Infrastructure Plan for Arviat

2024 / 2025


Airports

Asset Action Required Problem Summary
New Hamlet Council has identified a need for an ILS landing system for the community. This would lower the current ceiling height for allowable landings in the community. This would improve air travel services, air cargo services, and medivac flights.
New Council has identified the need to have the current runaway extended to better accommodate larger aircraft. The council would see the first steps to determine with the help of a consultant the optimum length needed.
Renovate The Airport building does not have a wheelchair ramp on the air side entrance to the building. The building needs to be leveled properly. The building is also desperate need of a paint job inside and out as in has been over 12 years since that has been done last. Seating in the terminal is worn out past its useful life and needs to be replaced. A renovation of the terminal is required.
New Install emergency generator at the airport. In the event of a community emergency such as an extended period with no power the community would be greatly impacted with the lack of service of flights into the community. These flights would not only be the regular scheduled passenger and cargo flights but also Medi-vac flights which could mean life or death for citizens of the community.
New Background:The Hamlet of Arviat is an economic going concern. Having said that part of the infrastructure needed to meet the demand of the community first and foremost is a new airport facility and maintenance garage. With a new airport comes the need to have a complete runway upgrade and a back up generator for power supply outages.The Airport is a government of Nunavut asset and is therefore subject to the Asset Management Program under the control of the Department of Community and Government Services. Our understanding is that the existing Airport facility was constructed in or around the 1970s making the building fifty plus years old.The Hamlet is party to an operational and maintenance agreement with the Department of Economic Development. Airport Building: In the early summer of 2024, the airport experienced a fuel spill when it oil tank leaked. The facility was shut down for several days until a clean up was performed and a new tank and stand were installed. If the building was to be assessed to comply with today's building code and standards it probably would fail. The interior space is sometimes filled to capacity with the number of passengers coming and going to and from Arviat on a daily basis. Add, the people who come to pick up or drop off passengers there is very little room in the lobby section of the building as the number of people exceed the space available. It would be interesting to know when the last occupancy assessment was done by the Office of the Fire Marshall as to how many people are allowed to be there especially when flights are arriving and leaving.The bathrooms need a full upgrade and there appears to be times when they are out of order and not available for use. The building needs to be properly leveled. The interior of the building is in desperate need of a paint job inside and out and it has been 13 years since this has been done. Seating in the terminal is worn out, past its useful life and needs to be replaced.The lighting is very dim. In summary a major renovation needs to be done to the terminal or better yet a new terminal should be constructed. Airport Runway: Hamlet Council would like to see the existing runway extended to better accommodate larger aircraft. Council would like to see as the first steps that the Government of Nunavut hire a consultant to conduct a study on the runway as to the potential of improving it and determine the optimum length needed. The runway should be improved with the addition of asphalt. It requires a lot of quarry material each and every year to ensure that it is maintained so that planes can land safely.

Water/Wastewater

Asset Action Required Problem Summary
New With the increasing population Council sees a need for an additional sewage lagoon. The current lagoon is at full capacity. This Spring Hamlet had to do an emergency decant to avoid possible berm failure In 2019 we will have a 3rd water cell and Hamlet plans on increasing water delivery volume to citizens by adding more trucks and adding expanded delivery hours. This will add even more pressure on the one sewage lagoon.
New With the addition of the third water cell and continued efforts to improve water delivery service Hamlet Council has serious concerns with the current water source location being able to keep up with demands. Council would like for a new source to be identified with an all weather road connecting the location to the community. this would allow for a longer season to refill the cells
Renovate Due to the fast-paced growth of the community presently and in the future the hamlet must continue to provide sewage services to the residents, businesses and government. In order to do so it must have proper resources, of people and machinery and facilities. The problem is that at this time the hamlet of Arviat needs an additional sewage lagoon. A proactive approach needs to be adopted and a new lagoon should be constructed to be ready for the increased volume of sewage that will be generated going forward.

