Nunavik, the region of Quebec north of the 55th parallel and primarily above the tree line, is more than 23 times the size of Massachusetts. Yet the region has only 11,000, mostly Inuit, permanent residents, spread across fourteen municipalities with no roads between them, and with a consequently very high cost of living. These ‘arctic realities’, states the Nunavik Commission’s March 2001 report on recommendations for self-government, make Nunavik’s political, social, and economic concerns quite different from those of the rest of the province.
As in nearby Nunavut, the Nunavimmiut, or Nunavik residents, aspire to manage their own affairs in a way more in keeping with traditional Inuit culture and knowledge. Local wildlife management, the preservation of the Inuttitut language, Inuit-centered education, and a justice system that reflects Inuit values of reconciliation and reintegration are regarded as potential benefits of a new regional government in Nunavik.
The most recent round of talks to achieve this vision, based on the Commission’s report, began in August 2002. But concerns over Nunavik’s status should Quebec secede, the future of education in Nunavik, and a legal challenge to the validity of the Commission’s report have slowed the process.
Progress toward gaining autonomy in modern times began in 1975 with the settlement of Native claims through the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA) and the creation in 1978 of the Makivik Corporation in accordance with the Agreement. Makivik Corp. is a non-profit organization whose chief mission is to represent the Inuit in the ongoing interpretation of the JBNQA. It has assumed a central role in economic development and local politics, though four other Nunavik organizations also play a primary role in shaping the region: the Kativik School Board (KSB), the Kativik Regional Government, the Nunavik Regional Health and Social Services Board, and the Kativik Regional Development Council.
In November 1999, the temporary Nunavik Commission was formed, based on a Political Accord between Quebec, Canada, and the Nunavik Party, the collective name for the five chief regional organizations. The Nunavik Commission, composed of 8 members appointed by the Nunavik Party, Quebec, and the federal government, had a mandate to produce a set of recommendations for the design of a Nunavik government.
Its report was presented in March 2001, but only six of the eight commissioners signed it. One commissioner, Annie May Popert, refused to sign, accusing the others of failing to clearly address Inuit self-determination with regard to Quebec’s possible secession from Canada. Another commissioner, André Binette, took the opposite stance on the same issue, refusing to sign because he felt the report excessively weakened Quebec’s authority over Nunavik.
Ambiguity on this issue arises in part because there isn’t a model for the creation of a Nunavik government. Nunavut, the largely Inuit Canadian territory created in 1999, resulted from dividing the Northwest Territories in two. Quebec, on the other hand, is a full-fledged Canadian province, and Nunavik’s relationship with Quebec and the central Canadian government is complex. The ongoing talks based on the Commission’s report have yet to address the question of whether Nunavik would be forced to sever ties with Canada if Quebec were to secede.
The most serious roadblock to Makivik’s negotiations is the Kativik School Board’s legal challenge. The KSB has taken Makivik to court, claiming that the absence of the two commissioners’ signatures makes the report and all negotiations that flow from it invalid, since the Accord that created the Commission specifically requires consensus in the Commission’s recommendations.
So far, the Quebec Superior Court has ruled that the talks may continue, but has also set preliminary hearings for an injunction trial. This means that while Makivik and the governments of Canada and Quebec finish the framework agreement for Nunavik, the agreement could be nullified even after it is completed. At issue is not only the lack of consensus, but the KSB’s concerns over the language, education, and funding provisions of the report. A key part of the plan is the consolidation of the Nunavik Party organizations, and the details include the elimination of the KSB. “It would be pointless to create a new government that did not have the responsibility for such an essential component of people’s lives [as education],” the report states.
The plan would give the Nunavik assembly and government chief control over education, but would also decentralize hiring, training, and curriculum development to a very large degree. The KSB argues that its expertise in Nunavik education, gained over more than 25 years, would be lost under such a proposal.
Block funding of the new government, a key element of the report, concerns the KSB as well. The school board argues that if funding for Nunavik is provided in a block to the new government, provincial money currently guaranteed toward education might be lost among the government’s many financial priorities.
In addition, the plan would make French, English, and Inuttitut all official Nunavik languages, which the KSB fears would weaken and dilute the use of Inuttitut.
In a KSB election at the end of November 2002, six of seven members were re-elected, and two pro-Makivik nominees failed to win seats on the board. The KSB argues that this shows the Nunavimmiut support their action to block negotiations. However, voter turnout was low across the region, especially in the two nominees’ municipalities – just 12% in one town and 20% in the other.
Makivik claims the election results mean little. According to Harry Tulugak, one of the chief Makivik negotiators, there is wide support for the talks. He reports being told at an elders’ conference to “keep forging ahead in this process for Inuit autonomy.”
Meanwhile, the negotiations continue and the injunction hearings are planned for the spring. Both Makivik and the KSB express hope that the issue can still be settled out of court, so that the Nunavimmiut can take one more step forward down the long, tangled path toward autonomy.
