Nunavut reviewers under pressure to speed up Baffinland review

A Nunavut board is being urged to make a prompt decision on whether Baffinland Iron Mines shouldcontinue to ship up tosix million tonnes ore from its Mary River mine this year.

In a letter to the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) on Monday,Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal asks for a recommendation from the board by Aug. 26 a little more than six weeks away.

"While I am aware of other ongoing assessments before the Board, given the time-sensitive nature of this process, it is imperative that the assessment ... is prioritized and conducted in an efficient and expeditious manner," Vandal wrote.

"This timeline, while ambitious, still allows for maintaining the integrity of the process as envisioned under the Nunavut Agreement and the Act."

Baffinland is askingto continue shipping ore at the same rate as it has in the last fewyears. In 2018, the company wasgiven temporary approval to up its production from 4.2 million tonnes to six million tonnes, andthat approval expired at the end of 2021.

The company wants it extended into 2022, and has threatenedmass lay-offsstarting at the end of August if it's denied.

"As we have stated previously, without this approval, Baffinland will be forced to drastically reduce our workforce in the fall," said Baffinland spokesperson Peter Akman, in an email to CBC on Wednesday.

Minister Vandal rejected an earlier request from Baffinland for an emergency order to produce more ore this year, and insteadencouraged the company to go through the NIRBwith its proposal.

Now Vandal is urging speed, saying the potential job losses meantheproposal before NIRB "should receive priority over other ongoing review processes."

He suggests forgoing extensive public hearings in favour of written submissions from stakeholders, including local communities andInuit organizations. Vandal also refers to a suggestion from the Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA), for a "hybrid process," involving some oral testimony along with written submissions.

In a letter earlier this month to the NIRB, QIA suggests such oral testimony might be collected "through means such as teleconferences or video conferences upon the request of individual community organizations."

The timeline suggested by Vandal this week isalso "fair in the context all parties are working under," QIA presidentOlayuk Akesuktold CBC News in an email on Thursday.

More hearings

The spectre of more Baffinland-related hearings may not be a welcome one to some Nunavummiut a prolonged and sometimes contentious four-year review of the company's proposed expansion plan just wrapped up this year, with the NIRB recommending against that project.

Federal officials arestill considering that recommendation and Vandal has said he needsan additional 90 days to issue a decision. His letter to the NIRB on Tuesday suggests that extra time means people can focus on one Baffinlandreviewat a time, and prioritize the immediate production increase and the threat of imminent lay-offs.

That's something QIApushed for, and Akesuk'semail says the minister's actionsare "in direct response to QIA's advocacy."

Vandal's letter also tacitly acknowledges that another review ofBaffinland's operations at Mary River this one about the continuedproduction increase in2022 could quickly balloon.

"I encourage all parties to focus their interventions on the narrow scope of the Production Increase Proposal Renewal currently under consideration," he wrote.

He cites the "vast amount of information already submitted to the public record" from the reviews ofBaffinland's expansion project, and its earlier production increase proposals.

Speaking to CBC News on Wednesday, Karen Costello, executive director of the NIRB, said the board had not yet made any decisions about how the review will be done, or howquickly.

"[Vandal's letter]has been advanced to the board to inform their decision-making, on not only the process but the timing of the process," she said.

'Lack of respect for the regulatory process,' HTO says

Other organizations, along with QIA, have already weighed in on what the process might look like.

David Ningeongan of Nunavut Tunngavik wrote to NIRB last week to say the review process could proceed "in writing with appropriate accommodations and support for community intervenors to ensure their full participation."

The Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization (MHTO), meanwhile, argues that Baffinland's proposed production increase again this year warrants a "full review process." The organization, based in nearby Pond Inlet, Nunavut, argues in a letter to NIRB that the mine is having a devastating impact on local wildlife populations and that amounts to "an emergency for Inuit."

The MHTO also argues that Baffinland knew its production increase to six million tonnesper year was temporaryand due to expire last year. The company should have shown better foresight, itsays.

"This lack of respect for the regulatory process is not an emergency that warrants the Board accelerating its reconsideration," the MHTO letter states.

"It is a dangerous precedent to set to allow proponents to not plan for the expiry of authorizations and then claim that the impacts to its workforce as a result of that lack of a plan are an emergency that warrants accelerating regulatory reviews."

Environmental group Oceans North echoes those sentiments in its ownletter to the NIRBlast week, saying Baffinland's request does not constitute an "emergency," and thelivelihoods of Nunavummiut should not be on the line.

"This situation is a foreseeable consequence of poor management and planning," Oceans North vice presidentChristopher Debicki wrote.

"Our concern is that Baffinland will continue to use threats of layoffs and mine closure to pressure the NIRB and other stakeholders to approve current and future expansion of the mine."

Oceans North arguesthatBaffinland'sproduction increase proposal warrants "in-person or videoconferenceproceedings," and says reviews and hearings should be televised and recorded.

"It is also very important that parties hear each other's concerns. This is difficult to do when each party writes a separate (and at times untranslated) letter," Debickiwrote.

Debicki'sletter says the Mary River project has had a significant impact on narwhal populations in the area, and that's not been adequately addressed in earlier reviews.