Pond Inlet woman's barrage of criticism shakes up Baffinland hearings

A Pond Inlet, Nunavut, woman managed to lambaste the Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. on several fronts Wednesday, despite being about 1,000 kilometres north of the Nunavut Impact Review Board hearing underway in Iqaluit.

Anita Uuttuvak sat alone in a chair in front of a microphone, while speaking by videoconference in her home community. She looked straight into the camera, and spoke in Inuktitut and English about the mining company and its proposed expansion of the Mary River iron mine, now in its final assessment by regulators.

"Devastating" is how Uuttuvak described the presence of the first phase of the Mary River mine in Pond Inlet's "backyard."

The mine site lies about 160 kilometres from Pond Inlet, the port is at Milne Inlet about 100 kilometres away from the community, and there's a tote road between the mine site and the port. Residents are supposed to keep a mile away from the mine complex.

But Uuttuvak said people in her community of about 1,800 feel "belittled" when they are denied access to their land. Uuttuvak said the development's disturbance has also deprived people there of wildlife and marine animals — and of the food and furs they need for survival.

That's because the mine's presence has also chased away animals, she said. Inuit skills of hunting and sewing furs into winter clothing are vanishing along with country foods, such as narwhal and caribou, she said.

"How do you expect people in Pond Inlet to survive?" she asked. She also accused Baffinland of being "unfair and unjust" and using "psychological tactics," including "coercion," "threats" and "demands," to force acceptance of more development.

At one point, Uuttuvak said, with emphasis, "the lives of Pond Inlet people matter." Her words, echoing the Black Lives Matter movement's call for justice, healing, and freedom, prompted many of the 100 or so people in the usually quiet Iqaluit meeting room to clap.

Baffinland representatives did not join in the applause.

A maximum of 100 participants are allowed to participate in the in-person hearings in Iqaluit, including the board, Baffinland staff, intervenors, nominated community representatives and identified media members. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions in place, the meetings are not open to the public.

Uuttuvak said Baffinland has no intent of putting the mine into care and maintenance if the company's phase 2 does not proceed, as the company representatives said it could. She called that assertion "false."

Under phase 2, the mine's production would increase to to 12 million tonnes of iron ore a year. The expansion would also include the construction of a new 110-kilometre railway from the mine to Milne Inlet and the passage of 168 large iron-ore carriers a year.

Uuttuvak said even Inuit outside Pond Inlet don't realize the impact phase 1 of Mary River mine has had on their environment, "let alone phase 2."

She also criticized a video shown on Tuesday night at the hearing, which was made by the union, about the mine's Inuit employees. She said the video was "propaganda," making it seem as if Baffinland was the answer to all their needs.