Province releases proposed Nain airport from environmental assessment

On Thursday the province released the proposed new airport and airstrip in Nain from environmental assessment (EA), moving the desperately needed transportation infrastructure one step closer to reality.

Nunatsiavut Government submitted its registration for provincial assessment in December 2023, following years of discussions with the federal and provincial governments about the need for a new airstrip to facilitate the reliable flow of people and goods, including food and emergency services. The proposed project would replace Nain’s existing airstrip and include an airport terminal, a 6,000-foot runway, an equipment maintenance hangar, a cold storage and freezer building for food, a parking area and a 13 km road connecting the airport to the community.

“The New Nain Airport will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to serve the local population and will be able to serve as the emergency response centre for the region,” Nunatsiavut’s registration document says.

For years Nunatsiavut, Nain residents and local leaders have lobbied the federal and provincial governments to replace the existing 2,000-foot air strip, which was built in the early 1980s along the shoreline, where it has been exposed to the sea, leading to erosion. In 2020 a pre-feasibility study determined the airstrip was beyond repair, and that a new location would be required.

The current airstrip is unusable much of the time due to weather, and only during daylight hours because of the lack of adequate lighting. Inuit have long told the province that those restrictions impact the community’s food supply and prevent residents from accessing timely medical care.

“Airstrips are critical infrastructure as they facilitate movement of food, medical supplies and other essential goods, maintain access to necessary services such as healthcare, support attraction and retention of staff in important service areas (e.g., healthcare, education, policing), help to maintain in-person contact with family and friends, provide local employment and support economic development in remote communities,” Nunatsiavut says in the registration document.

Jurisdiction and delays

For years the provincial and federal governments bickered over who was responsible for Nain’s airport infrastructure. A detailed project description submitted by Nunatsiavut to the federal government as part of Canada’s Impact Assessment Act process says it is “anticipated that the Project will be constructed using federal funding and other potential options, such as a public-private partnership model.”

Three political jurisdictions—Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nunatsiavut Government—each had to conduct their own environmental assessments, so they worked together to avoid unnecessary overlap. As part of its process, Nunatsiavut held public consultations in Nain to gather feedback from the community of 1,200 people. Several of those concerns guided changes to the original proposal, including measures to mitigate impacts on Arctic Char and the community’s drinking water. Nunatsiavut says the new airport would be powered by diesel with future potential for an integrated wind or solar energy system.

Opposition MHA Lela Evans, who represents Nain and other Nunatsiavut communities in the provincial legislature, has fought for a new airport in Nain for years. In 2021 she accused the provincial government of delaying the project through its “failure to step up to cost share.” She noted that given the limitations of evacuating people facing medical emergencies, the province’s slow movement on the new airport mean “people’s lives will still be in jeopardy.”

Nunatsiavut Government did not respond to The Independent’s request for comment by the time of publication. In its submission to the province, NG anticipates the new airport will be operational by the end of 2030. During a Nain community meeting in June 2024, according to Nunatsiavut’s filings with the federal government, residents were told that while the province owns the existing airstrip, ownership of the new airport “will be determined in future phases of the project.”