1 | Page July 31, 2020 Marjorie Kaviq Kaluraq Nunavut Impact Review Board P.O. Box 1360 Cambridge Bay, NU X0B 0C0 We, the elected officials of the five communities in the North Baffin Region, are writing to you to today to inform you of serious problems with the proposed timelines for the review of Baffinland’s Mary River Phase 2 proposal. As we have explained in several previous submissions, we are not in favor of resuming meetings and hearings until issues related to COVID are resolved and face-to-face meetings can take place. It remains our position that proceeding now, when full face-to-face meetings is impossible, will be a breach of procedural fairness owed to our residents and members. In any case, our organizations will be unable to submit updated technical comments or prepare for technical meetings in August as proposed. We recommend, at minimum, updated technical comments be requested no sooner than mid-September and the technical meetings be scheduled no sooner than early October. This recommendation is based on the following issues: 1) When the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) postponed technical meetings in late April, it committed to consulting with interested parties before issuing next steps in this process. We expected to be consulted before these timelines were issued. As a result, we were not prepared to re-start this process with such little notice. 2) Many of our staff, consultants, and board members are on summer holidays. Most of the North Baffin residents that have relevant Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit are currently on the land and harvesting. We also continue to operate with reduced capacity given COVID restrictions and safety protocols. 3) We need more time to consider recent developments in this process, including Baffinland’s recent annual report and the Inuit Certainty Agreement between Baffinland and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association. 4) Recent correspondence from NIRB, Baffinland, and QIA have not been provided in Inuktitut, making it impossible to meaningfully discuss recent developments with unilingual Elders, and Inuit who prefer to operate in Inuktitut, of which there are many. We hope you will seriously consider revising the proposed timelines. We would appreciate having further opportunity to provide our perspectives per your commitment of April 24, 2020. To be clear, we do not support resuming the review process at this time. We do not believe our communities will be able to meaningfully participate in the review process without full face-to-face meetings. The decision to resume the process was made against our wishes and without consulting with us. We would be proceeding in protest and under duress if pressed to 2 | Page resume technical meetings and other procedural steps until such time as we are able to engage in full face-to-face meetings. We would also like you to be aware that we have read the July 24 letter from Baffinland CEO Brian Penny to the Nunavut Impact Review Board. We disagree fundamentally with the arguments and claims in Mr. Penny’s letter and are in the process of preparing a detailed response. The Mayors and HTO Chairmen of Pond Inlet, Igloolik, Sanirajak, Arctic Bay, Clyde River Cc: P.J. Akeeagok, President, Qikiqtani Inuit Association Aluki Kotierk, President, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated The Honourable Joe Savikataaq, Premier of Nunavut/Minister of Environment The Honourable David Akeeagok, Minister of Economic Development and Transportation David Qamaniq, MLA Tununiq Paul Quassa, MLA Igloolik Joelie Kaernerk, MLA Igloolik/Hall Beach Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, MP, Nunavut The Honourable Daniel Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs The Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Stephanie Autut, Executive Director, Nunavut Water Board Brian Penny, CEO, Baffinland Karen Costello, Executive Director, Nunavut Impact Review Board.