A Canadian North flight touches down in Pangnirtung in a file photo from September 2023. The Nunavut government has yet to decide whether it will become a minority owner of Canadian North. (File photo by Corey Larocque)

The Government of Nunavut is still considering becoming a minority owner of Canadian North, as the deadline to buy in nears, according to a GN spokesperson.

“I can confirm that discussions are still ongoing,” wrote Casey Lessard, communications director for the Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs, in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

The deadline is July 15.

The territorial government received the option to buy equity in Bradley Air Services (operating as Canadian North) as part of a 2025 agreement with Winnipeg-based Exchange Income Corp., which owns Calm Air, Keewatin Air and Canadian North.

The deal replaced separate agreements the territorial government had with Calm Air and with Canadian North, which covered duty and medical travel, as well as cargo services.

But the government hasn’t “formally notified” Exchange Income Corp. on its decision, company’s CEO Mike Pyle said in an email Friday.

Before the November 2025 territorial election, then community services minister David Akeeagok said the decision to acquire the airline would be made by newly-elected MLAs.

However, the spring sitting wrapped up June 11 without a vote, and the fall sitting is scheduled to start in October.

Lessard didn’t say if the government will meet the deadline or whether it will be extended.

Canadian North is Nunavut’s largest airline and the territory’s only “road system,” Akeeagok has said. Exchange Income Corp. bought it from Makivvik Corp. and Inuvialuit Regional Corp. for $205 million in February 2025.

“The acquisition of Canadian North has exceeded all of our expectations thus far,” Pyle wrote Friday. “The company is profitable.”

In 2023, Pita Aatami, president of Makivvik Corp., the airline’s previous co-owner, said it was “losing millions” on the airline.