CAMBRIDGE BAY, Nunavut — The federal health minister will lead the international Arctic Council next year as it grapples with whether to allow other countries at the table.
Canada assumes leadership of the eight-nation body in 2013, and the prime minister announced Thursday in Nunavut that Leona Aglukkaq is his choice as Canada’s official ambassador.
Aglukkaq will remain as health minister as she also takes on responsibilities for developing and delivering the council’s program between 2013 and 2015, Stephen Harper said.
“(It) is not because she is minister of health, but because she is a minister that represents northern Canada,” Harper said after a speech at a Cambridge Bay school.
“And it’s important that northern Canada be the one that really leads this exercise.”
Aglukkaq is also the MP from Nunavut and banners welcoming her home hung at a community feast on Wednesday night.
Aglukkaq said her role will be to work in co-operation with the members but also to advance Canada’s agenda.
“I’m from the Arctic and I’m going to bring that knowledge to the table as someone who is born and raised up here,” she said.
Chairmanship of the council rotates through all member countries, and Canada’s next turn marks the end of the first complete rotation since the council was founded in Ottawa in 1996.
Canada takes over from Sweden and the other members include Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation and the United States.
But as melting ice and a global thirst for resources have made the Arctic a lucrative environment, other countries are angling for a seat at the table as official observers.
Key among them is China and the European Union, both countries that are high on Canada’s list of trading partners.
Canada has nixed the EU’s bid once before because of its ban on seal products.
Some aboriginal leaders are also worried that if other countries join, they will dilute the voices of the First Nations and Inuit groups who have permanent seats at the table, though no votes.
“There is a process in place and we will work through that process,” Aglukkaq said of how new observers will be chosen.
Canada is also likely to come under pressure to try to broaden the council’s mandate to include security issues.
The announcement came as Harper visited Cambridge Bay, a community of about 1,500 people.
He had tried to visit two years ago on his annual Northern tour but the trip was called off because of bad weather.
On that tour, Harper announced Cambridge Bay as the site of a new Canadian High Arctic Research station.
The facility is behind schedule, but Harper also announced Thursday that a Quebec-based design team has been selected.
Residents have also been waiting to see how much money has been allocated for the centre.
Harper said $142.4 million over six years has been committed for the construction and fit-up of the station, and an additional $46.2 million for a science and technology program related to its work.
Another $26.5 million per year has been set aside, as of 2018-19, for the continuing program and operations of the station.
Nunvaut Premier Eva Aariak said the new station will bring together scientific and traditional knowledge.
“This combination is essential as Arctic communities deal with the climate change and the impact that are already affecting our environment, economy and our people,” she said.
But the community also needs the economic spin-off potential from the station, said Charlie Evalik, the president of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association.
“A lot of research and everything like that still needs to be done in terms of where the wildlife is as well as the fish as well as mineral potential are in the region,” he said. “That will assist in terms of making informed decisions that’s going to be required for the economic development that should be happening in Nunavut.”
It also provides incentive for young people to get educated so they can work there, he suggested.
The centre is scheduled to open in 2017.
But in the meantime, communities in Nunavut are grappling with soaring food prices, unemployment and health issues. A recent Statistics Canada survey suggested that youth who live in the Inuit homelands are roughly five times more likely to die than their counterparts in the rest of Canada.
When asked what message he’d have for communities struggling with the realities of life in the North, Harper said they should know the government is focused on their needs.
Science, growing economic development, tourism, housing investments — all are geared to making sure opportunity improves in the North, Harper said.
“Everything is so uphill in terms of development unless you can get core economic activity,” he said.
“We’re trying to do that through the breadth of investments.”