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Canada’s Baffinland Iron Mines is seeking a court order against a group of Nunavut hunters who have been blocking the Mary River mine’s road and airstrip in protest of a proposed expansion of the operation.
Hunters from Arctic Bay and Pond Inlet set up the blockade last Thursday, after travelling two days by snowmobile to get to the company’s iron ore mine, located in the Mary River area of Baffin Island.
The company has had to stop most of operations and ground all flights, including those carrying food and supplies
The company says the siege has forced it to stop most of the mine’s operations and to ground all flights, including those carrying food and supplies.
Baffinland President and CEO Brian Penney said there currently are 700 people working at the mine, many of whom have been on site for 22 days.
“Baffinland respects the right to peaceful protest, however Baffinland cannot allow any activity to continue that causes a safety concern to any of the people on site,” it said in the statement.
A hearing on the requested injunction that was set for Wednesday was adjourned to Saturday.
The blockades began while the Nunavut Impact Review Board’s (NIRB) Public Hearing process on the Phase 2 Development Proposal was underway in Iqaluit and Pond Inlet.
The process is still ongoing and the NIRB has not issued any recommendations regarding the proposed expansion, which seeks to double mine production to 12 million tonnes of iron ore a year. It also includes building a 110-km railway to take the ore to the sea.
4 Comments
Sparky
I worked one season at Baffinland.Most native people i worked with wanted to earn a decent living to support their families and not rely on government handouts but in regards to the protesters i guess there’s a few rotten apples in every barrel.
snapshot
I’ve worked at Baffinland over the years. The Inuit that live there have been saying that the proposed Phase 2 will block the caribou migration route and driving the narwhals away. I heard that the narwhals are crucial for their diet that have vitamin D’s amongst other health benefits and are the only animals that have the vitamins to make you not go crazy mentally and physically during winter when it’s 24 hours of darkness up there.
I think work is great but physical and mental health is on the line. Imagine living in 24 hour darkness during the winter!
Anonymous
Anyone know why it was adjourned to Saturday?
Hoping
Hope no one gets covid 19 from BIM going to their communities