Week of September 27, 2010
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Chamber of Mines News Briefs – September 29 – October 1, 2012 [Note: News headlines are hyperlinked to their stories in this document.] CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS ................................................................................................................................... 1 Canadian High Arctic Research Station needs link with traditional knowledge: CamBay consultation ... 1 Nunavut News ............................................................................................................................................... 2 Build dock first, port later, say sealift companies ..................................................................................... 2 Shipping companies decry absence of port facilities in Nunavut ............................................................. 3 Aariak promotes devolution at Nunavut Trade Show .............................................................................. 4 Nunavut telecom players call for government action .............................................................................. 5 Narwhals travelling further off regular migratory patterns ...................................................................... 7 NWT News..................................................................................................................................................... 8 Salt River First Nation elects six councillors .............................................................................................. 8 KFN chief says new Wildlife Act will strip treaty rights ............................................................................. 8 Resource Development and Energy News .................................................................................................... 9 A mining 'whopper' ................................................................................................................................... 9 Gold mine in the backyard ...................................................................................................................... 10 Iron ore and fiber optics in the works for Nunavut ................................................................................ 12 Pine Point processing plant facing delays ............................................................................................... 15 Forged in iron .......................................................................................................................................... 16 Community backs iron project ................................................................................................................ 17 Mine clean-up rules too lax, critic says ................................................................................................... 18 CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS Canadian High Arctic Research Station needs link with traditional knowledge: CamBay consultation “The research station should be a two-way bridge, not a one-way bridge" Nunatsiaq News - September 28, 2012 JANE GEORGE People in Cambridge Bay got a chance to become personally involved in the Canadian High Arctic Research Station this past week. At a Sept. 26 public meeting, a small group of local residents told the CHARS team, which included federal government bureaucrats, a scientist, an architect and two engineers, how they think the new $142.5 million research facility should be built and operated. Speaking at a public meeting, Richard Ekpakohak said he wants to make sure CHARS, slated to open in July 2017, pays more than lip service to Inuit. Ekpakohak said the research station should bridge western science and Inuit knowledge. “The research station should be a two-way bridge, not a one-way bridge,” Ekpakohak said. For too long, everything that Qallunaat bring in goes in one direction, he said, like a one-way bridge. CHARS needs two lanes, he said, integrating the two approaches to knowledge. “That will be very important to us,” Ekpakohak said. Chamber News Briefs 1 CHARS will be guided by the principles of Inuit Qaujimatuqaangit, John Xenos, the director of Arctic Science Policy Integration at Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, assured Ekpakohak. But “we will need to define how we will do it,” he added. Hamlet councillor Sarah Jancke encouraged the CHARS team to collaborate closely with Cambridge Bay residents. Architect Alain Gautier promised her that involvement, noting CHARS will reflect an integrated design — based on the input of everyone in the community every step of the way — that’s “rare” in similar large- scale construction projects. Other suggestions raised at the public meeting included a call to use wind and solar energy in the research station, which the CHARS team said was in the works for the “green” construction of the future research station, along with finding ways to conserve water use. Those at the meeting also said they wanted CHARS to include outreach programs for local schools and even for visitors on cruise ships. The goal of CHARS, responded Donald McLennan, head of monitoring science on the project, is to get the community into the facility and researchers out into the community. But there was also concern from some at the meeting about community access to jobs and housing for the estimated 35 to 50 people who will work at CHARS. Housing for local hires could be an additional incentive for local youth to continue their education, Jancke suggested. As for the five sites now under consideration for CHARS, along the Airport Rd., Mitik St., Water Lake Rd, the dock and the Plateau, Chris Arko, who works in the lands department at Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., cautioned the CHARS team that Airport Rd. and to a lesser extent Mitik St. can flood during storms. The CHARS team returns in late November or early December with more developed design ideas and site selections to show to people in the community. In addition to the Sept. 26 public meeting, its members also met with many other groups in Cambridge Bay, including the local CHARS committee, elders, Nunavut Arctic College and high school students. NUNAVUT NEWS Build dock first, port later, say sealift companies Shipping companies say Iqaluit needs some type of docking facility now CBC News – September 28, 2012 The three shipping companies that service Nunavut are calling for some type of docking facility in Iqaluit soon, instead of waiting for a deep sea port to be built sometime in the future. Iqaluit has been lobbying for a deep sea port and has been trying to find the millions to build it. But the sealift companies attending the Nunavut Trade Show and Conference say it's better for leaders to be realistic and get some type of less elaborate docking infrastructure in place. "You look here in Iqaluit, nothing's changed since the time of Martin Frobisher, nothing at all," said Suzanne Paquin, with Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping. "The vessels are much bigger, they're significantly better. What does that mean to the North? Well it means that the ships have to be anchored farther away and that means they're exposed to all the harsh weather, the elements, the wind, which means there's more days especially in the fall where we can't work.” Chamber News Briefs 2 That costs companies time and money. Paquin said Iqaluit could look to Nunavik for examples of smaller ports that meet both the companies’ and the communities' needs. Peter Woodward with the Woodward Group of Companies suggests re-using what was put at the causeway by the American military. "We really do believe that you need a dock — a piece of concrete, nothing elaborate — and some ability to accommodate some tidal influences,” he said. “You could pull tractor trailers up." Woodward said it would make a big difference for people in Nunavut's capital. Shipping companies decry absence of port facilities in Nunavut "If you look at Iqaluit, nothing’s changed since the time of Martin Frobisher” Nunatsiaq News - September 28, 2012 DAVID MURPHY The heads of the three largest shipping companies working in Nunavut converged at the Nunavut Trade Show Sept. 27 where they all criticized Nunavut’s severe lack of basic marine infrastructure. Nunavut communities, and especially Iqaluit, fall behind communities in Nunavik because of the near total absence of port facilities in the territory. That’s costing their companies big money, said Daniel Desgagnés, the managing director of Nunavut Sealink and Supply Inc., Suzanne Paquin, the chief executive officer and president of Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping, and Peter Woodward, the vice-president of Woodward Group of Companies. “If you look at Iqaluit, nothing’s changed since the time of Martin Frobisher. Nothing at all,” Paquin told an audience of about 60 people at the trade show session on “Infrastructure Transportation/Deep Sea Port.” “I focus on Iqaluit because this is the largest community, and it’s one of the communities that we lose the most time. Time equals money — these ships are expensive, they’re expensive to run, and here we are, waiting,” she said. Woodward estimates time lost waiting to unload cargo multiplies the cost of shipping three to four times. Ships can only unload cargo in Iqaluit eight hours a day when the tide is out, but their workers are helpless and forced to wait once the tide comes back in, he said. And icebergs blocking the way to shore only create more problems, as seen in this year’s disastrous shipping season. “It takes two weeks here — whereas if they were doing it in Montreal, it would take two days,” Woodward said. Woodward suggested