Nunavut News

Transport Nanuk inc. and the NEAS Group Inc. ("NEAS") (Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping Inc./Nunavik Eastern Arctic Shipping Inc. /NEAS Inc.), marine services providers specializing in Eastern Arctic marine resupply, announced the appointment of Daniel Dagenais as president and chief executive officer, effective October 10, 2023. A seasoned maritime executive, Dagenais will bring his strategic mindset and strong operational knowledge to the NEAS Group. Dagenais will replace Suzanne Paquin, who announced her decision to retire."We are pleased to welcome Mr. Dagenais to the NEAS Group," said Leo Charriere, chairman of the board of Transport Nanuk inc., managing partner of NEAS Group Inc.

Canada's new eye in the sky will help detect oil spills and other marine pollution, and monitor ship and endangered whale movements.Minister of Transport Marc Garneau announced that Transport Canada has acquired a new addition to its National Aerial Surveillance Program’s aircraft fleet in an effort to enhance prevention measures needed to respond to marine pollution incidents faster and more effectively, and to better protect marine ecosystems and habitats.The De Havilland Dash 8 aircraft…

Canada’s Arctic warming at three times the global rate, permafrost melting 70 years ahead of predictions, the worst polar wildfire season on record.To counter bad news on northern climate-change,  plans have now moved forward to protect Tuvaijuittuq. Meaning “the ice never melts” in Inuktitut, it’s a globally important area in the Canadian High Arctic almost the size of Germany.The Qikiqtani Inuit Association, working with the governments of Canada and Nunavut, has led the charge to make Tuvaijuittuq a 322,000 sq. km interim Marine Protected Area with an impact benefit agreement that delivers on their promise of a conservation economy…

The Government of Canada is acting to preserve and restore marine ecosystems that are vulnerable to increased marine shipping and development.Transport Canada has awarded a contract to ESSA Technologies Ltd. under the Oceans Protection Plan to look at methodologies and tools to assess the cumulative impacts of marine shipping on coastal marine ecosystems.Transport Canada’s national cumulative effects assessment framework for marine shipping will identify regionally specific tools…

A Russian-flagged passenger vessel that went aground in the Canadian Arctic last week has been refloated and is in stable condition.The 117-meter, 6,230 gt polar expedition cruise ship Akademik Ioffe had about 160 people on board when it ran aground in the western Gulf of Boothia on the morning of August 24.Canadian operator One Ocean Expeditions said it diverted Ioffe’s sister vessel, Akademik Sergey Vavilov, to assist. By August 25, all passengers disembarked by zodiac onto Sergey Vavilov for transport to Kugaaruk, Nunavut, before traveling to Edmonton, Alberta for flights home. No injuries were reported.Akademik Ioffe reportedly suffered some damage, but the severity is unknown.

French cruise line Ponant has ordered the world's first hybrid electric cruise icebreaker with liquefied natural gas (LNG) propulsion, due to take passengers to extremely remote polar locales from 2021. The polar-ready luxury liner will be constructed by Fincantieri subsidiary Vard Holdings Limited, who secured the approximately $320 million shipbuilding contract. The hull will be built at Vard Tulcea in Romania, with delivery from Vard Søviknes in Norway scheduled for the second quarter of 2021.

International Maritime Organization (IMO) has agreed to take steps that could lead to a phase-out of the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) in Arctic shipping following an appeal from the Government of Canada, Indigenous participants and testimony from WWF-Canada. During a week-long meeting at IMO headquarters in London, WWF highlighted recent reports outlining major gaps in spill response capacity in the Arctic. The Canadian delegation’s submission on how to reduce the impacts of HFO in the Arctic received wide support from all Arctic states (United States, Russia, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, and Denmark/Greenland) as well as several non-Arctic states. This is likely the first step towards phasing out the use of HFO in the Arctic entirely.

