Leona Aglukkaq will support Kiggavik uranium mine decision

Nunavut's Conservative candidate, Leona Aglukkaq, says she will support a Nunavut regulator's recommendation that Areva's Kiggavik uranium mine not be approved until the company can provide a development timeline.

"I want to assure Nunavummiut that I will continue to advocate that the [Nunavut Impact Review Board's] recommendations always be respected," says Aglukkaq in a statement released during her campaign visit in Baker Lake near the proposed Kiggavik site.

In her statement, Aglukkaq encourages Areva to work with the Nunavut Impact Review Board rather than by-pass the territorial authority in favour of the federal minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development .

"I would also encourage the project proponent to work directly with the NIRB and Nunavummiut to ensure that all questions and concerns raised by local communities are properly addressed."

Aglukkaq stresses the need for an environmentally friendly approach to resource extraction that takes into account the needs of local communities.

"We must ensure that the land, water and wildlife that Nunavummiut depend on are protected for future generations."

'Somewhat reassuring'

Aglukkaq's statement follows a series of letters issued by the Kivalliq Wildlife Board, Mining Watch Canada, the Baker Lake Hunters and Trappers Association, and the Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board to minister Bernard Valcourt asking him to support NIRB's recommendation.

"This is somewhat reassuring," says Mining Watch Canada's Ugo Lapointe, "We say somewhat reassuring because ultimately it's up to the minister of natural resources, in this case Minister Valcourt, to take the decision. We can see that Minister Aglukkaq here is feeling the pressure from her constituents, but we would also like to hear what Harper's government's position on the issue is for greater reassurance."

He says, to date, the government has taken a piecemeal approach to development in the North without taking into account a long-term view of sustainability and cooperation with local communities and the regional government.    

"A campaign like now would be a good occasion for all parties to state their vision for the North," says Lapointe.

In its recommendation released this spring, NIRB rejected Areva's proposal for its Kiggavik mine on the grounds that it lacks a definite start date and a development schedule. The review board concluded that without this information, it was impossible to assess the environmental and social impacts of the project.

Areva has written to Valcourt asking the minister to reject NIRB's recommendation and direct the review board to "consider the inclusion of appropriate terms and conditions to a project approval."

​Aglukkaq's statement seems to imply that the government may not overturn NIRB's recommendation.  

Although the government is dissolved because of the election, the executive branch remains operational until the new government is formed, which means that Aglukkaq is still the federal environment minister.