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KIVALLIQ/CHURCHILL, MAN
Two Kivalliq representatives were impressed by the tone of summit meetings to promote Northern sustainability in Churchill, Man., this past month.

Rankin Inlet Coun. Shawn Maley goes over a report from the Churchill, Man., Summit earlier this month. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

The Churchill summit was attended by representatives of the Manitoba government, as well as the communities of Arviat, Rankin Inlet, Coral Harbour, Sanikiluaq, The Pas, Thompson and Gilliam.

Among the topics discussed were infrastructure, transportation, the high cost of living, food security, health, employment and training.

Arviat Mayor Bob Leonard said the event sparked interest in a number of projects last discussed during the final talks of the Hudson Bay Round Table about seven years ago.

He said the talks focused mainly on a road and power line to Manitoba.

"There's been talk at our regional mayor's meetings about getting back to work on the road and that's mainly why I went," said Leonard.

"I'm impressed by how the Government of Manitoba is looking at this so positively.

"There was a strong sense from its representatives that it's ready to do this.

"Deputy Minister Don Norquay (Strategic Partnerships) and his staff came across as being ready to do this now, which both surprised and impressed me at the meetings."

Leonard said the Manitobans see the road project being done with private money.

He said at the meeting's conclusion, they were in favour of putting out a request for proposal to gauge interest in the project.

"They were saying it's possible a winter road could be built within two years.

"That may be a little optimistic, but it's the kind of positive picture they were painting at these talks.

"The power-line talks were also interesting.

"When we mentioned hydro power at the start of the talks, they reacted as if they didn't know we were really interested in that and said it kind of fell off their government's radar."

Leonard said once they started crunching numbers on the project they realized how beneficial a power line would be to the Kivalliq, especially with potential mining projects coming in.

He said if the mines go ahead, they would give Manitoba the customer base it needs to justify putting in the power lines.

"They claim a power line would give us cheap electric heating, lighting, etc.

"It would mean huge savings for Nunavut if our government didn't have to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in stored fuel, or build any more tank farms for the next 40 years.

"I'm excited about the potential of that power line to the Kivalliq.

"The next meeting will be in Rankin around the end of this month, and I hope we'll have cabinet-level people from our government attend."

Rankin Coun. Shawn Maley said he was cautious about the meetings because nothing evolved from so many similar discussions in the past.

He said the first positive he saw upon his arrival was the majority of Manitoba reps being from Churchill.

"Normally, when you go to these things, they're all from Winnipeg," said Maley.

"There were a series of meetings that saw us get together, again, as the Hudson Bay Round Table delegation.

"And Manitoba seems serious about development, in terms of Northern economic sustainability.

"It now has a Northern sustainability portfolio and Don Norquay is a real go-getter."

Maley said Norquay's mandate is to develop long-and short-term ways of getting things achieved.

He said there's been very little development on the Nunavut-Manitoba road project during the past 10 years.

"We're talking $15 million in one-time costs, and $6 million in ongoing or sustainable costs, and private industry could pay for that.

"He's (Norquay) analyzing these types of projects and going to the stakeholders with ways we can actually get something done.

"That's a change in attitude that shows people at the table want to get some short-term results, whereas, before, maybe we were too focused on the long term."

Maley said a better way of looking at the road project may be to refer to it as a winter trail or transportation corridor, so the group isn't boxed into one concept.

He said the point is that some type of link is possible.

"They're doing it all-over the world while managing the changing weather patterns.

"Let's keep an all-weather road on track, but, at the same time, try and achieve something in the short term.

"The next meeting is to get the round table back together and bring players to the table like Agnico-Eagle and new government reps.

"We need to ensure we have players willing to make decisions on both short-term and long-term goals."

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