Nunavut cleans up last DEW line sites

Inuit across Nunavut are working this summer to clean up Distant Early Warning (DEW) line sites, long-abandoned Arctic military stations dating back to the Cold War.

The federal government recently extended the deadline, from 2008 to 2013, to have all DEW line sites torn down and cleaned up. There are 21 such sites remaining, scattered across 5,000 kilometres of northern Canada, with 15 of them based in Nunavut.

Nick Monteiro, the project director with the Department of Defence, told CBC News that the scope of the cleanup work was broader than originally thought.

Extending the deadline will ensure the work is done properly, he said, adding it will also allow residents hired to do the cleanup to bring some financial security in their communities.

"What it does is it allows more money in effect to stay in the North," Monteiro said. "It allows for more employment, so more on-site training for individuals. So it really was a win-win for both DND and everyone in the North."

Francois Bourassa, the project manager at the DEW line site near Hall Beach, Nunavut, said Inuit workers are getting on-the-job training while working on the cleanup, which is expected to be completed by the end of August.

"It's a lot of jobs, and also good training because ... what we did in 2003 when we [started] the job, we set up a training for the equipment operators in 2004," Bourassa said. "I think there were 27 people [attending] that training."

The Canadian and American armed forces operated the DEW lines in the 1950s and '60s, in an effort to protect North America from attack, but the system was shut down when the United States withdrew from the project. The DEW line system was officially shut down in 1993, with the U.S. handing over all operations to Canada.

The abandoned sites since sat abandoned, contaminated with chemicals including large quantities of polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCBs and old equipment that needed to be torn down. The federal government signed a $230-million agreement with Inuit leaders in 1998 for the cleanup of those stations, creating at least 900 jobs.

Work is also underway near the communities of Taloyoak and Clyde River.