The virtual Arctic Development Expo began today with the theme:  northern realities, northern solutions.

The event, the latest iteration of a conference and trade show event that began as the Inuvik Petroleum Show, features more than 75 speakers and presenters this year from across Canada and also from Alaska, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Russia, & Sweden.

In her address to delegates on Tuesday morning, the GNWT’s Minister of Industry Tourism and Investment (ITI) Caroline Wawzonek spoke about the importance of relationships and keeping an open eye - and mind - to the wide possibilities of the future.

“The Beaufort Delta is a region that embodies the idea of both potential and possibility, and the importance of relationships, to achieve this commitment through sustainable growth,” she noted.

Read the Minister’s speech here.

Keynote presenters at this year’s event include  Daniel Vandal, federal Minister of Northern Affairs, on the Development Outlook for the Canadian Arctic; and Joe McBearty, president & Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, on Circumpolar Readiness: A Discussion on Arctic Energy.

ITI continued its support of this long-running event by sponsoring “digital tours” of the Beaufort Delta giving delegates the opportunity to learn more about the resources and science, behind development in the Beaufort Delta Region, as well as some features and attractions in the region.

ITI staff also made themselves available to delegates in the Expo’s virtual exhibit hall where the Department’s Unlocking Our Potential booth offered information and background material on the proven and potential mineral and oil and gas resources in the Beaufort Delta.

Through its sponsorship of and participation in, events like the Arctic Development Expo, ITI supports GNWT Mandate commitments to: Increase resource exploration and development, Increase economic diversification by supporting growth in non-extractive sectors, and Increase employment in small communities.

“Now is not only a time to regain the ground we may have lost towards advancing the mandate of the 19th Assembly during the height of COVID-19, but an opportunity to accelerate it with greater attention paid to areas of challenge and the ingredients for effective change,” Minister Wawzonek said.