Paulatuk, N.W.T., mayor hopeful barging changes could be for the better

The mayor of Paulatuk, N.W.T., is hopeful that a change to barging in his region will mean items won't take as long to reach the Beaufort Delta community.

Low waters in the Mackenzie River this year caused the N.W.T. government to announce changes to its barge schedule.

Freight is usually sent to Hay River where it is barged north to communities like Paulatuk.

This year, all communities north of Norman Wells need to barge their goods through Tuktoyaktuk instead. This includes all six communities of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region and Fort Good Hope.

The Marine Transport Services port in Tuktoyaktuk will open on July 2, which is three weeks earlier than usual. It will accept northbound freight until August 1.

Paulatuk Mayor Ray Ruben and his staff have been preparing for this since the announcement earlier this spring. He says he wonders why the change hasn't happened already.

The MV Kelly Ovayuak barge is shown in this 2019 handout photo. (N.W.T. Department of Infrastructure/The Canadian Press)

"Because of the low water conditions year after year on the Mackenzie River there, we were starting to support the idea of having things shipped to Tuk and then having things ship up to our community when things are ready instead of running things up the Mackenzie River," Ruben said.

Ruben and his team are now looking at getting their community's supplies from the Yukon instead of Alberta.

"I think it will change some things or some suppliers we deal with or the location. So now we're looking to get a lot of our supplies via Whitehorse," Ruben said.

Tracy St. Denis, the assistant deputy minister of program services for the Department of Infrastructure, said they anticipate no issues as they have given fair notice to the communities and people who would ship to them.

"That gives customers an additional six weeks to what they normally would have had to get their cargo up to Tuk," said St. Denis.

MTS staff from Hay River will be relocated to Tuktoyaktuk for the summer season.