Military hopeful new Arctic port will open in 2022, but 'significant' uncertainty remains
![Nanisivik Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Montreal passes an iceberg near Nanisivik, Nunavut, during Operation NANOOK, a sovereignty operation in Canada's Arctic in August 2010. (Cpl. Rick Ayer, Formation Imaging Services/DND)](/content/dam/ctvnews/en/images/2021/7/8/nanisivik-1-5502199-1627396549524.jpg)
The Canadian military says there are no guarantees that its long-delayed Arctic naval station will finally open next year, prompting defence critics to call the ongoing construction delays confounding and dangerous.
The best-case scenario would see the Nanisivik Naval Station on Baffin Island completed in September and ready to begin operations in summer 2022, approximately 15 years after the federal government announced the project.
“However, there remains significant schedule uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic and how this may impact the 2021 construction season in the Arctic,” said a National Defence spokesperson who confirmed the construction timeline with CTV News.
But the pandemic can’t account for the years of delays the Arctic refuelling station has faced since blowing its initial delivery date in 2015.
‘HARD TO GET OUR HEADS AROUND’
Former prime minister Stephen Harper announced plans to build the deep-water port on a former Nunavut mine site in 2007, coinciding with the announcement that Canada would build up to eight Arctic and offshore patrol vessels for the military.
While the Navy welcomed the first patrol vessel into service in late June, the ship’s Arctic resupply port is still at least a year away from opening, leaving the ship without a domestic resupply station in the Far North.
Instead, the newly commissioned HMCS Harry DeWolf will likely have to rely on Greenland to refuel for Arctic excursions until the Nanisivik facility is ready, according to one defence analyst.
A map showing the approximate location of the Nanisivik Naval Facility on Baffin Island. (Google Maps)
“At this point, this project is a little confounding,” said David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. “We’ve been at it for 15 years, yet it’s still not open. That’s kind of hard to get our heads around.”
It’s especially confounding, Perry said, given that the project is being constructed on existing port infrastructure and has been scaled down dramatically since its original design.
Gone are the airstrip and the year-round site facilities from the initial plan. The station will instead consist of a jetty, a helicopter pad, fuel storage tanks, a wharf operator’s shelter, an unheated warehouse and a site office, according to the defence department.
The entire facility will be staffed by between four and six people during its seasonal operating window of July through October.
‘NAIVE AND DANGEROUS APPROACH TO ARCTIC SOVEREIGNTY’
Canada's struggle to get even a small resupply station up and running draws a clear contrast with the country’s Arctic rivals, according to Conservative defence critic James Bezan.
“The Russian government is opening military bases in the Arctic and the Chinese Communist regime is expanding its Arctic naval fleet beyond the capabilities of Canada and the United States combined,” said Bezan, who co-chairs the House of Commons defence committee, in an email.
Bezan slammed the federal government’s “naïve and dangerous approach to Arctic sovereignty,” accusing the government of mismanaging the Nanisivik project, which he says remains vital to Canada’s security in the Far North.
The difficulties with the Nanisivik project send the wrong message about Canada’s larger commitment to continental security, Perry said, and signal more trouble ahead as Canada and the United States work towards a modernized NORAD defence pact.
“Other countries have invested very big sums of money in lots of different places in their own backyard and done so much, much, much more quickly,” the defence analyst said.
“If we’re thinking about the message that this would be sending to somebody else – Russia, in particular, but also our own allies, the Americans, other NATO allies that have interests in the Arctic – I would think that this sends a particular message about how Canada prioritizes these kinds of investments in the North,” Perry said.
“If it has taken 15 years to get a much-scaled-down version of the Nanisivik deep-water port not-yet built – and I guess fingers-crossed for September – I really do wonder how fast we’ll be able to build anything that we need for a modernized NORAD command to be able to properly defend the continent,” he added.
The latest cost estimate for the Nanisivik naval station is $130 million before taxes, according to National Defence.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6978861.1722008569!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
At least 4 buildings burned at Jasper Park Lodge, others damaged: Fairmont memo
The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge said Thursday afternoon most of its structures are 'standing and intact,' including its iconic main lodge.
Major Canadian bank experiences direct deposit outage on payday
Scotiabank says it has fixed a technical issue that impacted direct deposits on Friday morning.
'He was just gone': Police ramp up search for vulnerable 3-year-old boy in Mississauga, Ont.
Police in Mississauga are conducting a full-scale search of the city’s biggest park for a non-verbal toddler who went missing Thursday evening. Sgt. Jennifer Trimble told reporters Friday morning that there has been no trace of three-year-old Zaid Abdullah since 6:20 p.m., when he was last seen with his parents in Erindale Park, near Dundas Street West and Mississauga Road.
Sask. appeal court says anti-trans group cannot join constitutional dispute over pronoun law
Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal has denied a political group that opposes so-called “gender ideology” intervener status in a legal dispute over the province’s controversial pronoun law.
Justin Timberlake's attorney disputes he was intoxicated when arrested for DWI
A hearing in the case of Justin Timberlake being accused of driving while intoxicated was held Friday, where an attorney for the singer disputed his arrest in June.
Elon Musk's estranged daughter calls out his 'entirely fake' claims about her childhood
Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk's estranged daughter, publicly refuted several recent anti-trans statements her Tesla CEO and X owner father has made about her.
What we know about 'malicious' attack on French train network ahead of Olympics opening
French transport was thrust into chaos Friday just hours ahead of the Olympics 2024 opening ceremony after a series of co-ordinated 'malicious acts' upended high-speed train lines.Here's what happened and what we know so far.
Reported rate of child pornography increased 52% in 2023, total crime up 3%: Statistics Canada
Last year, reported child pornography cases increased by more than 50 per cent in Canada, in part due to more cases being sent to police by specialized internet child exploitation units, according to a Statistics Canada report.
Driver charged after flashing high beams at approaching police
Orillia OPP arrested and charged a driver with impaired driving after flashing their high beams.