The International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC70) meeting brought progress by member countries toward a phase out of the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) by vessels operating in the Arctic. Heavy fuel oil (HFO) breaks down extremely slowly in cold Arctic waters and is very difficult clean up in the event of a spill. While HFO powers some 44 percent of the ships currently operating in the Arctic, it accounts for more than 75 percent of the fuel onboard those ships, according to ICCT figures. HFO is already banned throughout Antarctica and in the national park waters around the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, leaving only a strictly regulated corridor for ships to access the islands.

Canada confirmed on Monday it has found the wreck of HMS Terror, the second of two British ships lost in the disastrous Franklin Arctic voyage of 1845, and said the government will work closely with northern aboriginals on ownership of the artifacts. Parks Canada, a federal agency, said in a statement it will work on "joint ownership" of the wreckage from the journey through Canada's Northwest Passage. Britain's Guardian newspaper reported earlier this month that the Arctic Research Foundation, a private group participating in the search effort, had found the ship in pristine condition at the bottom of a bay. Sir John Franklin and his…

Irving Shipbuilding Inc. has committed $2 million in funding in partnership with the Nunavut Arctic College for an applied research project with a northern focus. “Irving Shipbuilding is pleased to support this call for research proposals for the Nunavut Research Institute,” said Kevin McCoy, Irving Shipbuilding President. The $2 million commitment is being made pursuant to Irving Shipbuilding’s Value Proposition obligation under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). Irving Shipbuilding is committed to spending 0.5 percent of contract revenues with the aim of creating a sustainable marine industry across Canada, amounting to approximately $12 million over the duration of the Arctic Offshore Patrol vessel contract.

WWF-Canada, represented by Ecojustice lawyers, is taking legal action to quash Arctic oil and gas exploration permits that continue to obstruct conservation efforts in Lancaster Sound, Nunavut. The environmental group believes they “continue to obstruct conservation efforts” in Lancaster Sound, Nunavut, which is said to be one of the world’s richest areas for marine mammal and harbours one of the highest densities of polar bears in the Canadian Arctic. While the federal registrar has refused to delist the permits, the lawsuit argues that Shell Canada’s permits for offshore oil and gas exploration in Lancaster Sound – issued more than 40 years ago – are expired and therefore invalid.

On October 30, 2015, at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, the heads of eight agencies fulfilling the functions of Coast Guard of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States signed a Joint Statement formally establishing the Arctic Coast Guard Forum (ACGF). The ACGF is an independent, informal, operationally-driven organization. It is not bound by treaty, but will work in cooperation with the Arctic Council to foster safe, secure, and environmentally responsible maritime activity in the Arctic region.

The Franklin Expedition ship discovered in early September by the 2014 Victoria Strait Expedition is Her Majesty’s Ship (HMS) Erebus. Sir John Franklin, who was in command of the Franklin Expedition, sailed on HMS Erebus, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Wednesday. On May 19, 1845, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror of the Royal Navy departed Greenhithe, England, on a much-heralded Arctic expedition in search of a Northwest Passage. Under the command of Sir John Franklin…

The IMO is on the verge of adopting the Polar Code, something that is important and long overdue. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, is on the verge of adopting the Polar Code. When implemented, it will establish the first mandatory rules for operation of commercial vessels in polar waters. This important step is long overdue. On 18 January 2010, the IMO adopted voluntary guidelines for ships operating in polar waters (Res. A.1024).

The “World’s Best” Crystal Cruises is introducing a new expedition-style  voyage traversing the Arctic Ocean via the legendary Northwest Passage – one so mysterious and remote (500 miles north of the Arctic Circle), that explorers spent centuries seeking the passage, until it was first completed successfully by Roald Amundsen just over 100 years ago. Crystal will be the first luxury cruise line to ever navigate the route, maneuvering through 900 miles of majestic waterways lined with spectacular glaciers, towering fjords, and vast unspoiled landscapes away from mainstream civilization and tourism, north of mainland Canada. Beginning August 16, 2016 in Anchorage/Seward, Alaska, the award-winning Crystal Serenity will sail for 32 days from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean/New York City.

