“We also work diligently to ensure our
people feel ownership in the QC,” Flaherty
says. “We are owned by the Inuit in the 13
surrounding communities, and giving back
is very important.”
The QC creates sponsorships and charita-
ble contributions for cultural, community,
and youth development initiatives, along
with yearly dividend payments to the QIA,
which in the 2016-2017 fiscal year alone
amounted to $1,063,157. As recently as
November, QIA pledged $5 million towards
the creation of the Nunavut Heritage Cen-
ter, along with a new program aimed at
delivering capacity building and increased
culturally and linguistically relevant early
childcare resources.
CLEAN ENERGY: THE
NEXT STEP
One of the more interesting opportunities
that QBDC has been working on is the de-
velopment of a Regional and Community
Clean Energy ownership model. Flaherty
has long advocated that QC, and indeed
all Nunavut Agreement development cor-
porations, can be an effective partner with
Federal, Territorial and Municipal Govern-
ments in collaboration with the Quiliq En-
ergy Corporation.
Flaherty suggest that such a partnership
approach would focus the transition from
our reliance on imported diesel for the
generation of electricity and to heat our
buildings, to that of a next generation re-
gional community clean energy system.
With the annual reoccurring expenditures
necessary to purchase, transport, store,
and burn imported fossil fuels, coupled
with advancements in energy efficiency,
generation technologies, and battery stor-
age (along with significant Government of
16 business elite canada
H
DECEMBER 2017
