by Cheryl Leschasin
Northern News Services

CAMBRIDGE BAY (Sep 22/97) - Residents of Cambridge Bay have been working for years to bring Mount Pelly Park into being.

However, they have discovered they're faced with a unique situation that is putting the development on hold -- they proposed park is on military land.

"There is a military reserve here," said tourism officer Marion Glawson.

The reserve encompasses approximately one third of Victoria Island and includes one of the sites in the North Warning System. Residents say the land targeted for the park, however, has never seen any sign of military occupation or activity,

The proposed park would cover 1,570 hectares. One thousand hectares of that falls on reserve land, which also includes Cambridge Bay.

Residents have been working to get the military reserve status lifted so they can being work on the park, which would include walking trails, washrooms and interpretative signs.

"This goes back well into the early '80s, when the community first identified the area as a park," said Glawson.

Glawson said part of the motivation to establish the park comes from the wishes of community elders, who recognize the land as traditional hunting grounds and tell legends about the area.

However, the entire community is reportedly behind the move to establish a territorial park.

"The community is going to try and encourage the military to leave the area," said Glawson, who added that walks of the area have never revealed indication of military presence.

Currently, the entire project is on hold pending a response from the Department of National Defence, but residents aren't expecting answers to come soon.

Glawson said repeated requests to the military to have the land released from reserve status have elicited no concrete reason why the military won't do it.

Lt. Paul Seguna, public affairs officer at the Department of National Defence in Ottawa, said that although there is a possibility the land may be released in the future, it is still a military reserve and that department may still have uses for the land.

"The reserve is owned by DIAND and they have reserved it for DND as part of the defence infrastructure," said Seguna.

Seguna also said the reserve was set aside as part of a joint defence agreement with the U.S.

"DND is interested in supporting the creation of Mount Pelly Park, but defence requirements are such that the land can't be relinquished," said Seguna.