Inuvialuit buy Canadian North
Development corporation now sole owner of airline
Walter Strong
Northern News Services
Published Monday, April 7, 2014
IQALUIT
In what is being described as an ongoing restructuring effort, the Inuit-owned Nunasi Corporation sold its 50 per cent interest in NorTerra Inc. to the Inuvialuit Development Corporation (IDC) for an undisclosed sum, giving IDC 100 per cent ownership of NorTerra.
Nunasi Corporation sold its 50 per cent interest in NorTerra Inc. to the Inuvialuit Development Corporation (IDC) for an undisclosed sum, giving IDC 100 per cent ownership of NorTerra. NorTerra holdings include Canadian North, the Northern Transportation Company Limited (NTCL), Braden-Burry Expediting, Northern Industrial Sales, and Weldco-Beals Manufacturing. - NNSL file photo
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NorTerra holdings include Canadian North, the Northern Transportation Company Limited (NTCL), Braden-Burry Expediting, Northern Industrial Sales, and Weldco-Beals Manufacturing.
Wayne Gordon, IDC chair, said employees of the subsidiary companies involved have no reason to expect job losses related to the announcement that IDC is the new boss.
"We want to let people who are working for those companies know that, wherever they may be, their jobs are still there," Gordon said.
Northern air-carrier Canadian North is NorTerra's highest profile holding.
Canadian North spokesperson Scott Weatherall confirmed that the airline anticipated no changes to staffing or air travel service as a result of this change in ownership.
"This doesn't change anything," Weatherall said. "Everything is the same here, it's business as usual."
Business as usual for the airline includes the Canadian North Pivut program, in place since 2005, that offers reduced air fares to beneficiaries of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and the Inuvialuit Final Agreement.
"It will always be in place as far as we're concerned," Weatherall said.
NorTerra as a whole has not been a profitable asset for Nunasi.
Okalik Egeesiak, Nunasi chair, described unloading NorTerra as being in the best financial interest of Nunavut and beneficiaries of the Nunavut Trust.
Egeesiak said Nunasi has not been able to pay a dividend on revenue related to its holdings since 2010, and the company is not yet in a position to say whether 2013 will be a dividend year.
Among NorTerra's five subsidiaries, Egeesiak was not prepared to elaborate on how NorTerra was an unprofitable asset for Nunasi.
The sale is just one part of a larger restructuring process at Nunasi
"We've been restructuring for over a year and half now to be more accountable to the regions and the development corporations in Nunavut."
"There have been different businesses that ... have not been profitable - not just NorTerra - that we have let go in the last few months," Egeesiak said. Although NorTerra didn't have a place in Nunasi's restructuring, the IDC is glad to now have 100 per cent interest in the company. Gordon confirmed that all five of Norterra's holdings fit into IDC's overall business strategy, regardless of Nunasi's appraisal of NorTerra's performance.
"If we didn't think we were going to be successful (with this investment), we would not go there," Gordon said. "I'm positive about NorTerra."
The IDC owns, or has an interest in, a large portfolio of companies with a primary focus in energy and transportation. It is 100 per cent owned by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC).
The IRC distributed $2.4 million in dividends between 4,256 beneficiaries enroled in the Inuvialuit Trust last year.
The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation also owns the Inuvialuit Investment Corporation, Inuvialuit Land Corporation and Inuvialuit Petroleum Corporation.