Crystal Cruises says it is introducing a new expedition-style voyage traversing the Arctic Ocean via the Northwest Passage (500 miles north of the Arctic Circle) that explorers spent centuries seeking, until it was first completed successfully by Roald Amundsen just over 100 years ago. Crystal claims to be the first luxury cruise line to ever navigate the route, maneuvering through 900 miles of majestic waterways lined with spectacular glaciers, towering fjords, and vast unspoiled landscapes away from mainstream civilization and tourism, north of mainland Canada. Beginning August 16, 2016 in Anchorage/Seward, Alaska, the award-winning Crystal Serenity will sail for 32 days from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean/New York City.

The Govermnent of Canada announces that with an unprecedented number of organizations from the public, private and non-profit sectors it will partner together, using state-of-the-art technology, to locate the historic ships of the ill-fated 1845 Franklin Expedition. The 2014 Franklin Expedition will also have the added benefit of furthering our knowledge in a number of priority areas, including through the collection of important scientific information about Canada's most remote region. Government partners for the 2014 Victoria Strait expedition include Parks Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard, the Royal Canadian Navy…

For Canada and the United States, the Beaufort basin offers unique opportunities for Alaska and Canada’s Arctic territories, says a research paper from Canada's Centre for International Government Innovation (CIGI). The Arctic is facing remarkable climatic and oceanic change that is triggering unprecedented opportunities and challenges for Arctic nations, as well as for countries that do not have Arctic territory but are eager to engage and invest in the region. The Northwest Territories’ (NWT’s) privileged resource endowment and geographic position on the Beaufort basin provide exceptional opportunities for the territory over the longer term in maritime resource development and destination and transpolar shipping as the Arctic ice cap melts.

To prepare Canada’s northern communities for the “New Arctic,” the federal government needs to devote greater policy attention and resources to strategic Arctic maritime areas such as Nunavut, says a new policy brief issued by The Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). In Nunavut and the New Arctic, CIGI Senior Fellow John Higginbotham highlights the need for basic maritime transport infrastructure in Nunavut, which is the Canadian region with potentially the most…

Canadian & Chilean rescuers presented with Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea 2012 at IMO HQ in London. Sergeant Janick Gilbert (posthumously), Master Corporal Max Lahaye-Lemay and Master Corporal Marco Journeyman, crew members of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 424 (Transport and Rescue) Squadron, were nominated by the Government of Canada, in recognition of the exceptional bravery which was displayed by them, in saving the lives of two Inuit hunters stranded in an open boat in icy waters near Igloolik, Nunavut.

The IMO Council has decided that the award will go to Sergeant Janick Gilbert (posthumously), Master Corporal Max Lahaye-Lemay and Master Corporal Marco Journeyman, crew members of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 424 (Transport and Rescue) Squadron, nominated by the Government of Canada; and to Mr. César Flores Flores, a rescue swimmer in the aerial detachment of the Chilean Navy, nominated by the Government of Chile. Sergeant Janick Gilbert (posthumously), Master Corporal Max Lahaye-Lemay and Master Corporal Marco Journeyman were nominated for saving the lives of two Inuit hunters, who were stranded in an open boat in icy waters near Igloolik…

Highlighting the need for safer navigation in Canada’s Arctic, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) released its report into the August 2010 grounding of the cruise ship, Clipper Adventurer in Coronation Gulf, Nunavut (M10H0006). "Our investigation determined there were problems with the vessel’s voyage planning but we also found that key safety information was not being proactively provided to vessels transiting the Arctic,” said TSB Investigator-in-Charge, Eric Asselin. “Traffic in these fragile waters is increasing.

The Fisheries and Marine Institute announced preliminary details for Ocean Innovation 2011: Sustainable Oceans - Understanding the Value of Traditional Knowledge and Innovation. Ocean Innovation (OI) 2011 will take place at the Frobisher Inn in Iqaluit, Nunavut from October 18-21. Ocean Innovation, now in its 9th year. An initiative of the Marine Institute of Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland, the conference attracts presenters and delegates from across Canada and around the world. Ocean Innovation strives to introduce relevant topics centered on the latest innovations in the areas of maritime safety, efficiency of operations and sustainable ocean management. Ocean Innovation is organized as a two day, single-stream conference, with a parallel exhibition.