The Nanisivik Naval Facility on northern Baffin Island. Back in 2007, the Stephen Harper government framed the facility as a means to assert Arctic sovereignty by extending the operational range of the navy in the region.Department of National Defence/Supplied
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is shuttering a trouble-plagued Arctic naval facility, two government sources say – a project from the Stephen Harper era that was originally conceived as a major demonstration of Canadian sovereignty in the North.
The Nanisivik Naval Facility on northern Baffin Island was first promised in 2007 by the Harper government, but cost-cutting later resulted in the project being downgraded to a summer filling station for naval ships.
It ultimately never began operations, hobbled by delays, cost increases and serious corrosion on the deepwater port’s jetty where ships are meant to tie up.
The sources said Nanisivik is now being shut down because it would cost too much to operate and is no longer required. Canada’s Arctic and offshore patrol ships (AOPS), for example, can sail longer without refuelling than originally anticipated, and other options for regional fuel stops exist, such as the deepwater port in Iqaluit, or private ventures such as Baffinland Iron Mines’ Milne Port.
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Nanisivik presents limited operational value for the navy today, the sources added, so it makes sense to redirect resources to other Northern infrastructure plans.
The failure of Nanisivik to live up to its original purpose is a cautionary tale about the challenges of expanding the federal government’s presence in a harsh region far away from southern supply chains and transport corridors.
Canada is now under more pressure than it was in Mr. Harper’s era to assert its grip on the North, as it boosts defence in the face of a breakdown of international laws and norms that could make the world more dangerous.
The government will remove all infrastructure related to the facility and conduct environmental remediation, the sources said. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The Nanisivik facility, adjacent to the Northwest Passage, was originally seen by the government as easily achievable because the deepwater jetty was already in place, built for a former zinc-lead mining operation nearby.
Whitney Lackenbauer, Canada Research Chair in the Study of the Canadian North at Trent University, said the lesson for Ottawa is there are no shortcuts in the Arctic.
“This was originally pitched as low-hanging fruit: Being able to refurbish an existing site,” Prof. Lackenbauer said.
Nanisivik has been noticeably absent from ambitious plans announced by the Carney government over the past year to boost military presence in the Arctic.
Ottawa is planning to buy up to 12 under-ice capable submarines and last month said it would spend nearly $35-billion to upgrade military installations in the North aimed at defending against threats to North America and asserting territorial sovereignty.
Other future options for supporting naval operations in the North include not only Milne Port, but Grays Bay on the shore of the Northwest Passage or Qikiqtarjuaq on eastern Baffin Island, the sources say.
Back in 2007, Mr. Harper framed the facility as a means to assert Arctic sovereignty by extending the operational range of the navy in the region. Standing on the wharf at Nanisivik, he cited the facility as one example of how Canada was establishing a “real, growing, long-term presence in the Arctic.”
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The original plan for Nanisivik was ambitious: A port with year-round fuel storage and a jet-capable airstrip to serve as a northern hub for the navy’s new Arctic patrol ships. It would also store food and spare parts for the navy.
By 2012, because of cost constraints, military planners significantly scaled back Nanisivik. Plans for permanent accommodation for 15 staff were reduced to using trailers. Food and spare-parts storage were scrapped. The original plan called for a 50-year design life for the jetty. The revised plans dropped that.
Planned fuel-storage capacity was scaled back to one year’s supply from two years. A dedicated telecommunications network was abandoned.
Last December, Department of National Defence spokesperson Andrée-Anne Poulin told The Globe that Ottawa had so far spent $107.6-million building the Nanisivik facility – a bill that was expected to reach $114.6-million.
She said that in the early years of planning for Nanisivik, the government discovered that “Arctic cold-water bacteria were degrading the existing jetty through a process called microbial-induced corrosion.” Since 2010, she said, Ottawa “has been working with consultants to understand the phenomena and develop options to mitigate the problem.”
The sources say the existing jetty would require expensive structural repairs to make it viable for long-term use, which would further delay completion of the facility. And the jetty cells – the compartments that make it up – as well as the fuel supply would require annual inspections that would add additional logistical and planning challenges to the operation of Nanisivik.
In a 2022 report, the federal Auditor-General said that cutbacks meant the fuelling facility would only be available for a few weeks a year.
“As a result of the decision to scope down the project, the facility will not be equipped to heat its fuel tanks. This will reduce its period of operation to about four weeks per year.”
National Defence has said that all fuel for an operating Nanisivik facility would need to be shipped up before each summer season and then samples would have to be sent to Ottawa for testing.
After that, the fuel would be available for use for four or five weeks before the September cold made it thicken. At that point, it would need to be removed from tanks, the department has said.
The government has spent the ensuing years trying to mitigate the bacterial-corrosion problem before opening the facility.
Another Canadian official said the estimated cost of fixing the wharf could be as high as $250-million. The Globe is not identifying this source because they are not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.