The Government of Nunavut, the most northern territory of Canada, will give a total of CAD24.64 million Canadian dollars (USD18.2 million) in financial assistance to Calm Air (MO, Thompson) and Canadian North (5T, Yellowknife), as compensation for transporting medical supplies and personnel over three months, it said in a statement on June 8.
“As we previously announced, we entered into agreements with Calm Air and Canadian North to provide financial assistance in April, May, and June to maintain adequate airline service for medical travel services and critical workers into Nunavut,” the region’s health minister, George Hickes, said in the statement.
As such, Nunavut will provide CAD9,810,000 (USD7,240,000) in additional assistance to Canadian North, making the total CAD15,650,000 (USD11,550,000) over the three-month period, and will give Calm Air an extra CAD6,387,000 (USD4,713,000), putting its three-month total at CAD8,987,000 (USD6,632,000), the Nunavut News reported.
“As restrictions start getting lifted across the country, we want to make sure that our airlines also have stability,” Hickes said during a news conference in Iqaluit on the same day, adding that the government would renegotiate with the airlines at the end of June.
“The complications of the negotiations up to now have helped because it has really solidified the numbers and identified the needs, so any further agreements I would anticipate being a lot easier to accomplish,” Hickes continued.
Sparsely populated Nunavut heavily relies on air transport as the only way to reach most of its communities. On April 14, Canada’s federal government announced that the region would receive a CAD30 million (USD21.1 million) subsidy for COVID-related expenses and a further CAD5 million (USD3.7 million) specifically to sustain local air transportation.
Nunavut’s strict border measures will probably be the last of the public health measures to be lifted, Hickes said. The region remains COVID-free, but there are 119 people currently under observation for the virus, and “right now, travel into Nunavut represents the single biggest risk for introducing Covid-19,” he added.
