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“There’s no fencing, no barriers; there’s nothing, no supervision. It’s not our land, it’s public land, so there are kids jumping from one container to the other, biking through. It’s crazy. It’s an accident waiting to happen.”

Paquin held out hope that the federal government’s major infrastructure project, the Building Canada Fund, will provide some assistance — but Nunavut hasn’t applied for marine infrastructure funding under the program, and is instead focusing on upgrading the town’s airport, a spokeswoman for Premier Peter Taptuna said.

Iqaluit’s waterfront, Yasmina Pepa added, is under municipal jurisdiction.

Paquin suggested the feds need to take ownership. In 2009, after all, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the construction of a small craft harbour in Pangnirtung, further north on Baffin Island, which opened last year.

“There is federal money for infrastructure, but money in the North can be used for a lot of things — community centres, hockey arenas. All of that falls under infrastructure because the needs of the North are huge,” said Paquin.

“But marine infrastructure needs to be the priority, because it’s critical to get the goods north to build all that other infrastructure.”

The Building Canada Fund officially launched on April 1 of this year, with Edmonton receiving the first announcement on May 26 to fund a light-rail extension. There’s been no word of any money coming to Iqaluit.

“It’s up to local governments to apply for funding,” Vincent Rabault, spokesman for federal Infrastructure Minister Denis Lebel, said in an email.

Joe Hess, who runs a local shop selling Inuit “country foods” such as Arctic char, whale meat and caribou, said he’s puzzled by all the buck-passing.

“I don’t know if they can’t get the money or they don’t want to get the money,” he said of government officials.

“I don’t know what the problem is, but something definitely has to happen, because there’s no way they can continue without it.”