Municipal Infrastructure

Asset Action Required Problem Summary
New LED Street lighting. This would give the community a far higher quality of light, especially during the Polar bear season. Council considers the curernt lighting a safety concern for all residents
New New 10 bay parking garage. Competing for this space is our fleet which currently consists of 9 water trucks, 9 sewer trucks, 3 loaders, 2 graders, 2 garbage trucks, 3 dump trucks, 2 excavator, 1 backhoe, 1 compactor, 3 Dozers, 5 UTVs, and 1 Kubota tractor. Nunavut Airports also parks 1 Dump Truck, 1 grader, 1 loader, and attachments in this space. As all water trucks are parked in one building and all sewer trucks in another. Due to Health code laws, we can't put sewer trucks near water trucks. In the event of a fire we could potentially lose the entire fleet left having no ability to deliver water or sewer services.
New Replace Fire Hall, the current Fire Hall is past its useful lifespan and needs to be replaced. The current location is no longer suitable as it is in the middle of the busy commercial area in the community. This has proven to be a safety concern when it comes to response time.
New The Hamlet of Arviat provides fire service on a continuous basis 24-hour 7 day a week and has been for many years. The existing fire station is past its useful life and needs to be replaced. The current location is no longer suitable as it is in the middle of the busy commercial area in the community. On many occasions this has proved to be a public safety concern when it comes to response time. The building is very small in size and has been the storage facility for two fire service vehicles. This building also serves has the local fire personnel training center for our 13 to 17 volunteer firefighters.There is very little storage space for equipment such as bunker gear and tanks etc. Also, there is no adequate space for a communication room for incoming and outgoing calls. When all of the fire fighters attend training there is not a lot of room for demonstrations. Most fire stations have a decontamination area and shower and washroom facility for clean up of the fire fighters themselves and their equipment after they attend to an event. The bathrooms are very small and little space available for cleaning the equipment and spreading same out to dry. Such daily or weekly activities such as washing and cleaning the exterior of both fire vehicles as the space around and between the vehicles are too small. The building is not in compliance with today's buildings code and would require extensive investment of money to renovate the building to meet today's building standards.Due to the growth of the community and the increased size of newly constructed buildings such as the SAKKU Modular Home Factory it will become an issue for ladder size. The existing building is not long enough to accommodate a ladder that will extend to a required length in fire situation of tall buildings. In other words the future length of ladders extended on and beyond the body of the truck will not fill into the existing building. Our understanding at this time is that the Department of Community and Government Services Deputy Minister and Assistant Deputy Minister have committed to our mayor that approval is there for the construction of a new fire service facility for Arviat. The site has been selected and the hamlet has identified the lot as the site of the facility and has made it not available to be leased to any other party. The hamlet has not received any verbal or written communication on this project in over six months. Our assumption is that the planning and future design and build is underway and that we will start to see some activity either on paper and or at the selected site in the fiscal year 2024 – 2025. In order for the hamlet to complete its updated community plan and to plan our own capital expenditure plan for the next five years we would be interested in getting a time line for construction.
New Due to the fast-paced growth of the community presently and in the future the Hamlet has to continue to provide service to the residents, businesses and government. In order to do so it must have a fleet of water and vacuum trucks and a place to store them. As previously mentioned, the hamlet has purchased two new water trucks this year and one vacuum truck with another one to arrive in 2025.The Hamlet does not have enough parking bays and bays they do have some of them are occupied by airport vehicles and accessories.

Telecommunications

Asset Action Required Problem Summary
New Solar-powered cell phone repeater towers, To extend cell phone range for safety purposes for hunters. This would no doubt cut down on operating expense of SAR.
New Hamlet Council would like to have the fiber opp line that is in Churchill extended into Nunavut to service all residents within the region.
New Hamlet Council is asking for financial support to start a Hamlet radio station. This service will help Council and Admin communicate with residents easier and help deliver important safety messages for SAR and the Fire Department.

Housing

Asset Action Required Problem Summary
New Increase number of housing units. Housing shortages still remains an issue for the community. With the start up of the Hamlet Crusher program the Hamlet has been able to get ahead of land development in the community and ready to lease additional lots
New New GN Staff Housing. 40% of Arviat's GN job positions are unfilled. One of the major factors for this is there is no GN housing units available for rent.

Health

Asset Action Required Problem Summary
New Elder's Centre. Hamlet of Arviat would like to work in conjunction with the GN on developing a plan to construct a 20-30 bed Elder's centre for elders that need 24 hour care. In this plan Council also wants to develop 10 single dwelling units (1 bedroom) for elders that want to live with some homecare support
New Hamlet Council has identified the need for an addictions center within the community. With the population at 3000 and increasing the need for such a facility would greatly improve the quality of life for many residents.

Power

Asset Action Required Problem Summary
New New Hydro line from Maintoba. The Council is asking for continued support from the GN in moving towards a power line coming from Manitoba into the Kivalliq region.
New Hamlet Council has been working with NRStor out of Ontario on a Wind/Solar project that can reduce up to 65% of the diesel generated power needs for the entire community. This project is the first of its kind in Nunavut and can help the GN/QEC reduce its operating cost going forward as well as reduce its carbon footprint. NRStor and Hamlet have been successfull in aquring $9,000,000 to complete this project from the Federal Government of Canada Under current legislation QEC can't purchase power from anybody. Hamlet Council is asking for this to change so this project can continue. To date we had no success in getting QEC to table this policy change to the Assembly

