Since August 2002 the Makivik Corporation, representing the Inuit of Nunavik - the region of Quebec north of the 55th parallel - has been engaged in talks with the governments of Quebec and Canada on the creation of a new regional government. However, the Kativik School Board (KSB), Nunavik’s main education agency, has objected on the grounds that Makivik Corp. does not have the right to represent Nunavik and that elements of the self-government plan are severely flawed. The talks are based on “Let Us Share”, a report produced in March 2001 by the no longer extant Nunavik Commission. The report was intended to be a consensus document, the school board notes, yet two of the eight commission members refused to sign. Without a consensus, the KSB believes further negotiations are illegitimate. At issue, as well, are the report’s provisions for education, which would include eliminating the KSB in a move to decentralize Nunavik education, and making Inuttitut, French, and English all official languages, rather than preserving Inuttitut as the primary language of instruction.
