Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Nov. 24th, 2009

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Okay.

There is a question you did not answer.

How long does it take you to unload oil, for example, here and in Nunavik?

[Manasie Mark]

Up here in Nunavut, to offload the oil usually takes half a day. We don't carry much of the oil with the goods, but I would say it's only a half day to unload the oil.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

That will have to do it.

Thank you, Mr. Lévesque.

We'll now go to Madam Hughes for five minutes.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Thank you very much for your input today. It's greatly appreciated.

I have a few questions. First of all, does regulatory reform affect you in being able to move forward in any way?

Since you're starting this, and I appreciate we had a conversation beforehand talking about the resource revenue sharing, what's your take on that?

I understand, with respect to some of the witnesses we had earlier on today, that there's some concern with the fact that the federal government is taking a lot of the revenue and it's not actually being shared where it can help with economic development here. I'd like your take on that.

Maybe we'll start with that and then I have a few other questions.

[Brooke Clements]

My company has a very good relationship with the regulators and everybody else. We haven't had any stumbling blocks with any of our projects.

Secondly, I think the conversations earlier today centred on whether the revenue that is now going to the federal government, such as taxes and royalties, should be redistributed in some way to the local areas. I guess I and probably most people would support any type of reasoned negotiation between the federal government and local jurisdictions on that point.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

On the revenue sharing, if you look at what's happening with De Beers in the James Bay area, they certainly did negotiate some revenue sharing. Certainly that does assist the communities in being able to better filter those dollars into their infrastructure needs or into the needs of those communities. Basically you've indicated that there is some support for that from your company in providing it. The government should probably be looking at that seriously and allowing more revenue sharing with those communities.

[Brooke Clements]

Did you say more revenue sharing from the government revenue?

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

From the resources being extracted.

[Brooke Clements]

The IBA process is well established and part of the commencement of any operation. I think these discussions are valuable in the whole devolution discussion. Really what the local governments want is control of that revenue from the federal government, but I know it's an ongoing point of discussion between the federal government and the local governments.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

As a point of clarification, IBA is an impact benefit agreement, just for the record. Thank you.

[Brooke Clements]

That's what you were referring to. You were really referring to the devolution discussion that went on earlier today, right?

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

So I was just wondering, with regard to the mining, how much of an environmental impact that would have on the area you're looking at, because you're looking at two mines. And what are the infrastructure pieces you find are lacking to help advance your interest and your organization?

Maybe Mr. Mark could also talk about the transportation needs. I know you indicated that you're flying most of your stuff in, but I'm assuming that if there were more marine transportation, that would actually probably be to your benefit as well. I don't know.

[Brooke Clements]

Well, we are flying most of our stuff in, but we are flying it in from here after it comes up on his ships. Improved port facilities would greatly help us. It would just make the cost and efficiency of the whole operation of getting supplies up here a lot better. So any improvement in the port facilities would be really favourable to us.

Also, ultimately the type of infrastructure we'll probably need, if we are fortunate enough to develop a mine 120 kilometres from here, would be some kind of road from here to there. There are strict rules and regulations in place for reclamation of mine sites, and I think all companies, including our company, would really strictly follow those guidelines for reclamation at the end of the mine life. That's part of your plan right from the beginning, how you're going to reclaim the site.

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Mark, how many ports do you think the federal government should actually be looking at within the period of let's say five years? How many ports do you think would be sufficient to give you a start on that?

I had one more question with respect to skilled labour, because definitely there would be a skilled labour shortage. How best could the federal government actually assist you with regard to getting that skilled labour in there? I know there are some mines that are looking at... Dubreuilville, for example, has a common core program that is specific to that mine; they actually train the people in the mine, and once they graduate they actually hire them. So I just want to throw that at you.

[Brooke Clements]

The best training is on-the-job training, and if we are fortunate enough to ever get to an operation, there would be a big element of that. The training I'm talking about right now is just things that can help people hit the ground running a little faster, get them up to speed and right in the mix of things a little faster—that is, just some of the training programs the government does in the communities: things like prospecting and first aid and stuff like that. And of course probably the most fundamental thing is to make the K-through-12 educational system as good as it can be so that, again, people are just prepared to hit the ground running.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you, Mrs. Hughes and Mr. Clements.

Now we'll go to Mr. Clarke, for five minutes. Go ahead, Mr. Clarke.

[Rob Clarke, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for coming here and some of you for flying up here.

Carol was mentioning regulations and how they probably affect the junior mining companies as a whole. You indicated that the Chidliak—excuse me for my pronunciation—employs 18 people from the Inuit communities, right?

[Brooke Clements]

From Iqaluit and Pangnirtung, yes.

[Rob Clarke, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

And Nanuq was how many?

[Brooke Clements]

Two.

[Rob Clarke, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Two, okay. Now, when we talk about exploration, can you explain how—in one instance DFO and then environmental impact studies—these regulations can affect a development in this territory? From an economic standpoint, for this region, how can these regulations be looked at and improved to help with the junior mining?

[Brooke Clements]

I think the mining industry does not want to skirt any of its responsibilities for complying with environmental regulations and things like that. We just like to see consistency in the language and application of the rules and just making sure there's not duplication of effort and also timelines. I think we're doing well at working towards that.

Each individual operation and project is different, so I can't really comment on things that might be considered unreasonable for certain projects.

[Rob Clarke, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

You mention timelines. For a mining play, how do the timelines work in conjunction with the territorial timelines? Are they similar, or are they almost piggybacking on one another with respect to the studies so that we're not duplicating the process? Is there a lot of coordination?

[Brooke Clements]

There is coordination, but there also might be a little bit of duplication. When I talk about timelines, I mean mostly timelines in receiving permits and things like that in a timely manner, because it's such a short season up here—really two or three months in which you can do work in the field. It's just making sure that all the deadlines are met in receiving permits and things like that.

[Rob Clarke, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

To look back at duplication, what areas are being duplicated between the federal government and Nunavut?