IQALUIT - After a fierce and at times emotional debate, Iqaluit's city council voted last Tuesday to hold off on supporting a hydroelectric power plant until the power company consults with the city more fully.

Council reviewed a letter Aug. 11 from Qulliq Energy Corporation (QEC) asking for it to officially support the company's plans to build a hydro dam at Jaynes Inlet. Last Tuesday, for the third time, council chose to put off deciding whether to give QEC a letter of support.

The letter of support would allow the company to access federal infrastructure funds for the project, according to information given in council.

Reiterating earlier statements on the subject, Councillor Glenn Williams criticized Qulliq for what he considered a lack of consultation with the city. Williams wanted to know why Jaynes Inlet was chosen for a hydro plant instead of the Sylvia Grinnell River. Jaynes Inlet is 80 km away and power lines will need to cover the distance between the power plant and the city.

By contrast, the Sylvia Grinnell River is much closer and has waterfalls which could be a good potential place for turbines Williams said. Additionally, establishing a head pond there could double as a water reservoir when Iqaluit's rising population needs a new water supply in the not-too-distant future, he added.

Williams also questioned why hydro was automatically considered the best option for electricity over hydrogen generators or nuclear power.

"When Qulliq came to us they just told us hydro is the best (without explaining why)," he said.

Fellow Coun. Jimmy Kilabuk declared his opposition to any suggestion of damming the Sylvia Grinnell.

"I don't want any dams in the river," he said in Inuktitut. "I want the fish to continue to flow through. If the dam is built there, I will never support any dams."

Councillor Jim Little agreed with Williams over the need for Qulliq to consult with the city, but disagreed on considering the Sylvia Grinnell for a hydro dam.

Little suggested a river east of Iqaluit, but could not remember its name. He said it was closer than Jaynes Inlet and would require power lines across the land, which would mean building a road. A road, he said, would also allow greater access for hunters to travel farther inland.

The 80 km of power lines to Jaynes Inlet, Little said, are supposed to follow the coast, which he objects to for visual reasons.

"It would destroy the vistas every step of the way," he said.

Simon Nattaq, deputy mayor and the council's delegate to Qulliq, said the company's consultation with the public had been disproportionately skewed towards non-aboriginals. In Inuktitut, Nattaq suggested asking Qulliq to send a delegation to the city to explain the company's decision-making process over why they chose Jaynes Inlet for the dam, and then the council could decide whether to give the company the letter of support it requested.

Williams said a confidentiality agreement meant Nattaq, as their delegate to Qulliq, was not able to discuss certain information he had with the city.

"Our representative has been virtually muzzled," he said.

Kilabuk suggested council simply defeat the motion for a letter of support until a Qulliq delegation addressed council, rather than for the council argue all night and not get anything done.

That motion was defeated.