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MITTIMATALIK/POND INLET
Solving security concerns at Nunavut airports will require government, hamlets and airlines to work together, director of Nunavut airports Shawn Maley said in the wake of Pond Inlet's April 4 airplane break-in.

"Our position is we're going to improve security where we can, and we look to the community and the airline to also work with us," Maley said. "I think collaboratively we can resolve this issue, but I don't see a success story if it's left for one or any of the individual groups that are being affected here."

For its part, the government plans to install "a very expensive video alarm system in the airport terminal building," he said, while improving ramp lighting and fencing, all of which goes beyond Transport Canada guidelines for rural airports. The April 4 break-in to a Canadian North de Havilland Dash-8 parked overnight at the Pond Inlet airport took the plane out of commission. Poor weather meant the plane could not go to Iqaluit for assessment until April 6. The plane was repaired at Canadian North's Iqaluit hangar, and returned to service April 7.

A 31-year-old man remains in custody until a May 8 court date in Iqaluit. He faces three charges, including mischief over $5,000, break and enter and theft, and breach of probation. RCMP accuse him of stealing hand sanitizer and some cans of pop.

"We definitely got off lucky on this one as the damage was considerably less than that inflicted in the last incident," Canadian North president Tracy Medve said by e-mail. "(That) was a huge relief."

That relief comes from learning that the company would not lose $250,000, the cost to bring a plane back into service after it was damaged in a similar break-in in April 2011. Still, with four incidents in two years, Medve told Nunavut News/North on April 6 that something had to be done.

Maley said the government won't tolerate it, either, but has limited resources and needs other parties to remain engaged.

"We're as concerned as the airline with the vandalism that's happened there," he said, noting both the hamlet and Canadian North are working to ensure planes can continue to overnight in the community.

"As part of that, I understand Canadian North has hired a night-time security guard.

He said the municipality has also been asked to provide the GN with the costs of employing nighttime security. That question was issued because the hamlet operates the Pond Inlet airport as a government contractor, he said, and the hamlet has provided an estimate for the cost of a full-time night security guard.

The government hopes to have security systems installed by the end of May at a cost of about $30,000 for parts plus $15,000 for installation. Other airports experiencing frequent break-ins are Cape Dorset and Iglulik, which will get similar systems this year.

"We want to see first of all how they work, what their response is in terms of mitigating some of the vandalism, and we'll make our decision if those are the right systems and if not, how can we modify them. Then we have to decide if we're going to put them in all of our airports," Maley said, noting it's an expensive proposal.

"People (need to) understand that it's a real privilege to have an aircraft parked in your community," he said, pointing to Baker Lake, Repulse Bay and Arviat as the other hamlets outside of Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet that host planes overnight. "Flights (from Pond Inlet) in the morning are always on time - that provides you connectivity without having to overnight in Iqaluit. As airlines are becoming more competitive in terms of their connectivity, it's happening more and more. But vandalism to aircraft is very rare in Nunavut. It's headlines when it happens because it's a big-ticket item, but it's a problem in some sites. I wouldn't say it's a problem everywhere."

Pond Inlet's council wants the airline to continue its current service, and held a special meeting Friday to discuss the issue. The outcome was not available before the press deadline.

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