Indigenous BUSINESS REPORT 31 NORTHERN SPOTLIGHT GLOBAL MARKET The investment is reshaping the community and the North. In August 2024, the port shipped its first critical minerals in decades when some 10,000 tonnes of zinc departed for Belgium. Volumes roughly doubled the following year, marking a second consecutive season exporting minerals to Europe. The industrial capacity and interest continue to grow, both at home and abroad. There is new gold traffic on the rail- way’s Flin Flon subdivision, an agreement with Sio Silica to explore high-purity silica exports to Germany, and in March 2026 the most strategic deal yet — a cooperation agree- ment with Port of Antwerp-Bruges International, Europe’s second-largest port. This commercial growth tells only part of the story. Churchill remains the gateway for the annual sealift supplying seven predominantly Inuit communities in Nunavut’s Kivalliq Region, or roughly 11,000 people, and the railway is the only year- round surface link for a regional population of about 33,000. Arctic Gateway Group employs around 150 people, the majority of them Indigenous. “Port of Churchill Plus is a vision for a stronger North and would be transformative for the economics of shipping through Hudson Bay,” Avery said when Ottawa announced a market study of the port’s long-term commercial potential earlier this year, adding that the work will “ultimately help Canada diversify trade, expand access to new markets, advance economic reconciliation, and strengthen Arctic security.” The harder question now is whether Churchill’s revival is a unique success or the beginning of a broader model for Northern development. Zoom out, and the pattern becomes harder to ignore. The port’s revival, the creation of MCIC and a growing pipeline of Northern infrastructure projects all point in the same direction: Indigenous communities are no longer asking to participate in economic development in the North. Increasingly, they are designing it, financing it and insisting on owning it. Few people articulate that transformation more clearly than P.J. Akeeagok. The former premier of Nunavut now leads Arctic Strategies, an advisory firm focused on Indigenous-led infrastructure equity partnerships and joint ventures. As a young Inuit leader, he helped negotiate Nunavut’s devolu- tion agreement, transferring responsibility for more than two million square kilometres of land and resources from Ottawa to the territory. Today, Akeeagok’s work centres on a simple principle. Indigenous communities should not merely benefit from major projects; they should own part of them. Arctic Strategies distils that philosophy into two principles: Indigenous equity ownership and the non-dilution of Indigenous equity. The firm’s portfolio offers a glimpse of that future, which includes the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor, the Iqaluit Hydro Today's care. Tomorrow's knowledge. Generations of impact. For decades, First Nations have relied on software systems that were designed around programs, funding requirements, and reporting obligations. What if software was designed around Nations instead? We believe technology should strengthen community wellness, support providers, and help Nations transform information into knowledge for generations to come. Sul’sul’tun is building that future.
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