Inuit Land Claims Agreement Achieves Royal Assent

Late last week a Labrador Inuit Land Claims agreement between the Inuit people, the Canadian Government and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador was given royal assent by Gov. General Adrienne Clarkson. The bill, which will allow the Inuit people to have some control of their own future, is a long overdue step in our provincial and national history.

This agreement which will see the formation of Canada’s newest territory, Nunatsiavut , Inuit for “our beautiful land”. The agreement has been many years in the making. William Anderson, president of the Labrador Inuit Assoc. has been there from the beginning of negotiations in 1996 and was in Ottawa for its passage in the House, the Senate and at Rideau Hall for the historic signing.

The agreement provides the Inuit with full ownership of nearly 16,000 square kilometers of land and co-management status, along with the Provincial Government, of a further 58,000. As a part of the agreement, the federal government will transfer $140 million to the Inuit Association to help finance the creation of this new level of government.

The Inuit must now focus on the road ahead, one of true self government. The agreement allows the Inuit to develop their own laws, government and social systems as well as manage their own tax and revenue regimes, contingent on all activities remaining within the parameters of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

It will no doubt be a long hard road, but one which the Inuit hope will lead to a renewed sense of pride and responsibility the likes of which has not been seen in the big land since Europeans claimed it as their own.

After centuries of abuse and mismanagement these people are finally being given a hard fought opportunity to stand on their own feet and make their own decisions. It may not be a perfect solution but it is one that may be workable.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish the Inuit people all the best in their home land and to congratulate them all, especially William Anderson and others like him, who worked so tirelessly for the better part of two decades in order to make this dream a reality.