Hearings on Baffinland’s Nunavut expansion end with criticisms of Pond Inlet

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After three years, four hearings, two cancellations and other restrictions imposed by COVID-19, the fate of the Mary River expansion project proposed by Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation is now in the hands of the Nunavut Commission responsible for the impact review (CNER).

The most affected Nunavut community is not buying into the mining company’s growth plans.

“We don’t want to sacrifice our culture and traditions for jobs and benefits,” said Enookie Inuarak, of the Pond Inlet Hunters and Trappers Organization, on the final day of the NRCC hearing in Iqaluit.

Inuarak said it seemed the company was ‘trying to buy us off’, with repeated claims about jobs and money, and threats to put the mine into servicing if the expansion did not take place. .

Six days of hearings ended on Saturday afternoon. The CNER will now begin to make a recommendation on the expansion plan for Daniel Vandal, the Minister of Northern Affairs, who will have the final say on whether to move forward.

Baffinland wants to increase production, increase shipping and build a railroad to bring the ore to the port of Milne Inlet.

Hearings held in Iqaluit revealed the conflict between Inuit culture and the development associated with the mine’s expansion.

Pond Inlet’s lack of support for the project already exploded in February with a blockade at the mine site airport. But during the hearings, more community representatives of about 1,800 people voiced their concerns.

A speaker from Pond Inlet addresses the Nunavut Impact Review Panel on Friday at the Aqsarniit Hotel and Conference Center in Iqaluit through a remote video connection with the northern community of Baffin. (Jane George / CBC)

Caleb Sangoya’s farewell message was that Baffinland should start thinking like Robert Peary, who reached the North Pole in 1909 with the help of the Inuit, instead of John Franklin, whose entire 1845 expedition all perished. alone in what is now western Nunavut.

Clyde River Mayor Alan Kalluk Kormack said Baffinland doesn’t seem to care that Inuit are losing their culture and traditions.

The benefits of the mine – hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in royalties and contracts – were brought up less in the discussion than concerns about the impact of the mine on narwhals.

A speaker from Pond Inlet spoke of a time when narwhals swam in large numbers in Eclipse Sound.

However, last summer the wary narwhals waited until the navigation season was over and then it was too late for hunters to hide their harvest.

“How is [my son] going to learn the skills of a hunter? “asked Sula Nutarak of Pond Inlet, referring to returning from a hunt with her son empty-handed.

Others lamented the lack of respect for traditional knowledge, although Baffinland often spoke of various agreements, commitments and committees, which in Phase 2 would ensure Inuit a much greater voice in operations.

Udlu Hanson and Megan Lord-Hoyle, vice presidents of Baffinland Iron Mines Corp., sit at the table at the Aqsarniit hotel and conference center in Iqaluit on day six of final hearings on the proposed expansion of the Mary River iron mine. (Jane George / CBC)

Speaking to CBC News, Baffinland vice-presidents Megan Lord-Hoyle and Udlu Hanson said the audience’s comments were “productive.”

Hanson said the overall proposal for Phase 2 has improved as the company has addressed Inuit concerns since the hearings began in 2019.

At the end of the meeting, the chairman of the review panel, Kaviq Kaluraq, said the initial deadline for final written statements from hearing participants would be extended by a few weeks. This means that the 45-day board decision-making process, which begins after reporting closes, will extend into the new year.

In the meantime, Lord-Hoyle has said Baffinland will resume operations.

“We’re going to be sitting on the edge of our seats while we wait for the recommendation from the NIRB,” she said.

This recommendation may or may not be accepted by the Minister of Northern Affairs.

In June 2016, the CNER recommended that Ottawa reject Sabina Gold and Silver Corp.’s Back River gold mine proposal, citing environmental and social impacts. The minister sent the proposal back to the NIRB in 2017, giving the mine, which is currently in development, another chance.

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