The Manitoba government on Aug. 3 said it is providing $6.7 million over the next two years to study the feasibility of the Indigenous-led NeeStaNan Utility Corridor project. The study will assess the viability and level of investment required to establish a trade corridor from Fort McMurray, Alta., to the Hudson Bay Coast of Manitoba, where products could continue through the Arctic.
The total cost of the feasibility study is $26.6 million, with the Manitoba government providing $6.7 million over two years, contingent on funding participation from the governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan, as well as First Nations communities. The three provinces signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in April to advance economic corridors and support the movement of products within Western Canada and to various markets.
“This vision of this project is to create an Indigenous-owned corridor connecting Manitoba with other Prairie provinces and support economic development in northern Manitoba,” said Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk. “Strategic transportation investments are a priority to develop and grow Manitoba’s trade capability and trade market access.”
NeeStaNan would be 100% Indigenous-owned and governed by a Board of Directors. The plan would build a second deepwater port on Hudson Bay near a long-abandoned settlement near the mouth of the Nelson River, according to the Winnipeg Free Press.
The federal government began construction of the infrastructure for Port Nelson over a century ago, but halted construction due to labor and material shortages during World War I. A later evaluation instead chose the deepwater option of the Port of Churchill, hundreds of kilometers to the northwest, which was completed in 1931.
Piwniuk told CBC News that the new project would relegate the Port of Churchill to a regional supply hub rather than as an international port.
NeeStaNan backers say key commodities such as potash, natural gas, wheat, bitumen, and other critical minerals are landlocked in Western Canada, and transported via rail or pipeline through the Rocky Mountains to the West Coast to reach international markets. If built, the NeeStaNan project would reduce shipping distances by 3,500-5,500 kilometers from existing transportation routes to Europe, the US Gulf Coast, and South America, while delivering economic, environmental, and social benefits to First Nation communities.
Consideration of the corridor would explore the potential for bulk cargo shipments via rail and pipeline development to support the future export of liquefied natural gas, interprovincial high-voltage direct current power lines, and communication lines, as well as the expanded port facilities required for the enhanced shipment of mineral and agricultural commodities.