{"id":330707,"date":"2025-12-07T17:18:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T17:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/330707\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T17:18:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T17:18:32","slug":"qikiqtarjuaq-port-backers-seek-federal-support-in-ottawa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/330707\/","title":{"rendered":"Qikiqtarjuaq port backers seek federal support in Ottawa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deepsea port project price tag climbs to $350M as Inuit-led partners urge Ottawa to \u2018focus on the North\u2019<\/p>\n

The estimated cost to build a deepsea port in Qikiqtarjuaq has risen to more than $350 million, project leaders said Tuesday while urging the federal government to help advance what they called Canada\u2019s most \u201cshovel-ready\u201d Arctic sovereignty initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is only one project that is fully permanent with environmental approval, with the support of the local community, that can start construction right now. And that\u2019s the Qikiqtarjuaq\u00a0port,\u201d said John Risley, chair of the Arctic Economic Development Corp., one of the companies working on the project. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The project was previously estimated to cost more than $200 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So far, $53.4 million has been secured \u2014 $13.3 million from the Nunavut government and $40.1 million from the federal government.<\/p>\n

At a news conference on Parliament Hill, representatives from Qikiqtaaluk Corp., the business arm of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, and the\u00a0Arctic Economic Development Corp. said the Inuit-led companies are ready to begin construction in the spring.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s earlier than the previously stated start date of summer 2026.\u00a0Construction is expected to finish in 2029, with operations starting in 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething has to happen, and we hopefully represent that coming together between private sector, Inuit community and government,\u201d Risley said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Updated engineering puts the first phase price tag at $350 million, with multiple phases planned with users to include fisheries, the Department of National Defence, commercial transport and the Canadian Coast Guard, he added.<\/p>\n

Risley, a co-founder of Nova Scotia-seafood company Clearwater Seafoods Inc., that\u2019s now co-owned by a coalition of Mi\u2019kmaq First Nations, noted 56,000 tonnes of seafood caught in the Davis Strait were sent to Nuuk for processing in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would hope to capture a portion of that activity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Qikiqtaaluk Corp. president Harry Flaherty said the port would allow Nunavut to finally benefit from increased economic activity in its own waters.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, the North, the Arctic is never on the radar. It\u2019s about time the federal government should start focusing on the North,\u201d he\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

Arctic Economic Development Corp. director Sean Leet said the facility\u2019s location in Qikiqtarjuaq, at the gateway to the Northwest Passage, would allow ships to refuel, unload waste and take on drinking water.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where all the traffic will pass,\u201d he said, calling it a \u201ctrue dual-use facility\u201d that could also support national defence, search and rescue, as well as cruise ship tourism by offering easier access to Auyuittuq National Park.<\/p>\n

Leet said there\u2019s already a 3,800-foot, or 1,150-metre, airstrip beside the port site which \u201ccan be extended to be able to have a tactical fighter base.\u201d He said Arctic Economic Development Corp. has talked with the Department of National Defence about building a facility there.<\/p>\n

He said the first phase of the project will create an operational water depth of 10 metres directly alongside where ships would berth. Later phases will reach 12- and 14-metre depths so \u201cthe largest ships in Canada\u2019s fleet can be docked at our facility.\u201d<\/p>\n

No comparable deepsea port exists in the region, Leet said.<\/p>\n

The plan also\u00a0includes a 75-metre wharf, a crane for off-loading cargo, security and operations offices, and a 275-metre-long access road.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Flaherty said part of the reason for holding Tuesday\u2019s event in Ottawa was to place the Qikiqtarjuaq project squarely before federal officials, now that all environmental and regulatory work is completed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been working on this particular project initiative for 15 years, and we just feel that today is the time to come here, put it in front of you and say, Canada, we are ready,\u201d Flaherty said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deepsea port project price tag climbs to $350M as Inuit-led partners urge Ottawa to \u2018focus on the North\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-330707","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}