the new trades school on the morning of Nov. 25.

John Main: Arviat economic development officer would like to see the Kivalliq Trade Show become an annual event. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

Rankin economic development officer (EDO) Damian MacInnis led the event's organizing committee.

He said no matter what venue participants were gathered at, there were always large groups of people engaged in positive conversations.

"It certainly looks as though there will be more joint ventures as a result of the trade show," said MacInnis.

"We estimate the show brought about $350,000 into the community.

"Every hotel room was booked for the show, plus we paid a number of people $125 per night for billeting a representative.

"We're very pleased with how the show went."

MacInnis said the show helped strengthen existing business relationships and form new ones.

He said business reps were pleased to have a chance to network with the mining personalities at the event, often on a one-to-one basis.

"There's a number of spinoff opportunities right now from mining-sector activity.

"A number of contracts signed with Agnico-Eagle at the Meadowbank Project in Baker Lake were for one year, so there's going to be quite a few requests for proposals coming up soon.

"But if I had to name one negative, it's that the municipality of Baker Lake never had a representative here.

"There has to be more municipal representation from the community of Baker Lake."

MacInnis said he never heard anything negative during the show.

He said more than a few people suggested the event should be held every year, instead of every two years.

"I wouldn't rule that out somewhere down the line because the interest is there and a lot of the big names would like to see it happen.

"It's a great networking opportunity for local and regional companies, as well as interests from outside the region that would like to do business here.

"The support we received was phenomenal.

"Kivalliq Partners in Development gave $50,000 for our capacity building youth program, First Air gave us numerous tickets, the Nunavut Mining Symposium contributed $25,000, and the Hamlet of Rankin Inlet in conjunction with Economic Development and Transportation also put in $25,000."

Arviat EDO John Main said he was impressed by how organized the show was, and by the degree of interest shown by businesses from across the region.

He said while there was a lot of mining talk at the event, other sectors were also well-represented.

"This was all about networking and bringing people together to sit down and toss ideas around," said Main.

"It definitely created a genuine opportunity for business to occur, and it was great to see the Kivalliq set up its own event."

Main said every Kivalliq community is benefitting from regional mining development because of the Inuit Impact Benefit Agreement.

He said Arviat has benefitted through direct jobs and a bit of business activity tied to the mine in Baker.

"The mining potential in Rankin is also very interesting to Arviat because the entire region benefits by the way the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement is set up.

"We see benefits regionally, not community by community.

"More directly, this gave me the chance to talk to different parties regarding training plans and the tourism project we have in Arviat.

"It allowed me to connect the dots in planning for the future, because so many people I've been dealing with were here in one spot."

Main said the mood at the trade show was very positive with Meadowbank on the go and Meliadine moving closer to reality in Rankin.

He said having major projects like that in the region creates genuine optimism.

"Mining benefits the economy as a whole and a stronger regional economy will lead to opportunities in other sectors, such as tourism.

"Another big thing for me at the trade show was the chance to try and put Arviat on the map, in terms of what our needs are.

"We have an exploding population and an incredible amount of youth.

"As a hamlet, we're trying to get our youths the training and education they need for the jobs of the future."

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