Iqaluit (July 17/06) - A deepwater port and more soldiers are coming to Nunavut, but federal defence minister Gordon O'Connor wasn't yet ready to say exactly where.

"I want the navy in the North," O'Connor told reporters after a morning meeting with Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik Friday.

Defence minister Gordon O'Connor speaks with reporters Friday as premier Paul Okalik looks on. The two officials said a deepwater port is in the offing for Nunavut, but didn't say where - Chris Windeyer/NNSL photo

With more ships passing through the North every year, O'Connor said Canada needs the ability to enforce its marine laws even if not all countries agree that the Arctic waters are Canadian territory.

"Our territory has vast resources and it's in our interest to protect what we have," O'Connor told reporters in Yellowknife prior to his stopover in Iqaluit. "We would never impede a country from going through the passage, but it must ask for permission, observe our laws and we need the ability to enforce them."

Okalik said seven communities are in the running for the port.

He wouldn't name all of them but did confirm that Iqaluit, Resolute, Kimmirut, and Nanisivik are candidates. The final decision, Okalik said, is up to the military, even though the port will be used for both military and civil purposes.

O'Connor said the navy will need a place to refuel icebreaking ships also promised for the Arctic. The nearest site now is in Greenland.

"We want to get the port regardless of where it will be," Okalik said.

There's no word on the cost of the port, although a proposal touted by the city of Iqaluit puts the cost for a port in the capital at $58 million.

O'Connor also couldn't say how many military personnel would end up stationed in Nunavut as a result of the military's expansion.

The defence minister said an Arctic training centre could be built in either Resolute or Cambridge Bay.

- with files from Jason Unrau