Contract loss may mean extinction for Inuit company

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An Inuit-owned company in the Northwest Territories is facing economic extinction after Ottawas awarded a lucrative maintenance contract to a non-Native company.

Losing the $4 million Department of National Defense and Supply and Services contract to service the North Warning System may kill Avati Inc., said the fledgling company's president, Fred Hunt.

Avati was notified Feb. 18 by fax that Ottawa would not be awarding them the contract to provide accommodations, food and water services and site clean-up this year, despite requirements in the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement specifying Inuit business participation in northern business ventures.

Section 24 of the Nunavut agreement specifies increased participation by Inuit businesses, improved competition opportunities and appropriate Inuit employee representation in business ventures within the Nunavut Settlement area.

Avati, which is co-owned by the Inuvialuit Development Corporation in Inuvik and the Nunasi Corporation in Yellowknife, held the contract last year and expected to land it again this year, Hunt said. Level-Fortin, the Quebec company contracted to do the work on the 13 stations, does not have any Inuit representation.

"We were totally appalled at this. It's a total violation of Section 24 of the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement."

There's been no response from either the DND or the DSS about the contract award, he said.

"I'm not sure why they cancelled it. The only criteria I can think of is a lower bidder. That goes against the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement."

Under last year's contract, 12 to 20 Avati employees travelled between the 14 North Warning System camps across the High Arctic, providing essential services. The company was also responsible for shutting down and dismantling the old DEW Line stations along the Arctic Circle.

"Avati originally won the contract on the premise that they would completely remove the old DEW line sites, rather than burn and bury them," said Inuvialuit president David Connelly.

That stipulation probably made Avati's most recent offer more expensive than Lavel-Fortin's, but it was the only way the Inuit company was prepared to dismantle the sites, he said.

Representatives from Avati and the Nunavut Tungavik Federation, the Inuit land claim organization, have both sent letters to Ottawa asking for meetings with the federal government. Hunt said. But no responses have been forthcoming.

A Department of Supply and Services spokesperson said she would look into the contract to Lavel-Fortin but was unable to provide details of the deal by press time.

Avati will wait and see if other contracts become available in the next six months, said Hunt. The cost of dismantling the old DEW line stations and construction and maintenance of the new, mostly unmanned system is about $500 million.

"We're going into survival mode. If nothing changes, then we could fold."

More than 80 per cent of Avati's workers are Inuit.