Natural Resources committee  Yes, for the new jobs, and the population is just over 33,000.

Natural Resources committee  Absolutely. With our growing population, within four years we need 2,500 new jobs. That's just to stay in tune with our growing population. In ten years we need about that amount—5,000.

Natural Resources committee  We do see that. Just like every other jurisdiction, we do have that problem with the lack of skilled labour. We foresee that coming, and we want to try to keep in pace. We want to educate and train our people for some of these skilled semi-professional and even professional jobs that come with development.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you very much. Yes, within our department we have a fair number of programs to assist the start-up of small businesses and to assist existing small businesses through various programs within our department. For development, mostly on Inuit-owned land in Nunavut, the development that's happening is—

Natural Resources committee  It's both for assistance in management and to encourage the growth of small businesses. With the development happening on Inuit-owned land, of course through our land claims there are negotiations with the proponent and the regional Inuit associations. There are the Inuit impact and benefits agreements.

Natural Resources committee  We have within our government a couple of corporations: the Nunavut Development Corporation and the Nunavut Business Credit Corporation. We work in conjunction with other lending agencies, such as the First Nations Bank and Atuqtuarvik Corporation, which was formed under the land claims agreement.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you very much. It's an excellent question. You're absolutely right. I spent 13 years in oil well drilling in the Beaufort Sea, ten of those offshore. I spent seven years at the Lupin gold mine, both underground and on the surface. A lot of things were done right at the Meadowbank site.

Natural Resources committee  I think there should be a little more emphasis on basic life skills training. That's one of the things we enthusiastically try to promote. When I talk about basic life skills training, I mean how to manage your family life, your bank account, and other various things that keep a family moving forward without having to fall back on income support and other various things that take self-esteem away from these young families.

Natural Resources committee  I'd have to say training. After they were trained, 265 Baker Lake folks went to work there. At any given time there are about 400 Inuit workers at the site indirectly, some through contracting, others through other companies that contract to the mine. So what was a “has-been“ community of Baker Lake has become one of the more economically better off communities.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for that question. It's one of the envies of the other jurisdictions. You want your GDP to grow, of course. The lack of education is always a struggle within our territory. One of the things we're trying to do is promote more on the parenting side. As you know, parents have to be involved in education and what not.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you. As my colleague from the NWT indicated, in Nunavut the high cost of diesel-generated power and the ageing power infrastructure we have up there in the 26 communities is a high cost to the government and a high cost to the communities. One of the things we're looking at in discussions on the potential Manitoba-Kivalliq road is, in the future, putting a power grid up through there, whether it's right through the road system or through that area.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you. Our chief negotiator has already initiated communications with NTI, Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, and the federal counterpart. We intend to press for the negotiations to continue and the sessions to begin. Our goal is to start negotiations for the agreement in principle with Canada and NTI.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you. With the three territories we have cooperated on the northern minerals workforce development strategy, which I mentioned in my presentation. We're looking for a lot of economic growth and trained people in the north. We're expecting within the next decade that there could be 5,000 jobs created through mining industry growth alone in the north.

Natural Resources committee  Absolutely, and thank you for that question. The Nunavut Impact Review Board is legislated under the Nunavut land claims agreement, and for the most part it's been a small organization since 1999. The expansion and growth in exploration activity has grown in tremendous proportions, and the application process has been slowed down because of the lack of resources within these regulatory bodies, including the Nunavut Planning Commission and the Nunavut Water Board.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning. On behalf of the Government of Nunavut, I would like to express my appreciation for this opportunity to share our experience with the members of the standing committee. The map we have distributed shows what most experts and industry observers believe is the potential mining development in Nunavut in this decade.