September 24, 1998
Nain hunters opposed to year-round ore shipments
Ore ships carrying nickel from Voisey's Bay would cut 300-foot wide leads in the sea ice during the winter.
JULIE GREEN
Special to Nunatsiaq News
NAIN — The people who live in Labrador's most northerly Inuit village don't want ore carriers to carve a path through landfast ice to get to the proposed mine-mill at Voisey's Bay.
That's the message contained in a 43-page submission from the Labrador Inuit Association to the panel assessing the impact of the massive nickel project.
The panel, working under the aegis of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, held four days of hearings in Nain last week, two of them devoted to the issue of marine transportation.
"Inuit opposition and objections to the proposal to ship through ice are founded in a culture that lives and depends on the sea ice and is not code for trying to stop the entire project," said Chesley Andersen, the LIA's mineral resources director.
Andersen's comments were echoed by people who use the ice as a highway to hunting and fishing areas, and as the quickest way to reach firewood.
"Any interference with the ice and our ability to use the ice affects our whole way of life," said Gus Dicker.
"We need time, we need trust. Until then we can't agree to shipping through pack ice and landfast ice," he said.
In its environmental impact statement about the mine, Voisey's Bay Nickel says year-round shipping is essential, because when nickel concentrate is stockpiled it oxidizes, turning to concrete.
Gerry Marshall of VNBC said winter shipping is expensive and that the company plans to do as little of it as possible.
"If it can't be done safely, it won't be done," Marshall said.
"VNBC recognizes that possible effects of ship tracks are a major concern for resource harvesters and travellers during the winter," said Captain Sid Hynes, presenting the company's marine transportation plan to the panel.
Ore carriers will make eight trips into Anaktalak Bay through the landfast ice that forms in January and breaks up in June.
The ships will travel north through the Labrador Sea, turn west and follow a path around the islands to the mine.
They'll cover a distance of 52 nautical miles through the landfast ice, creating a lead up to 300 feet wide.
The ships are supposed to reuse these leads.
A report by Transport Canada says the lead would be frozen hard enough in two to five hours to hold the weight of a snowmobile and qamutik.
But local hunters, such as Ron Webb, believe two days is a more realistic time.
"It's an unnatural thing around here because we don't have many ice breakers coming in, so we're not used to the effects of it, he said.
But company officials say they're willing to mitigate the effects of winter shipping by creating ice bridges, using radio and telephones to warn people about the ship's movements, and hiring local hunters to patrol the crack.
They're also prepared to stop shipping before the spring seal hunt and whelping season.
But despite questions and clarifications about these issues, some people remained unsatisfied by the discussion.
"They're kind of saying to us, you've got to do this VNBC's way and they're restricting us to certain areas," said Webb.
"People are not listening because they're still talking about shipping," said Julius Merkuratsuk, another experienced hunter.
Members of the LIA and the company have participated in workshops on shipping.
"These workshops have not achieved consensus. They represent only preliminary efforts to address Inuit concerns,"Andersen said.
LIA's efforts to make shipping part of the impact benefit negotiations also remain unresolved.
During the technical sessions, the panel also heard presentations about winter shipping from the Canadian Coast Guard, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Transport Canada, and the Atlantic Pilotage Authority.
The panel will hold hearings in other Labrador communities and in St. John's through October and the beginning of November.
Their final report is due in the spring.