Plans advance for all-season road
Kitikmeot Inuit and premier see strategic investment with far-reaching benefits
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Saturday, July 16, 2016
IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY
Kitikmeot Inuit Association (KIA) president Stanley Anablak was a busy man on Nunavut Day, July 9.
Premier Peter Taptuna, left, and Kitikmeot Inuit Association president Stanley Anablak sign a memorandum of understanding formalizing their co-operation as co-proponents of the Grays Bay Road and Port Project in Cambridge Bay July 9. - photo courtesy of Government of Nunavut.
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Anablak signed a memorandum of understanding with Premier Peter Taptuna for a project that could open up the region, along with leading celebrations in Cambridge Bay for the Kitikmeot Inuit Association's 40th anniversary and the territory's 17th birthday.
Grays Bay Road and Port Project, if completed, would create a 227-km all-season road linking the northern terminus of the end of the Tibbitt-Contwoyto Winter Road to a deep-water port at Grays Bay at Coronation Gulf on the Northwest Passage.
The memorandum of understanding focuses on the preparation of the project proposal, which will be submitted to the Nunavut Impact Review Board and other authorities, according to a news release.
In addition, it covers a number of related issues including project governance - via a KIA-Government of Nunavut lead working group and management committee - communications, contracting processes, and funding matters.
"I believe that the collaboration between the GN and KIA on this MoU sets the standard for how responsible development in Canada's North should proceed," stated Anablak. "As co-proponent of the GBRP Project, KIA's participation will help guarantee that the project is developed in a manner that is consistent with Inuit values, including ensuring respect for the environment and the wildlife that we cherish."
Taptuna said the potential benefits would be "far-reaching."
"A deep water port in western Nunavut will both reduce the high cost of living and stimulate economic activity in the region of Kitikmeot. This project will also create jobs and business opportunities for Nunavummiut."
In April, the Government of the Northwest Territories announced it had formally applied for funding for the Mackenzie Valley Highway project and the Tlicho all-weather road project, with Premier Bob McLeod saying his government was "working in conjunction with the Nunavut government to build a road from Grays Bay, (160 km east of Kugluktuk), to the Slave Geological Province (diamond mine region)."
He said in April, "We see (the roads) as strategic infrastructure developments that will facilitate future development, which is the best way to reduce the cost of living."
The Grays Bay project was specifically mentioned in a report from the Canada Transportation Act Review Committee released Feb. 25.
The 500-page, two-volume report recommended renewing federal government responsibility for and increasing investment in marine infrastructure, including immediate support for the Coronation Yellowknife Corridor - Slave Geological Province seasonal overland road and Gray's Bay port and road project - among other Northern infrastructure projects.
An alternate project, the Bathurst Inlet Port and Road Project first proposed to the south-east of Grays Bay in the late '90s, has been floundering for years, with million of dollars spent on studies. That project is now owned by Sabina Gold and Silver Corp., which bought the project from Nuna Logistics and the Kitikmeot Corporation in 2012. The company had its Back River gold project, which included a marine laydown area at Bathurst Inlet, put on hold by the Nunavut Impact Review Board in June.
