NUNAVUT - Clean-up work on two DEW Line sites is scheduled to start this summer.

The remains of a warehouse foundation at Cape Peel, on the south shore of Victoria Island, are some of the items that will be removed when the federal government starts cleaning this and the Ross Point intermediate DEW Line sites. The project, set to start this summer, would end in 2013. - photo courtesy of INAC CSP

Both Ross Point and Cape Peel on the south shore of Victoria Island were intermediate DEW Line stations from 1956 to 1983.

Ross Point, about 180 kilometres north of Kugluktuk, includes a radar tower, fuel storage facilities, a beach supply site and two airstrips. At Cape Peel, 145 kilometres to the east, lies a radar tower, fuel storage facilities, two airstrips and a cargo beaching area. A garage, warehouse and parts of a building military personnel lived in were removed but some other buildings remain. At both sites, landfills, contaminated soils and other debris will also need to be addressed.

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada is currently seeking requests for proposals to clean up the sites, with the goal of starting remediation work this summer, with completion by 2013, said Natalie Plato, director of the contaminated sites program at INAC. She added that until the department receives the proposals, it can't be certain of the timing and costs, but she anticipates the clean-ups will cost between $8 million and $12 million.

"The sites are all remote," she said. "There is no road access, so the logistical challenge of getting there is by far the biggest challenge. As well, the Arctic construction season is quite short so we only have a small window time to complete the job."

For the first time, the clean-up of both sites will be managed as one project, said Plato.

"They are adjacent DEW Line sites, about 200 kilometres apart, so in terms of our world, they are next door to each other and we had cost estimates that indicate we would save potentially over $1 million," she said.

Cambridge Bay mayor Syd Glawson said he welcomes the clean-up but thinks most of the employment will come from Kugluktuk and Gjoa Haven.

Gjoa Haven senior administrative officer Enuk Pauloosie said the number of people hired from the community will depend on where the successful bidder hires workers. But he added since some community members were trained to clean contaminated sites, he would like to see them rehired.

"Any work coming out would be good for the people that are unemployed," he said. "I would like to see more of these people getting rehired that were trained when they first started cleaning up the old DEW Line sites."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.