Day: 21 May 2026

First announced in 2007 by then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Nanisivik facility was originally pitched as a bold assertion of Canadian sovereignty in the Northwest Passage. Located on the site of a former lead-zinc mine near Arctic Bay, about 20 kilometres from the community, it was intended as a seasonal docking and refuelling station to support the navy’s Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) and other government vessels operating in the Far North.