Ottawa is being asked to pump the brakes on a major Arctic infrastructure project, as hunters from the Nunavut community of Naujaat call on the federal government to pause the proposed Steensby Inlet railway and port development until their concerns are properly addressed.
The project — connected to the expansion of Baffinland Iron Mines' Mary River iron ore operation — would see a railway cut across the tundra and a new deep-water port constructed at Steensby Inlet on Foxe Basin. Hunters and elders from Naujaat say the corridor would slice through critical caribou migration routes and disrupt marine mammals, including narwhal and walrus, that their community has depended on for generations.
A Way of Life at Stake
For the people of Naujaat, hunting is not a pastime — it is a cultural cornerstone and a primary food source. Hunters say they have already observed changes in animal behaviour near existing mine infrastructure and fear that a railway and industrialized port would push impacts much further, fragmenting habitat across a vast stretch of the High Arctic.
Speaking through community representatives, hunters are urging federal ministers to intervene before the regulatory process advances further, arguing that their voices have not been given adequate weight in environmental assessments to date.
Regulatory Process Under Scrutiny
The expansion has moved through the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) process, but critics argue the process has not meaningfully incorporated Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit — traditional Inuit knowledge — or fully accounted for cumulative impacts on the land and sea.
Indigenous and environmental advocates have long flagged the Steensby route as more ecologically damaging than alternative export routes, citing the sensitivity of Foxe Basin as a crucial habitat for marine wildlife.
Ottawa's Next Move
With federal oversight of major Arctic development projects, the decision on whether to allow the project to proceed — or to call for a pause — ultimately rests with Ottawa. Indigenous rights groups say this is a test of the federal government's commitment to its reconciliation obligations and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which Canada adopted into law in 2021.
The call to pause is not a call to cancel, hunters stress — it is a demand to be heard before decisions are made that cannot be undone. Whether Ottawa will act on that request remains to be seen, but the pressure from Naujaat is growing louder.
Source: Google News Ottawa / MSN
