Arctic Gateway Group seeks to build Sask., Kivalliq partnerships

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This article was published 27/09/2024 (392 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After its successful initial shipment of critical minerals earlier this summer, Arctic Gateway Group continues to work at generating a supply chain to support a diversified commodity mix.

This week alone it announced memorandums of understanding with Sakku Investments Corp., representing the interests of all Inuit in the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut (seeking to have the Port of Churchill become more involved in the territory’s resupply business) and an economic development group out of Tisdale, Sask.

Not long ago, the northern Manitoba port undertook the majority of resupply shipments to communities in Kivalliq, along the west coast of Hudson Bay.

Now, much of the region’s supplies are delivered via sea lift out of Montreal, often with only one shipment per year.

“It went away when the railway was neglected and the port was neglected,” said Chris Avery, CEO of Arctic Gateway Group.

The organization is controlled by 41 First Nations and Bay Line communities and owns the Hudson Bay Railway and Port of Churchill.

“Now, we are working to really build that up for the benefit of Manitobans and also to the people of Nunavut,” said Avery.

Shipping goods from southern Manitoba on the Hudson Bay Railway up to Churchill and then barged up the Hudson Bay coast would save money and provide more timely distribution cycles, officials said.

“The revival of the Port of Churchill and Hudson Bay Railway is important for the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut. We all benefit from increased frequency of resupply ships from Churchill, which will reduce costs for businesses and families in the region,” said David Kakuktinniq, president and CEO of Sakku Investments.

Avery said if someone in Rankin Inlet or another Kivalliq community wants to buy a new truck, it would be ordered and likely not delivered for a year.

Resupply out of Churchill could make it a matter of weeks, if not days.

All sorts of considerations will have to be worked out, however, including some capital investments and how to structure such an undertaking, the AGG CEO said.

“A big part of this is building infrastructure that is owned and operated by Indigenous organizations for the benefit of Nunavut and Manitoba.”

Invest Tisdale Economic Development Board, a group that represents the bustling agricultural region in northeast Saskatchewan, is looking to restore two-way rail traffic between the area and Canada’s only deep-water Arctic seaport.

Tisdale economic development officer Chris Hudyma said the region has grown significantly and it needs to develop alternative logistics networks.

“Our challenge is transportation infrastructure to work with the growth that’s occurring,” he said.

“We want to figure out how to reconnect with Churchill.”

The Tisdale region has rail services from both CN and CPKC and a branch line that previously did connect with the Hudson Bay Railway.

Before the dismantling of the Canadian Wheat Board in 2012, the Port of Churchill shipped grain regularly.

“The Tisdale group is looking at a partnership that cuts the cost of distribution for Saskatchewan grain producers, particularly in northern Saskatchewan, giving them shorter, more direct routes to global markets,” said Avery.

“That’s exactly the big selling feature of the Port of Churchill and what we’re trying to promote at AGG.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca