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“People are actually left with mining skills, but not with other skills once the mine closes”
The 1,800-person community of Baker Lake has less than three years to go before the Meadowbank gold mine, about 100 kilometres from the town, closes down.
Until then, questions linger about how Nunavut’s only inland hamlet can support itself afterwards, problem free.
“People said overwhelmingly that — with the mine closing in 2017 — there is very little awareness and very little preparedness for that scenario,” said Annabell Rixen, a master’s student assessing the mine closure and community preparedness as part of a project called “Tuktu.”
Rixen’s presentation was part of the four-day Arctic Change conference, hosted by ArcticNet, which unfolded Dec. 8 to Dec. 12 at the Ottawa Conference Centre. Rixen boiled her research down to two visions: a worst and best-case scenario.
The best case: job training programs are implemented to stimulate new local businesses and money is injected into mental health, childcare and cultural programming. Also, dwindling caribou numbers return to full strength.
“As the elders emphasized: let our land recover. We need to give our land the proper time to rejuvenate,” Rixen told Nunatsiaq News.
The worst case scenario: there’s no money for any of those programs, domestic fighting and alcohol abuse rise, and the caribou don’t come back to town.
The study, which first began in 2009, is the result of discussions and interviews with locals in Baker Lake. The residents also analyzed the results to create findings for the report. Rixen says she’s an optimist about the mine closure.
“I am a lot more optimistic, because we are seeing a lot more people now respond very well to people planning ahead,” she said.
Agnico Eagle, which runs the Meadowbank gold mine, has also been open with her and the community so that they “leave a positive legacy in this community,” Rixen said.
“I hope they remain that open in the upcoming year as well,” she said. But there are still many unanswered questions.
“People are actually left with mining skills, but not with other skills once the mine closes,” Rixen said.
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