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RANKIN INLET/KIVALLIQ
Some community leaders were happier with what they heard than others at the Kivalliq Mayors Meeting in Rankin Inlet this past week.

Chesterfield Inlet Mayor Harry Aggark follows along during a presentation by Areva Resources at the Kivalliq Mayors Meeting.

The mayors met from Sept. 18-20, with the list of presenters including the Government of Nunavut (GN), mining and airline industries, Nunavut Planning Commission, Municipal Training Organization, Keewatin Business Development Centre and the Nunavut Association of Municipalities.

A number of Manitoba delegates also made the trip so a meeting of the Hudson Bay Round Table could be held at the event.

Arviat Mayor Bob Leonard said he was disappointed with the lack of information in some areas.

He said the presentation on solid waste disposal was, pretty much, a waste of time itself.

"We don't seem to be moving forward on anything, and there's no projects being started to clean up the dumps or offer any solutions to all our garbage woes," said Leonard.

"There wasn't any information because we're not really going anywhere.

"We're studying it - still."

Leonard said the airlines are working hard in battling for their customer base.

He said that market appears to be doing well, and the mayors are increasingly optimistic over the news surrounding the Meliadine gold project near Rankin.

"They seem to be continually finding more ore there, so that's great to hear.

"We also had a presenter on the whole idea of improved family and mental-health services.

"But I didn't really get a sense we're moving forward at the pace the communities are asking for.

"I am looking forward to trying this new system of a separate Social Services, because it may produce results and we're desperate for services."

Leonard said solid-waste management and a lack of family services were Arviat's two main concerns heading into the meeting.

He said more has to be done quickly to provide services like family counselling and support for those suffering from mental illness.

"We also have a big problem with our dump in Arviat.

"Everyone's been saying our dump only has two years of life left in it for the past 10 years.

"We've managed to burn, compact and whatever to keep it going, but we have a huge issue with contaminated soil around a large metal dump.

"It's stopping our town from expanding into a nice area, and we seem to do the same things over and over without any improvements on the way we handle our waste."

Leonard said federal regulators are starting to pressure Nunavut on the state of its dumps.

And, he said, that may not be a bad thing.

"Communities are being pressured to start following the law, as strange as that may sound.

"I don't know how long they'll let communities continue these current practices until somebody starts handing out fines.

"They want us to start complying and that's, globally, a $500,000-million problem for the GN.

"We need to start tackling it one project at a time so we can, at least, get on with something."

Coral Harbour Mayor Jerry Paniyuk said he found the meetings helpful and informative.

He said it's always better to meet face to face with GN ministers, and he was a little disappointed only Community and Government Services Minister Lorne Kusugak attended the meeting.

"Overall, I was pretty happy with the way the meetings went and they were definitely worth my while to attend," said Paniyuk.

"I was disappointed with some information I'd asked Calm Air for.

"I wasn't quite happy with the response, but they're going to get back to me and e-mail me the answers to my questions.

"I was told they had to look into my concerns a bit more and look at the report from their workers before getting the answers to me."

Paniyuk, who is in the first year of his three-year term as Coral mayor, said his community doesn't have many waste concerns, as its dump facility is fairly new.

He said a big issue for Coral right now is the Kerchoffer Bridge, which allows hunters to cross the Kerchoffer River.

"We badly need the money to fix the bridge because it almost got washed out last spring.

"It's about eight kilometres outside of Coral and an important access for hunters.

"It's very difficult for hunters to get where they need to go if that bridge is not accessible.

"Really, instead of repair, we need a bigger bridge built closer to town because this one gets washed out almost every year during the spring melt and runoff."

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