Local MP Bob Zimmer recently met with leaders in the Nunavut territory and toured the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, the CCGS Henry Larsen.
Zimmer said the trip, part of his role as shadow minister for Northern Affairs and Arctic Sovereignty, was a chance to meet with Premier P.J. Akeeagok as well as other business and community leaders, and to see how the Coast Guard is supporting Arctic communities.
“I have always said that in order to fully appreciate the issues facing those living in the North, you must see it for yourself and speak directly with those who are facing these challenges and opportunities head on,” Zimmer said in a news release.
“Similar to my trips to Whitehorse before the pandemic and to Inuvik in June, I wanted to speak with those who are being directly affected by the decisions made in Ottawa," he said.
In Iqaluit, Zimmer said he also met with the territorial transportation and economic development minister David Akeeagok, as well as officials with the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, Nunavut Planning Commission, Nunavut Economic Developers Association, Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation, and True North Properties Group.
A tour of the CCGS Henry Larsen and Coast Guard facilities in Iqaluit included a visit with Neil O’Rourke, the assistant commissioner for the Coast Guard in the Arctic. Zimmer said he will be highlighting the current security challenges and economic opportunities in the region when he returns to the House of Commons in the coming weeks.
“I was given a comprehensive tour of what our Coast Guard does in the Arctic, what some of the many challenges are in changing ice conditions, along with what is needed to continue to be effective in our Polar Region,” Zimmer said.
“From cutting paths through the Arctic ice for supplies to get to our communities and other traffic, to responding to those in distress, to seabed mapping and the people that make it happen, I’ve learned a lot and am very thankful for their dedicated service.”
In other related Arctic news, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was scheduled to tour a military radar site in Nunavut on Thursday before heading to an air force base in Alberta on Friday. It's the first-ever visit of a NATO secretary general to Canada's Arctic, according to The Canadian Press.
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