RANKIN INLET - Mining, transportation and a developing housing shortage in Baker Lake garnered a lot of attention at the Kivalliq Chamber of Commerce's annual business symposium in Rankin Inlet this past week.

Scott Bateman: First Air president laid out the airline's plan to service the entire Kivalliq region in Rankin Inlet this past week.

First Air has announced that as of March 29 the airline will supply passenger service to all seven Kivalliq communities.

President and chief executive officer Scott Bateman said First Air saw the Kivalliq market had become a virtual monopoly. He said that situation presented itself as a prime opportunity for the airline.

"We've been serving the community of Rankin Inlet for many years through NWT Air and, as soon as the market went to monopoly, that was the signal for us to expand," said Bateman.

"Before we relaunched passenger service back into Rankin, we did a comprehensive business case on the whole system.

"We look at the Central Arctic and the Kivalliq region as a whole.

"We don't look at the profitability of any single destination."

First Air is banking on the strength of its jet network in the east-west and north-south connections to combine with its network in the communities to create a positive contribution.

Bateman said a decision two years ago to stop passenger service on the Rankin to Winnipeg route was born out of the Government of Nunavut's decision not to support the route with medical-passenger travel. He said medical-passenger travel is the largest passenger contract in the North.

"If they're not granting any traffic, it sends a very strong signal to the carrier that it's not wanted.

"We later met with the new government officials who came in, and they expressed a desire for jet service because they felt their constituents deserve it, so we went back to the drawing board to try and make it work.

"Consequently, the entry point for food mail destined for Rankin was shifted to Winnipeg from Churchill and we were successful in obtaining that business.

"With that, and a commitment from a lot of communities to support the jet service to the extent they can, we felt it warranted taking another shot."

Bateman said once First Air committed to the plan, it knew it had to put passengers on the jet.

He said the airline took the initiative to become the first carrier to base an aircraft in Baker Lake and Arviat to be able to feed the jet with same-day connections.

"The combination of all these things should lead the operation to a positive result.

"And, by this time next year, we'll have the two Beech 99 airliners out of the region and improve our operations with two ATR 42-300 aircraft."

While Baker Lake Mayor David Aksawnee was more than happy to have another airline servicing his community with an aircraft based in the hamlet, he was most interested in the discussions on mining during the symposium.

Aksawnee said a number of companies sent representatives to the meetings and he was happy with the flow of information during their presentations.

He said the companies talked about their future plans and how things are going with their projects, and that was the interesting part for him.

"There was also some talk on business opportunities for Kivalliq companies, of course," said Aksawnee.

"We had our director for economic development at the meetings to make a presentation to the chamber on what our plans are for the future, because our community is really being impacted by the Meadowbank mine.

"The biggest challenge facing us right now is the shortage of housing being brought on by people from different Kivalliq communities moving to Baker Lake.

"We currently have a family of 14 living in one house."

Aksawnee said the Kivalliq Chamber of Commerce has a lot of influence in dealing with mining, exploration and transportation companies.

He said there were many important topics discussed at the meetings.

"The chamber is playing a large role in development, and I think it will provide a lot of help to Baker on opportunities that may soon open up in our community.

"People in our community are in a happy mood because we're seeing results at Meadowbank.

"The mine is creating jobs and opportunity for local people, so it's a real positive atmosphere right now."