The Government of Nunavut’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Nunavut (GN-TIN) has been awarded funding by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to support the construction of a 1,066 km fibre optic cable in southern Nunavut. The Kivalliq-Baffin Connector Project (the KBC Project) will connect four Nunavut communities to high-speed internet: Iqaluit, Kimmirut, and Kinngait on the southern coast of Baffin Island (Qikiqtani Region), and Salliq [Coral Harbour] on Southampton Island (Kivalliq Region). The KBC Project will connect to an existing Branching Unit (BU) in Salluit (Nunavik) built for the Kativik Regional Government’s (KRG) Eastern Arctic Underwater Fibre Optic Network (EAUFON) Project. Three of the Nunavut communities will be serviced through a marine approach (Kimmirut, Kinngait, Salliq [Coral Harbour]), with Iqaluit’s approach being either terrestrial cable lay from Kimmirut or a marine approach. Dynamic Ocean Consulting Ltd (Dynamic Ocean) has been retained by the GN-TIN as the regulatory specialist to support the permitting for KBC Project. This Project Description (PD) is specific to the Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) Engineering Support Program that is required at each of the marine landings. Worley Canada Services Ltd., operating as Worley Consulting has been retained by GN-TIN as the professional engineering company providing geophysical/geological expertise to support the HDD Engineering Support Program. The investigations that will be done to support the KBC HDD Engineering Support Program will be composed of the geophysical, topographical, geotechnical and potentially biological surveys as described below, which will occur on land and in the marine environment to encompass the areas required for HDD: •Geotechnical (Borehole drilling, thermistors). •Geophysical (Swath bathymetry (MBES), Side Scan Sonar (SSS), magnometer, Subbottom profiler (SBP), Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW), Seismic Refraction, Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT), Downhole Optical Televiewer (OTV) and/or Acoustic Televiewer (ATV). •Topographical survey (LiDAR, Orthoimagery). •Biological survey (underwater video) (potential). The investigations noted above will take place in 2025 and 2026. Approximately 40 days are required in each community, and it is likely to occur over multiple deployments to maximize open water or iced ocean conditions. Whether the programs are performed simultaneously or sequentially will be a decision based on logistics for availability of crew and equipment. Some activities may be required to occur over a 24-hour period, but the communities will be engaged in advance to confirm there are limited noise disturbances. Appropriate measures will be in place to minimize negative effects to terrestrial and marine habitats.