Baffinland shipping proposal has North Baffin hunters concerned

Hunters in Arctic Bay say they're concernedtheir over-ice route to Pond Inlet might become impassable if Baffinland gets its wish toextendits shipping season.

The company has proposed extending its shipping season to10months a year,from June to March, which would require icebreaking during part of the year. The proposal willbe heard by theNunavutImpact Review Board.

JobieAttitaq,chair of theIkajutitHunters and Trappers Organization in Arctic Bay, says his organization'smain concern is that the routebetween Arctic Bay andPond Inlet used in the springwould be affected.

Similar concerns came from Pond Inlet earlier this week.

There, hunters say they're not against extending the shipping season, but they don't want it to happen 10 months of the year.

"We don't want our ice to be used for shipping during the spring time," saidMatthiasQaunaq,vice-chair of the Pond Inlet hunters and trappers organization, in Inuktitut.

Qaunaqsaysin the winter season,broken ice would freeze again quickly, allowing people safe passage on the ice.

But he'd likeicebreakingto be closed "from the beginning of March to the beginning of July, ideally while young seals are around and so that we can travel across to hunt."

March 'cold enough'

One researcher says icebreaking in March shouldn`t pose a problem for travellers.

"I would argue that March would still be cold enough," saidDr. Christian Haas, theCanada Research Chair for Arctic Sea Ice Geophysics at York University. "That it would be no different from January or February."

Attitaqsays for the most part, his community willstand by whatever Pond Inlet decides.

The Nunavut Impact Review Board is expected to put out a call for comments on Baffinland's proposal this week.