IQALUIT - Canada's new Arctic research station will be built in one of three high-Arctic communities in Nunavut located on the Northwest Passage, Indian and Northern Affairs minister Chuck Strahl announced Friday.
Cambridge Bay, Pond Inlet and Resolute were suggested after consultations with both Canadian and international scientists, Strahl said in the territorial capital of Iqaluit.
"(The station) needs to be on the Northwest Passage, it needs to be in the High Arctic, it has to have good transportation because there's going to be a lot of activity there."
Friday's announcement comes as some scientists are criticizing the federal government's funding strategy for the Arctic. Some have said the money -- which includes $85 million in the recent budget to upgrade existing facilities in the North -- focuses too much on infrastructure at the expense of actual research.
But Strahl said a world-class, year-round research station in the North will help Canadian scientists leverage international research dollars.
"It's a chicken-and-egg thing," he said.
"You need to have good facilities to attract scientists and also to interest other partners. We have universities all over the world and certainly all over the south in Canada who want to take part in northern research but right now the facilities are inadequate.
"With improved facilities we'll be able to attract partners."
The research would be a sizeable structure of up to 5,000 square metres, Strahl suggested. It would include not only labs, but also housing and eating facilities as well.
No budget has been determined for the station.
Strahl said about $2 million has been set aside to determine which of the three communities would be best. A recommendation is expected within the next 18 months.
Pond Inlet is a hamlet on the northern tip of Baffin Island near the eastern gate of the Northwest Passage. It offers little existing infrastructure.
Resolute is the most northerly of the three and is already a frequent jumping-off point for scientists heading further north. The federally funded Polar Continental Shelf Project currently has a building there, which offers logistical support to researchers.
Resolute has also been chosen as the site for the Canadian Forces' winter warfare school.
Cambridge Bay is the southernmost and largest candidate, with about 1,400 people. It currently serves as a transportation hub for the central Arctic.
Health minister and Eastern Arctic MP Leona Aglukkaq welcomed the announcement, saying it will bring job opportunities as well as a chance for northerners to take part in Arctic research.
"Far too often in the North we have researchers come up and study our environment, study our wildlife and we end in the back defending our positions on it. Inuit and Nunavummiut have a lot to offer the world in terms of their knowledge of the environment that they live in."
Strahl said the new centre will become the hub of a network of already existing research institutes in the North, including the Aurora Research Institute in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, the Igloolik Research Station and Environment Canada's Eureka weather station on Ellesmere Island.
