Image retrieved from: Nunavut Legislative Assembly
Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
The territory of Nunavut turned 20 years old in 2019. In pushing for the development of Nunavut, a central goal of the Inuit was to have a government “numerically dominated by Inuit” which would also be “[operated] by Inuit cultural principles.”[1] Traditional Inuit law was customary and unwritten – according to elder Mariano Aupilaarjuk “the maligait [laws] of the Inuit are not on paper. They are inside people’s heads and they will not disappear.”[2] Like other Indigenous Peoples, the Inuit have faced colonial pressures to give up their traditional legal system. While the creation of Nunavut was meant to safeguard Inuit culture and control in the territory, questions remain among some Inuit people if the institutions of Nunavut meet their needs.
The governance of the territory is unique because “there are two Nunavuts… 1) the Nunavut Settlement Area governed by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. [NTI] for the benefit of Inuit beneficiaries only; and 2) the territory of Nunavut, governed by the Government of Nunavut” for the benefit of all people in the territory.[3] This unique governance model was born after intense negotiations between the federal government and Inuit leaders – culminating in the royal assent of the Nunavut Act[4] and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act [NLCA Act].[5] These two acts form the basis for governance of Canada’s Eastern Arctic.
After Nunavut’s creation, the NTI was established to govern the implementation of the NLCA Act on behalf of the Inuit. According to NTI, the organization “coordinates and manages Inuit responsibilities and ensures that the federal and territorial governments fulfill their obligations” to the Inuit people.[6] NTI monitors wildlife in the territory and the historic land claim of the Inuit people – approximately 350,000 square kilometers.[7] Funding for the organization is received through compensation from the land claim agreement and from resource royalties.[8]
By contrast, the Government of Nunavut gets its jurisdiction from the Nunavut Act. The Government operates like any other bureaucratic government in Canada, possessing institutional organs and departments such as health, education, culture, language, and intergovernmental affairs.[9] While local MLAs are elected to the Nunavut Legislative Assembly, there are no political parties and the premier and cabinet are elected from the MLAs through a system of “consensus government” (a similar system operates in the Northwest Territories).[10] While Inuit culture and Inuit MLAs are predominate in the Legislative Assembly,[11] there has been criticism from some Inuit that there are not enough Inuit workers in the Government bureaucracy and that the Government is not doing enough to better the life of everyday Inuit.[12]
For this reason, relations between the Government of Nunavut and the NTI have been “strenuous.”[13] Malachi Arreak, an Inuit negotiator in the original negotiations with Canada, believes that if more self-government had been granted to the Inuit in the original negotiations, then many of the problems in contemporary Nunavut would be less serious.[14] NTI President Aluki Kotriek has given support for exploring greater Inuit self-government, stating: “If the territorial public government isn’t meetings the needs of the Inuit, is there another way in which we can do that?”[15]
However, on January 21, 2020, the Government of Nunavut and NTI signed a renewed protocol which gave a “renewed commitment to implementation of the Nunavut Agreement and [to] working together to benefit Nunavut Inuit.”[16] While some Inuit people may see problems with their current governance structure and representation of Inuit people in it, it seems like Nunavut’s unique governance model is stable for the foreseeable future.
Until Next Time,
Team ReconciliAction YEG
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[1] Graham White, “Governance in Nunavut: Capacity vs culture?” (2009) 43:2 Journal of Canadian Studies 58 [White].
[2] Mariano Aupilaarjuk, “Tirigusuusiit and Maligait” in Jarich Oosten, Frédéric Laugrand & Wim Rasing, eds, Interviewing Inuit Elders: Perspectives on Traditional Law, Volume 2 (Iqaluit: Nunavut Arctic College, 1999) at 14.
[3] Francis Lévesque, “Revisiting Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit: Inuit knowledge, culture, language and values in Nunavut institutions since 1999” (2014) 38:1-2 Études/Inuit/Studies 120 [Lévesque].
[4] SC 1993, c 28.
[5] SC 1993, c 29.
[6] “About NTI,” Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, online: <tunngavik.com/about/>.
[7] Lindsay Jones, “As Nunavut turns 20, Inuit rethink their own governance,” Maclean’s (12 December 2018), online: <macleans.ca/politics/as-nunavut-turns-20-inuit-rethink-their-own-governance/> [Jones].
[8] Ibid.
[9] Lévesque supra note 3 at 120.
[10] White supra note 1 at 64.
[11] Ibid
[12] Jones supra note 7.
[13] Lévesque supra note 3 at 120.
[14] Jones supra note 7.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, Press Release, “Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated Sign Renewed Protocol” (20 January 2020), online: <tunngavik.com/news/media-advisory-government-of-nunavut-and-nunavut-tunngavik-incorporated-sign-renewed-protocol/>.
