Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you. I have some important comments to make today, so I'm going to read from a prepared statement. I look forward to speaking with you further following my remarks. [Witness speaks in Inuktituk] Good afternoon, Madam Chair. My name is David Ningeongan, and I am the pres

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Thank you for that question. The cost for this project is about $1.2 billion. This project brings in fibre, as well, which we do not have. We're on satellite bandwidth right now. This would bring fibre optic cable into our region. It is our preference as a project, as it's goin

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Absolutely, it's for both. It will connect five communities and two mines. It's not piecemeal.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  I know our territorial government did look at river options in the region, but that does not bring up the fibre part of the project. Other options have been looked at, but for us, fibre is the key to allowing our region and the territory to be able to open up that bandwidth—satel

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We do have a private partner in place to allow us to move this project forward. Before, we never had that partnership. As well, the urgency is that Agnico Eagle is ready to invest now. The private sector ready to partner and carbon pricing, at the end, are what's going to allow u

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  We had hoped we would have numbers in front of us today. We are hoping that within the next three weeks, after strategic meetings next week, we'll have those numbers available and ready to distribute. I apologize that we do not have those numbers in front of us now.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Sure. We are working closely with federal ministers to refine our ask to the federal government for the 2019 federal budget. A federal commitment would allow the Inuit to be a joint-equity partner in this project with the private sector. There needs to be a federal government bac

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are other Inuit associations. I'm from the central and they're from the west. There are three regions: eastern Nunavut, central, and west.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  No.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It could be a combination of road or rail coming up from Manitoba into our region. Whether it comes from Churchill, The Pas, or Thompson, that would have to be studied. The Kivalliq Inuit Association applied to the national trades corridor funding to try to access road monies so

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  It will be a challenge, but also it will be an opportunity, because it will allow for development to happen and allow us to go after green energy that we did not have the opportunity to move to in the past. I think the stars are aligned right now to allow us to get this project o

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  There are a lot of opportunities with this hydro fibre project. It will allow for more businesses to be developed in the region. Recycling, for example, or bakeries, which cost a lot of money to run, will be available for that opportunity. Specifically on the fibre optic, educa

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Yes.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  Not too many years ago in Rankin Inlet our power plant shut down. All the generators were out of commission. They had to fly emergency generators into our community. That had a lot of impacts on the people. Also, it's not just that in terms of our infrastructure. Our community is

Indigenous and Northern Affairs committee  When we lost all our power, it happened in the winter. The community scrambles to get temporary generators to be connected to the furnaces or a boiler. Not every house has that opportunity. Not every individual who owns a home has that option, and not even the public housing un