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QAUSUITTUQ/RESOLUTE - The research facility in Resolute will expand thanks to $11 million in new funding for the Polar Continental Shelf Project, which could mean jobs for residents of the community.

Martin Bergmann, director of the Polar Continental Shelf Project, said while construction work on the facility won't begin until after the sealift arrives in Resolute in 2010, jobs could be available before that.

The Polar Continental Shelf Program facility in Resolute Bay will be expanded thanks to $11 million in funding. - photo courtesy of Janice Lang/Polar Continental Shelf Program, Natural Resources Canada, Government of Canada

"A lot of the site preparation and some of the foundation work and piling work will likely be done before that," Bergmann said. He said community members could be hired to assist tradespeople and general labour work could be available as well.

"We're going to need labour to help us with that and so we expect there will be some positions there, whether they be done through one of the local contractors in Resolute or what were not sure, but were certainly looking at getting as many people as can be involved with that."

Resolute's economic development officer Philip Manik said hamlet council has begun discussing the possibilities, but it is too early to tell how many jobs could be available. He said workers from outside Resolute will be contracted, but labour jobs will be available for members of the community.

"They'll be getting outside workers for sure, but they'll need help in the labour area from here. That will probably be open for younger students, young people."

Manik said sometimes there simply aren't enough people in Resolute to perform jobs because of the demand from researchers and archaeologists who also hire people from the community during the summer.

"Right now it's the boom time," he said. "Spring and summer, they're building buildings, scientists are going out and need guides."

Ludy Pudluk, resident of Resolute and former MLA, said he hoped young people will be hired for the expansion project.

He said while students from Resolute are often hired during the summer to help with archaeological projects, he said it would be good to get them employed in other areas as well.

"I was really happy with the young people being hired for the archeological site," he said. "I hope they will be hired more in the other area, not only at the archaeological site."

Bergmann said the amount of traffic from researchers interested in doing research in the North this year came as a surprise.

"We've seen an increase in the number of scientists that want to go up into the field this year over next," he said. "We thought that after the International Polar Year that there would be a bit of a downturn for a while."

He said researchers often hire residents of a community to help with field research.

"Over time, the person might start off being there with the rifle and looking to make sure to protect everybody's butt, so to speak," Bergmann said. "But then they turn around and they get more involved in the science."

Bergmann said the expansion of Resolute's facility will include increasing living quarters to 75 beds from 41, adding a -80 C freezer and building a small science lab.