Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (SEP 02/02) - More than two decades after Nunavut's infrastructure was built, the systems are rapidly nearing the end of their useful lives.

Doug Sitland, director of capital programs for the Department of Community Government and Transportation. - Kerry McCluskey/NNSL photo

The problem is serious because the territorial government has come up more than $20 million short of what's actually needed to address the situation.

Doug Sitland, the director of capital programs for the Department of Community Government and Transportation, said whether the infrastructure is a community hall, a landfill site, a sewage treatment system or a water supply system, it can only be expected to last 20 to 30 years.

This means from Kugluktuk to Gjoa Haven and on to Iqaluit, Nunavut's systems are fast heading towards retirement.

Sitland estimated communities need a combined annual $40 million to $50 million to maintain and build necessary new infrastructure, but receive less than half of that -- about $17 million a year.

"The last four years, we've been $20 million behind and it just keeps growing and growing," said Sitland.

Because hamlets shoulder the brunt of the burden, municipal officials try and cut costs where they can. Often, it's maintenance programs that suffer -- a choice that only taxes aging systems.

"If you have an aging system and you cut back on maintenance, the life expectancy of that asset is reduced even further," said Sitland. "It's a double-edged sword."

To make matters worse, community planners failed to anticipate the current rate of population growth when designing infrastructure in the 1970s and 1980s.

"Twenty years ago when you planned for something in advance, you wouldn't have thought the population would be this big," explained Sitland.

Federal pressure

Adding even more pressure are increasingly stringent federal standards.

Sitland said the federal government's increased presence in the territory means new rules. Add that to a difference of opinion at the territorial and federal levels over priorities and the outcome is a grossly underfunded territory.

For example, Sitland's department was in the process of building a new sewage treatment system in Panniqtuuq. The current system is inadequate, meaning virtually untreated sewage is dumped into the ocean.

But because of a directive from the federal government, his department must fix the sewage treatment system in Pond Inlet -- at a cost of $3.5 million.

Both projects will be completed this fiscal year, but the pressure, and the lack of funds from the federal government for the solution, made the situation difficult.

"The federal government doesn't recognize I have 25 other problems and they just want me to fix this one problem and they want it fixed tomorrow," Sitland said.

"Our federal partners need to be a funding partner in the solutions."

Joining forces

Going after Ottawa for infrastructure costs and other community needs is the Nunavut Association of Municipalities' top goal.

NAM president Keith Peterson scheduled the spring gathering of mayors and senior administrators in Ottawa this year. His goal he said, was to get those on the frontlines in the communities to meet federal cabinet ministers to accurately communicate their needs.

"The municipalities are here at ground zero and we tell it like it is" said Peterson. "We're bringing issues right from the people's mouths to the territorial and federal level."

Peterson's campaign also involves writing letters. Most recently, he wrote to federal Finance Minister John Manley asking Ottawa to recognize Nunavut's unique circumstances.

Peterson also expressed concern with per capita funding. Because of Nunavut's small population, the territory gets a small piece of the money pie despite disproportionately large needs.

The letter was timely given that the federal government still hasn't handed out monies from the $2 billion strategic infrastructure fund.

However, Manley's response to Peterson does not inspire hope.

"I would emphasize that Nunavut's unique circumstances are already recognized in the current financing agreement and the transfers it receives from the federal government are significant," wrote Manley in a reply to Peterson's plea.

Peterson refuses to give up, however, turning to perseverance and making sure Nunavut continues to lobby hard for infrastructure funding.

"You wonder what the point is when you're trying to better your communities and you get pounded with information that the government can't do enough to help you. But if you allow these obstacles to beat you down, you'll never develop or improve things," said Peterson.

"The ultimate goal is to make life better any way we can. You can't give up. That's what I think everyday."