Nunavik amalgamation won’t happen for years

This letter is in reference to the article which appeared in your newspaper, dated April 1, 2005.

I do not know what Greg Younger-Lewis understood when he interviewed Pita Aatami on various issues related to Makivik undertakings, but he has written a very misleading article and has misinformed many people on the Nunavik Government file and I would like to rectify it.

The negotiators have been traveling to the Nunavik communities to inform residents about the content of the Agreement-in-Principle which is about to be finalized. It is hoped that it will be signed by the negotiating parties by June 2005.

Of course, the amalgamation of the KRG, KSB and NRBHSS will not happen this June as mentioned in your article.

Once the AIP is signed, the negotiations leading to a Final Agreement will begin. The work on the Final Agreement will probably take another year and will be put to referendum in Nunavik when it is concluded. This will allow every Nunavik resident over 18 to express their wishes. We are hoping this will be by the end of 2006 or early 2007.

This Final Agreement will include a detailed Implementation Plan, which is now being drafted and will continue to be developed with the involvement of all the institutions that are to be amalgamated.

On that point, I would like to make clear that Makivik is not to be amalgamated in the Nunavik Government as it will remain the official Inuit representative for Nunavik issues, much as NTI in Nunavut.

The implementation of such an important project cannot be taken lightly and a lot of hard work will go into it. The merging process itself will probably take five to six years, leading up to the “amalgamation date” in which the Nunavik Government will be created. The proposed timeline indicates that this will take place approximately in the year 2010 or 2011.

No one has been told “if they want to keep their jobs, they have to move north.” Jobs in the present institutions are very important and the people in those jobs are even more important.

That is why the negotiating parties are working very closely with the organizations that will be affected and have also developed separate working tables with all the unions of these institutions. In no way is the creation of the Nunavik Government conditional to the moving of all employees to the North.

The Makivik AGM will receive an update from myself, Harry Tulugak and Maggie Emudluk as to the present status of the negotiations and more particularly the content of the AIP. It is our hope that the Agreement-in-Principle will be endorsed so that we can take the next step towards negotiating a Final Agreement.

For anyone wishing to receive information, I and the other negotiators are available to answer any questions. There is also the new website which welcomes questions and comments at www.nunavikgovernment.ca.

Minnie Grey
Negotiator