[Witness speaks in Inuktitut]
Thank you very much.
I would like to make a correction. A formal invitation was given to the mayor and the other members of the council of the Hamlet of Baker Lake to bring up matters to this committee relating to socio-economic impacts. The mayor and the council do send their regrets, as they are unable to appear before this committee. I would like to thank the Baker Lake hamlet council for having the confidence in me to act as their representative to bring forward very important issues before this committee.
I would like to thank the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources for providing me the opportunity to come and share my experiences in Baker Lake and what I have learned while seeing a mine project developed, constructed, and operated near my community.
As you know, Nunavut is the most remote, the most sparsely populated, and the least developed of the three northern territories of Canada. The economy of Nunavut is far too dependent on government expenditures and federal transfers. We have the highest percentage of aboriginal residents with relatively low levels of education and employment.
On the other hand, Nunavut has huge non-renewable resources potential. Every study of the Nunavut economy undertaken by the government and by non-government organizations over the last decade has come to the same conclusion: by far the greatest economic potential for Nunavut lies in the development of its non-renewable resources. This remains the only hope for significantly increasing employment and reducing dependence on government transfers.
Two key things are required from the government to realize this potential.
First is investment in people. Centralized education and training programs are required to ensure Nunavut residents can participate in the economic benefits of development.
Second is investment in infrastructure. This means better seaports and airports, power, communications, and community transfer...I mean infrastructure—excuse me, but English is not my first language, sorry—and housing. We don't expect highways, but we must rely on the best possible air and marine facilities.
Today, Baker Lake and the Kivalliq region are leading Nunavut in non-renewable resources development. Agnico-Eagle Mines has completed construction of the Meadowbank gold mine north of Baker Lake.
By the way, it was sure a pleasure last year to see our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, along with his colleagues, come to our community to see the Meadowbank mine for themselves. It was a very satisfying feeling to see somebody from Parliament come up here—especially our Prime Minister—to see the actual mine. It is so important for southern Canadians, especially those from the House of Commons, to see for themselves what the Meadowbank mine is.
This mine alone will add some 30% to the Nunavut GDP. It is already providing over 100 jobs, as well as training, to our residents, and opportunities for our businesses.
The whole purpose of appearing before the committee is to bring forward issues that are of utmost importance to the Hamlet of Baker Lake. I will make every effort to try to complete my presentation in a timely way in the time allocated for me. I will be covering five main points: overview of Baker Lake; federal-territorial process and environmental considerations; aboriginal considerations; what the socio-economic impacts were in Baker Lake; and recommendations for the government.
First, let me tell you a little bit about Baker Lake.
Ottawa may be Canada's political centre, but Baker Lake is the geographical centre of Canada. If you go north, south, east, and west, we're right smack in the middle. It is a Nunavut community with a population of about 1,900 people, and it is the only inland community in Canada's Arctic.
Our community is not accessible by road. This means we get all of our supplies by sealift and by air. This means that everything from buying groceries to maintaining a house to running a business is very expensive in Baker Lake, as it is in the rest of Nunavut.
Temperatures in Baker Lake can be below minus 50 degrees and colder, at minus 70 degrees with wind chill—a little cool.
We are also the only community in Nunavut that supports an operating mine, Agnico-Eagle Mines. While it is hard to estimate what the real unemployment rate in Baker Lake was before the mine, it would have been at least 40%. Today we are at below 5%. Anyone who wants work can find work.
Now I will turn to the Baker Lake federal and territorial regulation process and environment consideration. The Baker Lake hamlet council was active in representing the community's interests in this whole mining process.
The Hamlet of Baker Lake has taken the position that it welcomes this mine. Our goal is to maximize employment, business, and infrastructure benefits while minimizing potential negative impacts. The hamlet council did a study in support of this goal.
I will now briefly touch on Nunavut's regulatory process and the process of getting a mine permitted in Nunavut. Simply put, the process is far too long and too complicated. Because of its remoteness, Nunavut is an expensive place to operate, and the additional regulatory issues mean that we can often scare away companies interested in exploring, mining, and helping to develop Nunavut.
