Pond Inlet, Nunavut, wants $40M funding confirmed for small harbour

Representatives with the hamlet of Pond Inlet are trying to get answers on a promised harbour in the Nunavut community.

The hamlet's senior administrative officer, Rikki Butt, headed to Ottawa last week to hand deliver a letter to the federal minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, and Nunavut MP, Hunter Tootoo — but she says Tootoo wouldn't take the time to meet with them.

Last June, the former Conservative government announced the plan for the $40 million marine and small craft harbour, saying it could boost tourism and benefit local hunters. However, Butt says they haven't heard if that funding has been secured, "so we came down to find out why."

"We are absolutely asking for confirmation of funding," Butt said.

"There's $10 million that's supposed to be coming from the territorial government and $30 million from the federal government, so we just want confirmation that those funds are definitely allocated to our project and unfortunately right now we have no answer."

Butt says, while in Ottawa, they met with Senator Charlie Watt, Premier Peter Taptuna, the president of Nunavut Tunngavik, Cathy Towtongie, and other transportation officials, but they only had a brief moment with Tootoo.

"We hand-delivered a letter to Hunter, it was a really small conversation during a little break outside going in for a keynote speech. Unfortunately he did not make the time to sit down with our dignitaries while we were here."

Federal, territorial ministers meet

Nunavut's minister of Economic Development and Transportation, Monica Ell-Kanayuk, met with the federal minister of Infrastructure and Communities, Amarjeet Sohi, last week, and they discussed the Pond Inlet harbour.

"There's a few procedural steps that have to be done," said Jim Stevens, assistant deputy minister for the Nunavut Department of Transportation, who attended the meeting.

"There was a way forward established and Minister Ell-Kanayuk basically reminded Minister Sohi that for us to proceed with these projects in a timely fashion we would have to get federal confirmation of the project's approval by some time in mid-February to allow us again to go to the Legislative Assembly for our share of the project costs."

Stevens said they also discussed "remaining outstanding issues that have to be resolved before they can give us the approval."

"I would suggest over the next two weeks we are going to be able to satisfy any remaining information or situation that Infrastructure Canada wanted resolved," he said.

Those issues, according to Butt, are two-fold: The Coast Guard owns the property where the small harbour will be located so the land needs to be transferred to the territorial government; and the federal government wants the Nunavut Government to put the project out for tender.

Butt is still confident the project will go ahead and hopes Tootoo, also the minister of the Canadian Coast Guard, will help streamline the process.

CBC has reached out to Tootoo for comment.