On this date: Creation of Canada’s eastern Arctic territory of Nunavut

The Nunavut flag. A recent report states not enough has been done in areas such as the collection and sharing of information about at-risk youth. (iStock)
The Nunavut flag. (iStock)
On this date, a vast new territory in Canada’s far north was created.

Becoming the third territory after the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories. It was from this enormous latter territory that the new entity of Nunavut was created.  Nunavut  is an Inuit word meaning “our land”.

About 85 percent of the region’s almost 32,000 residents are Inuit.

The concept for greater Inuit self government and control over the area had begun back in the early 1970’s as the Inuit sought a land claims agreement.

After campaigning for years and a couple of plebicites in which the vote was clearly for a new Inuit territory, negotiations began in earnest

After years of talks, the largest land claims settlement in Canadian history was signed comprised of about two million square kilometres in the central and eastern Arctic

It gave the Inuit control over 350,000 sq/km of land, which includes mineral rights to 36,000 sq/km and a billion dollar cash settlement over 14 years.

The deal signed in 1992, included wording that a new Inuit territory be created with borders to be established and to work towards creation of a territorial government.  This was approved by Parliament in 1993, and it was on this day in 1999 that the new territory officially came into being, thereby changing Canada’s map for the first time since Newfoundland joined the Confederation on March 31, 1949.

Related stories from around the North:

Canada: Dene community in Canada’s Northwest Territories celebrates self-government agreement, Eye on the Arctic

Finland:  Ombudsman hopes for Sami rights ratification after election, The Independent Barents Observer

Greenland: What the EU seal ban has meant for Inuit communities in the Arctic, Eye on the Arctic

Norway:  Stop romanticizing Arctic development say indigenous leaders, Eye on the Arctic

Russia:  The Arctic Region’s 25th Anniversary, Blog by Heather Exner-Pirot

Sweden:  Sami win case for rights to hunt, fish in Sweden, Radio Sweden

United States:  Arctic conference spotlights indigenous issues, Alaska Dispatch News

 

 

Marc Montgomery, Radio Canada International

With a passion for anything antique with an engine, and for Canadian and world history, Marc comes with a wealth of media experience. After DJ work at private radio in southern Ontario, and with experience in Canadian Forces radio and tv in Europe, the state broadcaster in Austria (Radio 3), and the CBC in Ottawa and Montreal, he was the host of the immensely popular CBC and RCI show, "The Link". He is now part of the new RCI online team producing stories from and about Canada from coast to coast.

Do you want to report an error or a typo? Click here!

Leave a Reply

Note: By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that Radio Canada International has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Radio Canada International does not endorse any of the views posted. Your comments will be pre-moderated and published if they meet netiquette guidelines.
Netiquette »

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *