IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY - Cambridge Bay will be home to Canada's new High Arctic Research Station, the federal government announced Tuesday.

Mayor Syd Glawson of Cambridge Bay, right, hugs Indian and Northern Affairs Minister John Duncan after the announcement that Cambridge Bay has been chosen as the location for a High Arctic Research Station, while Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq looks on. - Navalik Tologanak/NNSL photo

The Kitikmeot community beat out Pond Inlet and Resolute, also in the running to get the leading-edge, multi-disciplinary facility.

"I feel like I'm walking on air. I feel like Cambridge Bay just won the Stanley Cup," said Cambridge Bay mayor Syd Glawson. "I feel like our people are very happy. I know I am. This CHARS, as we call it, is just going to be a catalyst. It's the first day of our new life. We will grow."

Glawson didn't want to venture a guess as to why Cambridge Bay was chosen but he did mention the community is a "hub" for sea traffic and is on or very close to the "true" northwest passage.

"The three communities that were finally short-listed – Cambridge Bay, Resolute and Pond Inlet – they all deserved to be short-listed and to be in the running," he said. "The thinking that the prime minister had and his people – we'll never find out why."

Leona Aglukkaq, federal health minister and MP for Nunavut, said Cambridge Bay was chosen for a number of reasons, including the opportunities for partnerships, the research potential and the community's role as a transportation hub.

The facility, slated to open in 2017, will study Arctic wildlife, environment and climate change, for instance, as well as strengthen Canada's sovereignty, according to the federal government.

Resolute and Pond Inlet were the other two communities on the shortlist to host the station.

Mike Richards, Pond Inlet's senior administrative officer, said the announcement of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's planned trip to Cambridge Bay – he never made it because stormy weather stranded his plane in Churchill, Man. -- was a clue that the Kitikmeot community would get the station.

However, Richards said he was hoping it wouldn't happen.

"We have a much more diversified geography and areas that would be studied for scientific research but unfortunately, there was a choice of three and the government has made their choice," he said. "It's another bad decision by the government but it's their decision.

"We're happy that they considered Pond. We wish Cambridge Bay all the success in the world. But I think it's going to be interesting in that they're going to have troubles with logistics and everything that they wouldn't have had in Pond."

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