Other

Asset Action Required Problem Summary
New Heavy Equipment Operator courses. Council has identified there is no ongoing Heavy Equipment courses being offered in Nunavut and would like to work with the GN to explore the possibilities of the Hamlet of Arviat developing such a program. With the Hamlet's Hamlet proven track record with its Drilling program, Welding Program, Pre-trades course and work readiness programs a Heavy Equipment program would be a welcomed edition. Hamlet was successful in finding temporary funding to train 32 Arviat residents in the summer of 2017-18 with an outstanding hire rate of 75%. Hamlet Council would like secure funding to be able to deliver more courses.
New Hamlet Waste Management Plan. The Council wants to secure funding to hire a consultant to help the community develop its own Waste Management plan. The Council wants to find local solutions to handle the waste management issue. This plan will include several key components which include. 1. Options to eliminate the metal dump 2. Options on extending the life of the current waste dump site. 3. Options on local programs that could be implemented such as recycling / diversion programs, policy on commercial garbage, and fee structure review
New Establish new Multi-Use Building. This building would be used to house all of the wellness programs the community offers, Used as an Elder's Drop-in Centre, Used as a Youth drop-in Centre, house a community Kitchen, and can also be used as the tourist visitor's Centre thus creating a savings with operating and maintaining the current visitor's Centre

Sports and Recreation

Asset Action Required Problem Summary
Renovate Arena Renovations. The Community Complex is the oldest of its kind in Nunavut and is in desperate need of a major renovation. Council would like financial support in hiring a consultant to do a complete evaluation of the building to help determine the extent of renovations needed and options on how to maximize the use of the building. This would allow the Council to move forward knowing the scope of work and cost.
Remediate Hamlet Council has identified the need to secure funding to properly remediate the old swimming pool building which hasn't been in use for 13 years. Council would like to have the facility fully operational once again.

Schools/Daycare

Asset Action Required Problem Summary
New Arviat has a population of 3000 people 40% of which are under 16 years old. This is a trend this is projected to increase. Hamlet Council has identified in the short term there will be a need for an additional school for the community. There are also efforts to increase the attendance rates in the community and as these efforts pay off it will put increased pressure on the current schools.

Marine

Asset Action Required Problem Summary
New Community wharf and boat launch. There are currently no facilities for small water craft to safely use a Wharf or boat launch services. The current community Wharf is no longer in service as the inlet is becoming shallower over time due isotactic rebound of the land. There is also a need for a boat launch in the community so small boat owners have safe access in launching and is retreiving. This is important to have in place so hunters have safe access to the water.  Hamlet Council is asking for funding to extend the current wharf by 100 feet.

Petroleum

Asset Action Required Problem Summary
New Hamlet Council has identified the need for a new tank farm in the community. The current age of the facility is an issue along with the resupply line that goes through the community. There are also major capacity issues with the current tank farm. Before there is a major environmental incident Council would like an entirely new facility in a location to be able to minimize environmental concerns

Social Gathering Centers

Asset Action Required Problem Summary
Renovate The Hamlet of Arviat is one of the centers of activity within the Kivalliq region of Nunavut, as such it requires a level of service to the community. The John Ollie Centre serves as a central location for the community to gather and share in activities. On November 29, 2022 The former SAO send an e-mail to Accutech (Consulting Company). He stated that the building had an addition added to it over the years so it was not in its original state of construction. He stated that Leonard and Associates did the work following engineering plans at that time. He also stated that before his time as SAO that the shifting started and adjustable screw jacks were installed to isolate the issue. He gave his opinion that due to additional/ ongoing permafrost shifting that the jacks may need to be readjusted. He stated that at peak times the building could have up to 200 plus people in it which was below its original rating of full capacity. He stated that he would like to start to formulate a plan moving forward to ensure the floor system is secure and there is zero risk of failure. The summer of 2023 saw the collapse of the flooring within the crawl space that housed the centre's water and sanitary system, as well as the fire suppression system tank age making these systems inoperable. On November 7th, 2023 Eskimo Point Maintenance and Services Limited projects team presented a path forward to the Hamlet which provided for an investigation of a temporary solution that could provide temporary services to keep the centre operational.

Solid Waste

Asset Action Required Problem Summary
Renovate Due to the fast-paced growth of the community presently and in the future the Hamlet must continue to provide waste collection and waste inventory management to the residents, businesses and government. Due to the increase in waste being created means that the hamlet will have to invest in additional manpower and collection vehicles going forward. The storage of waste will require additional space for both regular day to day waste and heavier construction and metal waste. Storage of metal waste can become an environmental nightmare if leachate may travel from the site to the high tide mark of the ocean. In regard to wildlife many times a year polar bears are sighted near the landfill area looking for food. If we had better ways of handling our waste food products maybe the number of sightings would decrease. Also, there are many birds in and around the area. This raises concerns regarding incoming and outbound flights is the existing location is less than 2.0 kilometers from the center point of the runway. This is a major safety concern for the airport and airport authority.
Some of the content has not been translated for ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ.
Would you like this content translated? Click here to request the translation.