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NTI investment arm injects funds into hospital projects

"No way QC can stop now," organization’s president says

PATRICIA D’SOUZA

Atuqtuarvik Corp., the investment arm of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., advanced $2.75 million to Qikiqtaaluk Corporation last week, the first of several payments toward the construction of the new Baffin hospital.

QC will use the money to identify a design for the $45-million project, said Johnny Mike, president of the organization.

"The $2.7 million is to prepare every aspect of that project that we can identify," he said. "It is a significant step in getting into the project."

The money is part of $11 million of land claims money QC will receive from Atuqtuarvik. The rest will be raised through private lenders.

"This is something new. There is private money being invested here — Inuit money," he said.

The board of NTI decided at last year’s annual general meeting in Pangnirtung to invest a total of $20 million of equity funding in new Nunavut health facilities. The projects are expected to cost $70 million altogether.

Atuqtuarvik also advanced $1 million to the Kitikmeot Corporation, part of $4.5 million the investment organization will pay out for the development of what they are now calling the "Kitikmeot General Hospital."

The money provided by Atuqtuarvik is an upfront payment meant to help the development corporations secure bank loans.

The Atuqtuarvik money is not a loan in itself, but an exchange for preferred shares, the value of which has not yet been determined, said Ken Toner, president and chief executive officer of Atuqtuarvik.

The development corporations will receive 50 per cent of the total funds they have been promised when they sign a development agreement with the Nunavut government. They will receive the balance when they sign bank deals.

If at some point, the GN agrees to buy the hospitals in full or lease them back, NTI will get its money back, Toner said. However, through their arrangement with Atuqtuarvik, the development corporations are not required to pay interest on the money.

"It’s a go"

Mike predicted that Qikiqtaalumiut would see a completed design for the new Baffin Regional Hospital by early spring, and a completed hospital within four years.

However, he expressed concern about the hospital project in the Kivalliq region, which has been the centre of controversy since the board of Sakku Corporation, the development arm of the Kivalliq Inuit Association, was sacked by the Kivalliq Inuit Association — after it received a $1-million advance from Atuqtuarvik.

The government of Nunavut had dropped Sakku as its contractor for the hospital contracts.

The investment group got its money back, Toner confirmed, and no future payments from Atuqtuarvik are scheduled for the Kivalliq hospital.

However, Mike said, Nunavummiut still don’t have all the details of what happened. "There’s something wrong there," he said.

"I really was nervous when Sakku was sacked. It doesn’t look good for Inuit living in Nunavut. We’re talking about beneficiaries’ money here."

He added that he has confidence in the Baffin project. "I know my project is OK," he said.

"The Kivalliq project is in government hands. It’s too bad it’s out of the hands of Inuit corporations."

The two only two development corporations left standing will finalize development agreements with the Nunavut government.

"We hope to come to a development agreement that is socially and economically correct," Mike said.

Atuqtuarvik was created by NTI in 2000 to provide loans to large-scale Inuit-owned businesses. The minimum loan allowed is $100,000.

Despite the controversy in the Kivalliq region, Mike said the projects in the Kitikmeot and Baffin regions must go ahead.

"With the service contract that’s been funded, I think it’s a go. There’s a green light here," he said.

"There’s no way QC can stop with this project now. It has to go ahead."

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