Inuit leaders are claiming that decades of federal underinvestment have left the North’s basic infrastructure lagging — and urging Ottawa to tap into the zeal for nation-building and Arctic sovereignty to fast-track four major infrastructure projects that could transform life in the region.

“We think that the North can’t be left out of the momentum of the major projects. … We don’t want to be left out again,” Kilikvak Kabloona, CEO of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) told *Canada’s National Observer *on Friday.

Kabloona said it’s concerning that northern projects did not appear among the first tranche of major projects and urged that they be included in the next round, expected to be announced by mid-November.

“The timing is right,” said Paul Irngaut, vice president of NTI. “Canada is increasing its spending on NATO and one of the things needed is infrastructure for the Arctic.”

Climate change is changing the Arctic and impacting daily life in Nunavut’s remote communities where the sea and ice used to be the highways. With no overland roads connecting most of the communities, almost everything — food to medical supplies — is flown or shipped in during a short window. Building ports, roads and renewable energy systems, Irngaut said, would help lower costs while also reinforcing Canada’s security and presence in the North.

At the centre of this push are four shovel-ready Inuit-led infrastructure projects: a deep sea port in Qikiqtarjuaq to support shipping and local jobs; a hydroelectric plant in Iqaluit that would replace diesel with clean energy to reduce costs, the Kivalliq Hydro-Fibre Link, connecting Nunavut to Manitoba with renewable energy and internet and the Grays Bay Road and Port, to access vital mineral resources.

These projects have been decades in the making and Inuit leaders say they cannot wait any longer. The proposals are fully developed and backed by studies and community consultations, but they still lack the one thing that matters most: federal approval and funding, Irngaut said.

“We’d like to be able to say Canada is coast to coast to coast — and by nation-building in the past, it has meant east–west. Now we’d like to see nation-building north,” said Kilikvak Kabloona, CEO of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated.

The deep-water ports are seen as critical to transforming Nunavut’s fishery economy. Without them, Kabloona pointed out Nunavut’s fishery resources — a multi-million-dollar industry — continue to be offloaded in Greenland instead of within Canada, taking jobs and economic gains with them. “That means the GDP is not counted in Canada, even though it is a Nunavut resource,” she said.

These new ports would also allow the Canadian Coast Guard to refuel and patrol in Arctic waters. “Right now, the Coast Guard does not have anywhere in Canada’s Arctic to refuel,” Kabloona said. Their absence also compromises Canada’s ability to respond to emergencies in the increasingly busy Northwest Passage as the Arctic’s climate changes, she added.

A hydroelectric plant planned for Iqaluit is another cornerstone of the Inuit-led proposal. It would replace expensive and highly polluting diesel fuel with clean, renewable energy — especially critical in an area where crushing rock and smelting gold requires massive amounts of power.

“The gold mine near Baker Lake consumes more fuel than the entire rest of the territory combined,” Kabloona said. Lowering energy costs will make life more affordable and boost local industry by reducing production costs for gold and other minerals, she added.

Kabloona said the four projects represent far more than just physical infrastructure — they embody a wider vision of security and sovereignty for the North that has been decades in the making. “These projects have been discussed for a really long time by Inuit organizations. And together, they speak to the fact that security relies on closing the infrastructure gap.”

Kilikvak Kabloona, CEO of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, speaks at a news conference in Ottawa, calling on the federal government to raise northern living standards to match the rest of the country. Photo by Natasha Bulowski / Canada’s National Observer.

Inuit communities are already investing their own resources to plan and advance these initiatives, recognizing how similar efforts elsewhere in Canada have created jobs, built skills and provided stable services, she said.

Similar interest is emerging across the border in the Northwest Territories. The Tłı̨chǫ Government and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation have also endorsed the Grays Bay deepwater port as part of the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor. The corridor would include a deepwater port and a 230-kilometre all-season road from Grays Bay to the Northwest Territories and further south to the rest of Canada.

Right now the only road from the Northwest Territories to Nunavut is a seasonal winter road that only operates for eight to 10 weeks a year.

Building an all-season road as part of the corridor would also serve the Tłı̨chǫ communities of Gamètì and Wekweètì, which have limited access.

Irngaut said federal leaders voiced some support for Inuit-led projects at a recent meeting, but that he is hoping for firm federal commitments. *Canada’s National Observer *reached out to the federal department for comment and to ask about ongoing discussions, but the office was not able to respond by the deadline on Monday.

The Inuit leaders hope Ottawa will fill the funding gaps and provide phased investment through the Building Canada Plan, Inuit ownership, paid apprenticeships and long-term maintenance funding.

New federal infrastructure priorities will be announced as part of the Liberal government’s budget on Tuesday. Inuit leaders say the commitments made now will have deep and lasting impacts on housing, workforce training and energy security in Nunavut.

Irngaut added Russia is aggressively expanding their northern infrastructure, developing ports, submarine facilities and coast guard bases in territories directly opposite Nunavut across the polar region. Canada, he said, must match this pace to protect its interests and maintain sovereignty.

“Canada is an Arctic nation,” Kabloona said. “It’s the continuous occupation of the Arctic by Inuit that gives Canada the ability to say it has sovereignty over the Arctic. That means we have to have a standard of living equal to the rest of Canada. Right now, we’ve been left out of a lot of development. We’d like to be able to say Canada is coast to coast to coast — and by nation-building in the past, it has meant east–west. Now we’d like to see nation-building north.”

Sonal Gupta / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer.