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INUVIK
It was a busy beginning of February for representatives of Inuvik who trekked to Ottawa to spread the town's name as a future convention destination, make new Northern artist contacts and talk natural gas on Parliament Hill.

Deputy mayor Chris Larocque, Mayor Denny Rodgers and Coun. Terry Halifax attend the Tete-A-Tete trade show at the Ottawa Convention Centre on Feb. 9. - photo courtesy of Jackie Challis

Mayor Denny Rodgers was part of a joint committee made up of Ikhil Joint Venture, the GNWT and the Town of Inuvik, and took time at the beginning of February to meet with John Duncan, minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development and Leona Aglukkaq, minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency to look for long-term funding for the natural gas supply for Inuvik.

"We went to brief Ottawa on the issue that we're having here. We're looking for funding obviously to help us with the problem," said Rodgers. "We briefed everyone on the situation: this is what we're looking for, this is why, this is what it means."

Ikhil's natural gas supply is running out much quicker than once thought. At current production rates, the estimated reserve life of the pool is about 1.2 years and could last up to a little more than two years. Rodgers said public information sessions on the town's natural gas situation will be scheduled in the next few weeks

While in the nation's capital, Rodgers also had an opportunity to meet with Natural Resources Canada to discuss the satellite-receiving station the town is developing.

"We're looking at developing that area a little further. There is certainly interest from all over the world on putting more antennas out there," he said.

The town had representatives at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Sustainable Communities Conference and Trade Show as well as the Northern Lights Business and Cultural Showcase.

Jackie Challis, economic development manager for the town, attended the showcase and said topics of discussion included Northern sovereignty, Arctic development projects and exploration.

Sasha Webb, executive director of the Great Northern Arts Festival, attended the showcase as well to network with arts and culture funding organizations as well as artists themselves.

"One of our biggest problems is sourcing artists from across the North because lots of them aren't on the Internet. Lots of them aren't even accessible by phone," she said. "So this was a really great way to meet with the artists who are working for the (Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association) during the Northern Lights festival, and see them in person and help them fill out applications."

The Tete-a-Tete trade show, put on by the Canadian Society for Association Executives, was a venue where planners of national associations, national non-profit organizations and government-related organizations that are based in Ottawa meet. Challis said this was a very relevant networking location for Inuvik since many of these organizations have a mandate to hold meetings in different regions of Canada, and the North is on the radar now more than ever.

"Usually it's a Yellowknife, a Whitehorse or an Iqaluit. For us, we obviously thought it really important to bring Inuvik into that picture," she said.

Challis, who shared a booth with NWT Tourism at the trade show, said she spoke with more than 45 different individuals about bringing meetings to Inuvik.

"We do have some solid leads coming out of that actually but that was the point of that – marketing Inuvik as a conference destination specifically targeted to government organizations or national organizations ... We found this to be very productive and met with a lot of really key contacts and hopefully we see not only potential tourism but funding dollars for infrastructure. We also could see conferences brought here and that's what we want."

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