Arctic road and port project meets opposition and support as Nunavut board recommends environmental review

A project that would connect southern Canada to the eastern Arctic coast by road is being met with both opposition and support from people who would be affected by it. 

The Grays Bay Road and Port project would see the construction of a 230-kilometre all-weather road that stretches from ice roads in Yellowknife all the way to the Arctic ocean. 

On Dec. 4, the Nunavut Impact Review Board — the territory's environmental assessment agency — recommended the project receive a full environmental review. That decision comes after the project proposal received comments from registered interveners and the public. 

The project would start at Grays Bay on the Coronation Gulf in Nunavut and create permanent infrastructure south to the Jericho Mine Site near Contwoyto Lake and continue another 60 kilometres to the N.W.T./Nunavut border by ice road. 

The project could "potentially introduce additional exploration, mining and transportation infrastructure in adjacent areas within the Kitikmeot [region] and Northwest Territories," reads the decision from the board. 

Construction is expected to take five years, starting in December 2029, with operations starting in 2034. The life of the project is 75 years, according to the review board. 

The project facilities would be permanent, meaning there is no plan for closure and reclamation other than areas used for pre-construction and construction. 

'A road to nowhere'

A submission to the review board from the Kugluktuk Hunters and Trappers Organization (HTO) calls the project "a road to nowhere" that wouldn't benefit local communities. 

The organization also said it doesn't support the project because Dolphin and Union caribou are at a critically low level. It says work would take place in key caribou calving grounds. 

"Other roads in Nunavut show that caribou do not like crossing roads," the organization wrote. 

The Caribou Guardians Coalition and the Tłı̨chǫ government in the N.W.T. echoed the Kugluktuk HTO's concerns, noting the proximity to caribou calving grounds and the risk of illegal harvesting along the road. 

Project will be built to mitigate concerns 

Brendan Bell, the chief executive officer of West Kitikmeot Resources Corp., the project's proponent, said he was "very pleased" to see the number of comments submitted on the project. 

"Most people are withholding their support at this point until they see more detail," Bell said. "So it's early days, but our job is to take all of the feedback on board, analyze it and understand it, continue to engage and interact with these interveners to make sure that we accurately understand their concerns."

Bell said they ultimately want to design "a project that is able to mitigate against those concerns."

The Kitikmeot Inuit Association, which previously owned the project, still supports it. 

"We believe it will bring benefits to the region in terms of earlier shipping, reduced prices and whatnot, and also it'll open up access to many potential opportunities for mining operations," said Fred Pedersen, the Inuit association's executive director. 

Pedersen said he hears the concerns from people about the project's potential effects on wildlife and marine mammals, but believes the environmental review is the right tool to address them. 

"We feel that that process will allow for parties to come together and bring forward those concerns and also bring forward mitigation efforts that can be done to reduce any issues or impacts on wildlife."

The cost of the project was initially put at around $600 million. 

Bell said with inflation, that estimated cost has since increased to about $1 billion. About 75 per cent of that funding will hopefully come from the federal government, he said. 

The recommendation for an an environmental review is now before the federal government, which needs to sign off on it in order to move forward.