22 August 2013
Rankin Inlet, Nunavut
Thank you for that warm welcome.
Ublaakut.
Thank you also, Joe, for that very kind introduction, and thank you as well for the great job you’re doing in our cabinet in advancing the development of Canada’s natural resources.
Thank you also to Minister Aglukkaq, Leona, for kicking us off today, and for the great work that you do.
You know, the North is a massive part of this country, over 40 percent of our territory; over 20 percent of that is in Nunavut alone, and I think it has never had a stronger presence in Ottawa, and I know that as the new Environment Minister, Leona will continue to work hard not just for Northerners, but all Canadians.
So once again, give her a hand for the great work she’s doing for this part of the country.
Let me also add my welcome to all of my colleagues, to Minister Bernard Valcourt, to Senator… Nunavut Senator, former Premier Dennis Patterson, Ryan Leef, Member of Parliament for Yukon.
Greetings also to Premier Ariak, to Deputy Commissioner Kusugak, and to all representatives of the territorial government who are here today.
Also to Deputy Mayor Harry Towtongie, and to Ross Gallinger from the Prospectors and Developers Association.
We appreciate everybody’s presence with us today, and also as well, of course, we appreciate the generosity of our hosts, Leo Usaak Elementary School.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, let me begin by saying how pleased I am to be back once again in Nunavut, back in the great Canadian North, and great it is.
As you know, every year I try to visit a few new places, as I travel through, and this is my first trip, as I mentioned last night, to Rankin Inlet, and I certainly hope it won’t be my last.
You all know, ladies and gentlemen, that the pioneering spirit that built our great country very much lives on today in Canada’s North.
Our vast northern frontier has always attracted adventure seekers.
Many have had to face tremendous challenges, and yet, even in the presence of the most daunting obstacles, generations of brave men and women have expanded our knowledge of our country from, really from the south to the north, all the way up to the Arctic.
And in doing so, they have over the generations laid the bases, the foundations for our prosperity.
Your town is in fact named after such an individual, Lieutenant John Rankin.
Royal Navy Lieutenant John Rankin was one of many who searched for the Northwest Passage.
It’s fitting, then, that I’m here in Rankin Inlet to make an important announcement about the future of Arctic exploration and development.
It is, of course, very well known that the North is rich in energy and minerals.
It has been estimated that a quarter of the world’s undiscovered oil and natural gas lies in the Arctic.
Nunavut is now home to the Meadowbank gold mine, which I had the privilege of visiting a few years back, and new projects are step by step moving forward: the Mary River iron ore project, the Chidliak diamond project, and the Meliadine gold project just 22 kilometres north of here.
All this potential development reminds us that, as I said before, the North is Canada’s call to greatness.
These developments will bring growth, jobs, and prosperity to this territory across the North, and indeed across the entire country.
In fact, during 2012, due just to mining activity, Nunavut experienced greater economic growth than any other province or territory.
Our Government believes in reinforcing that success.
That’s why in 2008, as I announced, we began using the latest technology to produce a new generation of geological maps for Canada’s North.
More formally known as the geomapping for energy and minerals, this project encourages development by giving prospectors new tools for exploration.
Now, it doesn’t quite do the exploring for them.
As you know, we put it this way: if discovering minerals in Canada’s North is like finding a needle in a haystack, our Government’s geomapping program doesn’t find the needles, but it will help find the haystacks.
So far, the program has produced more than 700 maps and reports.
As a direct consequence, private investors are now looking for nickel on the Melville peninsula, searching for diamonds on Baffin Island, and copper, silver and gold deposits have been found in Yukon.
Geomapping also informs land use decisions that help balance responsible resource development with environmental protection.
And it draws on the expertise of an advisory group of Northerners, for, to be clear, northern expertise is essential.
While we expect all Canadians from coast to coast to coast will benefit from the North’s coming mining boom…
Northern development must mean jobs and prosperity for Northerners themselves.
Prosperity here, jobs now; that is essential.
Now, the first phase of this program is scheduled to end this year, but it has been so successful and so much of the North remains to be mapped that in our judgement, it would be foolish to stop now.
Once again, ladies and gentlemen, I’m delighted to announce today that our government will renew funding for Canada’s geomapping program, an investment sufficient to completely finish the job.
In other words, an investment sufficient to create modern regional scale geological maps and data sets for Canada’s entire North.
I’m also pleased to tell you that on this very day, geomapping for energy and minerals is releasing 32 new sets of data that reveal Nunavut’s geological wealth.
Some of these maps show where gold, silver, cobalt and diamond and other things may be found.
In fact, just over an hour north of here by helicopter.
We’re also publishing new findings on the energy potential of Hudson Bay to our east, and we’re uploading geological data for 11,000 square kilometres of the Duggan Lake area in the west of the Kivalliq region.
Industry and the public can access all of this information from their own computers with the click of a mouse.
Now, friends, as I’ve said earlier this week, just having riches in the ground will not on its own secure northern prosperity.
Only the mining jurisdictions with the most efficient regulatory regimes, the most skilled workforces and the most complete geoscience information will succeed and thrive.
The extension of the geomapping program is one part of ensuring that Nunavut and the entire Canadian North compete successfully in a very tough international marketplace.
Let me conclude with this: we are committed to the sovereignty of this country as a great northern nation.
We will continue to protect our northern inheritance, to protect the interests of our northern peoples, and to build prosperity for the northern generations yet to come.
And that’s why I’m here, and it is why I will keep coming back.
Thank you.
Qujannamiik.
