POND INLET, Nunavut — Uvagut TV, Canada’s first Inuit-language TV channel (which launched on January 18), said today it will broadcast live coverage of the upcoming environmental hearing on Baffinland Iron Mine’s proposed Mary River Phase 2 Expansion, direct from Pond Inlet (located in northern Baffin Island).
Uvagut TV says the unprecedented coverage will give Inuit and concerned audiences “unfiltered access” to the proceeding being conducted by the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) in Iqaluit and Pond Inlet, starting on January 25. The hearing is expected to run until February 6.
The NIRB in-person hearings were suspended in March 2020 due to the pandemic but are now proceeding despite Inuit community concerns about Covid-19 safety risks and their ability to be sufficiently informed and consulted, says Uvagut TV’s press release.
Operating since 2014, Baffinland’s open pit iron mine has raised concerns among Inuit and non-government groups over land and water contamination, the impact on caribou and marine mammals, and the implications for Inuit livelihood, language and culture, says the Uvagut TV release. The proposed Phase 2 expansion of the mine includes building a 110-kilometre rail link to double the amount of ore shipped annually from Baffinland’s northern port near Pond Inlet.
“The potential impact is huge, yet the project has received relatively little media coverage,” says Uvagut TV’s managing director Lucy Tulugarjuk, executive director of Inuit-run non-profit Nunavut Independent Television Network (NITV). “Mining in Nunavut impacts every aspect of Inuit life and culture. As Canada’s first Inuit-language TV channel, we’re giving our Inuit audience full access to the public hearings so everyone can see what happens here. That’s why an Inuit TV channel is so important to Inuit.”
Uvagut TV’s Saqpinaq Carol Kunnuk and Ben Kunuk will broadcast the hearing live from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (ET) on weekdays, with a daily round up starting at 5:30 p.m. featuring interviews and analysis hosted by Lucy Tulugarjuk in Montreal and Zacharias Kunuk in Igloolik speaking with guests through Zoom. It will be broadcast in Inuktut and English with simultaneous translations.
The team behind Uvagut TV has been documenting Baffinland proceedings since 2012 while also developing expertise in live local broadcasting from the remote Arctic.
Uvagut TV is available nationally on Shaw Direct basic satellite channel 267, on Arctic Co-ops basic cable and satellite channels 240 or 267 in Nunavut and Northwest Territories, and online worldwide at www.uvagut.tv and www.isuma.tv.
(Pictured is Louis Uttak speaking at the July 2012 Nunavut Impact Review Board public hearings in Igloolik. Photo from: Isuma Distribution International.)
