Andrea Markey
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 02/06) - The year started off with welcome news by hunters and trappers in both Nunavut and the NWT.

Southern auctions in late 2004, early 2005 saw ring seal pelt prices up to 60 per cent higher than the year before, averaging $67.02.

Lucassie Kittosuk owns Kawtaq Construction Ltd. in Sanikiluaq and struggles to compete with larger companies bidding on projects in his community. His company worked on a number of multi-plexes this year. - Kathleen Lippa/NNSL photo

Prices for marten, wolverine and wolf, lynx and white fox pelts were also favourable.

That early good news for some did not match that for other business people in the NWT. More than $14 million in contracts for Deh Cho companies conditionally awarded by Imperial Oil for winter geotechnical work in January were cancelled in February due to regulatory delays.

This marked the third year in a row Imperial missed its winter work schedule in the region, however work did take place in the Delta over the winter.

This uncertainty played itself out through the rest of the year with Imperial halting all technical work on the project in April, citing unsettled impact and benefit agreements and "unreasonable demands" from aboriginal groups.

Uncertainty surrounding the pipeline led to a slowdown in this year's oil and gas exploration and drilling in the Beaufort Delta. Only about $100 million was expected to be spent, with $60 million of that related to Devon Canada's offshore winter drilling program in the Beaufort Sea.

At the end of November, Imperial announced it was ready to move ahead to the National Energy Board's public hearing phase of the regulatory process. The preliminary schedule has meetings beginning in January and running until October. The NEB's decision on the pipeline is expected in 2007.

The NEB will take into account the findings of the Joint Review Panel from its own public hearings scheduled along the Mackenzie Valley.

Tahera's Jericho diamond mine continued its regulatory paperwork throughout the year, with the Kitikmeot Inuit Association Land Lease finalized in June.

Construction began in April, after approximately 550 truckloads of materials were transported up the winter road. Production at the mine is scheduled for this spring.

Miramar Mining Corp. also continued regulatory work on its proposed Hope Bay gold project near Cambridge Bay, with technical meetings in Yellowknife and community and site visits. The company hopes to open the mine in 2007. Public hearings are scheduled for the end of January in Cambridge Bay.

Nunavut continued to be the prospecting region of choice in the North, with 1,137 prospecting permits approved on Feb. 1, 2005, compared with 449 for the NWT. In 2004, $150 million was spent on prospecting in Nunavut. It is expected that number will increase this year.

It is for these reasons groups like Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Kivalliq Inuit Association travelled to Toronto for the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada trade show - and to Yellowknife for the 33rd annual Geoscience Forum - to meet with exploration companies and discuss employment opportunities and project updates.

Uncertainty around land claims in the NWT was cited as a reason for the decline in permits applied for in the Deh Cho and Akaitcho regions.

The Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce was revived in January after a two-year hiatus with the election of Keith Morrison as president. Chamber director Ib Kristensen was pleased with the number of young business people expressing an interest in chamber activities.

Last year saw all 25 Nunavut communities connected to the rest of the world through wireless high-speed internet. The initiative of Nunavut Broadband Development Corp. is maintained by Yellowknife-based SSI Micro.

SSI Micro is launching a similar project with Falcon Communications, a wholly-owned aboriginal company. The $9.72 million funding agreement was signed with the federal government in November. All 31 NWT communities are expected to have access to the broadband service by this October.

Unions showed their strength and solidarity in 2005 with strikes and lock-outs that involved workers at CBC, the Liard River ferry and the local Finning Canada division.

Each dispute ended with what the unions deemed positive results for workers.