Helicopters for Hope Bay

Ikaluktutiak/Cambridge Bay - The Newmont Mining Corporation awarded Great Slave Helicopters a new two-year contract for the Hope Bay project, located 130 km southeast of Cambridge Bay.

The contract covers this year's five-month exploration program out of the Doris Camp and next year's program, yet to be determined. This year, four intermediate helicopters will support exploratory drilling and crew movements. Kitikmeot Helicopters, a subsidiary of Great Slave Helicopters, will operate the contract - which is estimated at $4 million this year alone.

Tourism investment

Beaufort Delta - The Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency will give the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation $1.4 million for the Nalukatuk economic development initiative. Funding is provided through the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency. The government of the Northwest Territories will also invest $150,000 and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation will invest $157,000.

The money will be used to generate new tourism products and enhance the esthetics of potential tourism destinations. These include projects such as the Inuvik Reindeer Station clean-up, Tuktoyaktuk community beautification, and the rejuvenation of the Tuktoyaktuk and Aklavik Sewing Co-ops.

Planning act tabled in Parliament

Nunavut - The Nunavut Planning and Project Assessment Act, the last legislative obligation Ottawa has under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, was introduced in the House of Commons last week.

The act would describe the powers, duties and functions of the Nunavut Planning Commission and the Nunavut Impact Review Board - and how their members would be appointed. Last month, the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines called for the enactment of the Nunavut Planning and Project Assessment Act as soon as possible.

Feds fund forestry projects

NWT - Three forestry projects will benefit from a total $80,000 investment provided by the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.

The money will fund the acquisition of aerial photos for a new forest vegetation inventory in the Fort Liard area and around 13 territorial communities, for instance. Design and preparation of a new site for the Jean Marie River community sawmill will also benefit from the funding. The federal money will also enable the feasibility study for making wood pellets from the territorial's forest lands.

New homes up, vacancies down

Iqaluit - Iqaluit has seen more residential units built, a less active resale home market and a fewer apartments for rent last year, according to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation's Northern Housing Report.

New home construction in the Plateau or Road to Nowhere Subdivisions accounted for most of the growth in that sector, said the report, as opposed to large institutional projects in previous years. Permits for 20 single-detached and 66 multi-family units were issued last year, according to the report.

The resale home market decreased by 40 per cent in 2009, a reversal from 2008 when that sector grew.. The CMHC report stated 47 residential properties were sold or transferred in 2009, down from 78 in 2008.

The city's rental vacancy rate for non-social housing declined for the second consecutive year to 0.6 per cent last year, down from 0.8 per cent in 2008 and 1.5 per cent in 2007. At the time of the 2009 survey, the CMHC said eight non-social housing rental units, out of the 1,402 were vacant.

Broadband coverage expands in Nunavut

Nunavut - Every Nunavut community except Bathurst Inlet, Nanisivik and Umingmaktuuq will soon benefit from a federal government investment in broadband Internet service.

SSI Micro will receive more than $10.6 million to connect 11,779 homes in 25 Nunavut communities to broadband Internet. The current bandwidth of 384 to 768 kilobits per second will be increased to 1.5 megabits per second, said SSI Micro CEO Ryan Walker. He added it will take four to six months to complete the project once it's started, but a start date has not yet been finalized.

"We are struggling with the bandwidth that we have in Sanikiluaq. I think it will be extremely useful for the community to have an extra bandwidth," said Sanikiluaq's senior administrative officer Muhamud Hassan. "Right now, what we have, even business-wise, is extremely slow. The capacity is low. You have to, each time, when it slows down, you have to pay for additional bandwidth. I think that will be a major improvement, hopefully if it happens."