Once projects enter the regulatory phase, they slow down significantly. There are various challenges, including not enough board members, board members with little experience, and simply too many parties reviewing every project.
While our regulatory process is too long, it is important to make sure that projects are developed properly and responsibly. We Inuit care about our land, and we want to see a balance between development and protection of the environment.
It is also important to explain projects and their environmental impacts to our elders and youth. I have seen Agnico-Eagle and Areva Resources do this well by taking elders and members of the community to visit similar projects in Canada and other parts of the world. We Inuit like to see things with our own eyes. When we go see these projects, it helps us to understand that these projects can be developed safely and responsibly.
Cumberland Resources, the company that previously owned the Meadowbank project before it was a mine, updated us regularly about their project and provided us with the opportunity to ask questions and grow comfortable with this project.
Companies now understand that, first and foremost, Inuks need to know about and understand the projects in their communities, and that when projects happen on Inuit land, Inuit are the ones who can make these projects happen by supporting and participating in them. The Inuit are the ones who can benefit by learning new skills and establishing new businesses to service these projects.
In terms of aboriginal considerations, Nunavut is a young and inexperienced territory. Our people are also young and inexperienced. As we learned with the Meadowbank mine, it is very important to start training and preparing our workforce as early as possible so that Inuit can fully participate in this new economy. This kind of education has to start before the mines come, and in school, not on the job.
Training is not only important for the resource industry, but for the Nunavut hamlets and businesses too. What we have learned is that high-paying mine jobs will make it difficult for hamlets and for our local businesses to keep staff. We have seen quite a few of the hamlets in our region lose heavy equipment operators and other key staff to the mines. If we don't focus on training our youth to prepare for the growth that will come from resource development, we will not only miss out on the benefits from these developments, but we will also see our communities suffer, as municipal service levels will decline. That has happened in Baker Lake. It has a huge impact.
When the road from Baker Lake to Meadowbank was built, the company building the road came to Baker Lake looking for employees. Most of these employees came out of Baker Lake when the work started. We saw benefits to locals and the community right away. At one time, jobs in Baker Lake were scarce, but with the building of the road we saw a shift, and Inuit who were not working before were suddenly working and earning a regular paycheque.
We saw what these jobs really meant when we saw the first barge arriving that summer. Normally we see vehicles belonging to the federal government or to the territorial government. Suddenly we saw the mine workers or people who worked for the mine purchasing personal vehicles. These were mostly for the mine workers, and this was a big and sudden change. People were buying not just pick-up trucks, but Inuit were buying ATVs, Ski-Doos, and household items. Even a new co-op was built—that's a store.
The other thing is we were used to seeing only hamlet employees bringing up new snowmobiles, but suddenly this was not the case anymore. We saw that those who were never able to afford those things suddenly had spare money to make their lives better. It used to be that women were the ones who used to do the odd jobs, but suddenly the man was working, a fine example for their children, and there was suddenly a sense of pride among the whole family.
Agnico-Eagle has been doing its best to live up to and even exceed commitments made by Cumberland. Local businesses have been very busy. Agnico-Eagle estimates that there has been over $140 million in contracts to Nunavut businesses, including about $8 million in Baker Lake.
Once the construction was completed, a new phase started. This was an everyday routine. At the end of 2008, a total of 150 Inuit were working in new jobs for Agnico-Eagle and its contractors.
Before the construction of the road and the mine, the hamlet had been trying very hard to find training funds, as they anticipated the loss of employment to the mine, but no training money ever came. Now that people have a choice about where to work, finding reliable staff becomes a new challenge for the hamlet and the private sector in Baker Lake. We can see that it is important to start the training programs before the mine starts, so that Inuit are ready to participate in the new economy.
You need to remember that this is a new lifestyle, and it is a very attractive one. It is two weeks in and two weeks out. Today is Thursday; it's payday every Thursday.
What can I say? Training is the key to making sure the economy—