Consortium of Indigenous and northern communities acquires share of northern port owned by AGT and Fairfax Holdings
WINNIPEG (MarketsFarm) — The Port of Churchill is undergoing an ownership transition that will see OneNorth Community and Indigenous partners assume 100 percent ownership of the port, the rail to the facility, the Churchill Marine Tank Farm and associated assets, according to an Arctic Gateway news release distributed by the Town of Churchill.
AGT Food and Ingredients and Fairfax Holdings had held the other 50 percent of the assets before the transition earlier this month.
“A tremendous amount of hard work has seen northern communities reach this critical milestone,” said Churchill mayor and OneNorth co-chair Mike Spence in the news release.
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“Together with our partners we are taking the next important steps to realize our vision for a national arctic trade corridor.”
OneNorth is a consortium of Indigenous and northern communities that says it is committed to the long-term success of the Hudson’s Bay rail line and arctic trade corridor. The port and rail line have seen a significant turnaround since 2018. This included work to establish a local governance structure, which includes leadership from across northern Manitoba, to form a partnership.
“Our communities are ready to step up,” said Opaskwayak Cree Nation Onekanew and OneNorth co-chair Christian Sinclair.
“We have a multi-generational socio-economic development vision that will take this work forward as a truly northern Canadian success story.”
Under a 2018 partnership agreement supported by the federal government, AGT and Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. assisted OneNorth community leaders in taking Arctic Gateway Group through a critical transition. In the last two years, passenger and freight rail service has been restored and port services have fully resumed for both import and export, including six cargo re-supply vessels for Nunavut.
AGT will continue to provide management services during the transition period to ensure a seamless continuation of operations and intends to negotiate a terminal handling agreement to ship grain through the Port of Churchill.
The port says health and safety upgrades were undertaken on all operations, and environmental remediation and decommissioning of the former fuel tank farm was undertaken with the installation of new tanks.
“We are very proud of all that we have accomplished over the past two and a half years with our partner, OneNorth,” said AGT president Murad Al-Katib in the news release.
“The long-term economic and social impact of this critical national infrastructure corridor will provide benefits to Canadians for generations. We are grateful to the amazing communities in northern Manitoba and look forward to watching the continued success of Arctic Gateway. We are proud we were a part of this nation-building project.”
