CONTWOYTO LAKE
Remediation work on Contwoyto Lake weather station is expected to wrap up by April 2015.

Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada have contracted Yellowknife's Delta Engineering Ltd. and Hay River's Carter Industries Ltd. to carry out site remediation at the Contwoyto Lake weather station site, located 335 km southeast of Kugluktuk. The project is expected to wrap up in 2015. - photo courtesy of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada

Yellowknife's Delta Engineering Ltd. and Hay River's Carter Industries Ltd. are contracted to carry out the project on behalf of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC).

The contractors met with Kugluktuk residents earlier this month to fill them in on the process.

The former weather station, located 335 km southeast of Kugluktuk, was built by Pacific Western Airlines in 1956, around the time the Distant Early Warning (DEW) line was constructed.

Two decades later the site was taken over by Transport Canada and in later years the Coppermine Hunters and Trappers took over the site to use as an outpost camp.

The companies contracted to clean up the station are tasked with loading hazardous materials, including wood covered with PCB paint and leachable lead, into bins and removing them from the site using backhauls and a Hercules aircraft.

Workers will also demolish four small buildings, save a small hunting outpost camp, and remove 289 barrels containing a total of 2,200 litres of contaminated water.

Additionally, the site contains approximately 1,200 cubic metres of metal and petroleum-contaminated soil that must be treated or excavated and taken to a treatment facility.

Leftover debris must also be removed from the site.

"This remediation project represents an important investment of approximately $4.5 million into Nunavut’s environment and economy, which will provide employment, subcontracting and training opportunities to Nunavut residents and businesses," according to an AANDC spokesperson.

The two contractors are expected to be looking for heavy equipment operators, hazardous material handlers, camp attendants, cooks and general labourers during July and August.

The contractors are expected to maintain Inuit employment levels of 40 per cent or more for on-site labour. Delta/Carter will also be using Nunavut Inuit-owned contractors and subcontractors for 18 per cent of all outsourced services.