Travelers to Nunavut beware!

[Dissapointed]

For those considering traveling to Nunavut through a licensed tour operator or outfitter, I recently read a rather disturbing newspaper article in the Kivalliq News (August 25, 2010) involving a case where the Nunavut Government pulled the operating license of a long-term eco-tourism operator right on their opening day and without notice, and subsequently ruined the pre-paid holidays of nearly 40 people booked. I am scheduled for a tour to Nunavut in 2011, so this definitely caught my attention. From what I have been able to find out, this unprecedented maneuver appears to have been done without any solid basis or as result of any investigation. What's even worse, this may have forced the tour operator into insolvency, and the Government of Nunavut is apparently not intending to pay back the tourists whose holidays have been wrecked by their actions.

Having traveled to the Canadian Arctic several times previously, I have noticed a definite distain by both the Governments and tourism departments towards eco-tourism development in both Nunavut and the NWT; and if this sort of thing can be done to one tour operator, it can also be done to another without notice as well…

Seems it may be sort of like a police state in the Far North - eh?

[VacationBuddy]

Yes, Tom Faess outfitters...I heard something back then but never found out what happened to him. Do you know if Tom got his licence back?

[Jenna]

It's not good to hear that governments can do that to their citizens..Why was he licensed taken? he must've done something serious for the Nunavut government to do that..

[Dissapointed]

You would think so... I do not know the outfitter, but I have a friend who was one of the people stuck, and he claims it all seems more political than anything else. He would have to comment on that part himself.

The point is, if they can do it to one tour company, then they could very possibly do it to another. A precedence becomes set, if it isn't already. It can turn Nunavut into a high-risk destination, depending on the flow of the politics there at any given time.