Don’t panic: Nunavut is in good hands

Re: Your editorial of October 22, 1999, “Can the dream of Nunavut be salvaged?”

The Oxford Dictionary defines the noun “salvage” as “rescue of a wrecked or damaged ship or its cargo; rescue of property from fire or other disaster.”

In applying the term “salvage” to describe the current situation in Nunavut, Nunatsiaq News apparently believes that some time between now and the happy events on April 1, 1999, the Good Ship Nunavut was dashed to pieces by sinister forces, and its cargo — presumably all of us living here — must now count on some last-minute rescue.

Those of us who were lucky enough to grow up in traditional Inuit culture (and, I am sure in traditional qablunaaq culture) were always told by our elders not to panic in a crisis. We were also taught to be able to distinguish between a real crisis and the day- to-day trials and tribulations that — at least in this world — beset all human societies and lives. Yet, the editorial cuts loose from all that kind of age-old wisdom, and instead invites us do something — anything! — in a hurry.

The panicky tone of the editorial is fuelled by some big but entirely unconvincing generalizations (and to generalize in this case is wrong).

For example, the editorial says that in the 196Os and 197Os “no one ever imagined that governments would one day run of out of money.” Have the majority of people ever really believed that money grows on trees?

The editorial then suggests that “no one ever considered that a lack of money would turn out to be the Nunavut government’s biggest problem.” Really? Both in good times and in bad, governments face demands for spending that inevitably outstrip their financial resources. Those Inuit leaders who worked to create the Government of Nunavt never expected it to escape the pressures that other governments face — we created Nunavut out of a determination to make our own choices, not an expectation that we could avoid having to make them at all.

A final generalization in the editorial about money is that Inuit organizations “are now awash in cash.” I suppose, in a kind of back-handed way, this generalization is a complement to Inuit organizations, in so far as it recognizes that there has been careful, responsible investment of the capital transfers paid out under the Nunavut land claims agreement, and thc income generated from them.

Those capital transfers have been paid by the Government of Canada to Inuit organizations under the 15-year timetable set out in the NLCA. In the period since 1993, we have been careful to let the capital value of moneys in the Nunavut Trust build up, while at the same time (1) strengthening the core administrative capacity of NTI and regional Inuit associations, (2) ensuring that government obligations under the NLCA are implemented as promised, and (3) launching some badly needed, if necessarily modest, income support programs to Inuit hunters and trappers and to Inuit elders.

The capital value of moneys in the Nunavut Trust is now reaching and surpassing the point where these core commitments are on a sustainable financial footing. With a further strengthening of the financial position of the Trust during the balance of the 15-year pay-out period, we can start looking at new or expanded programs to help Inuit who are struggling in difficult social and econoinic circumstances.

While the sound financial approach taken to the administration of capital transfers under the NLCA has positioned Inuit organizations to start looking at making commitments to new and expanded programs, it is important to emphasize that the NLCA did not create, and was not intended to create, an Inuit government parallel to the Government of Nunavut, with a parallel set of responsibilities and funding sources for social programs.

The NLCA does not provide NTI or regional Inuit organizations with a tax base. The total value of capital transfers to Inuit organizations over 15 years through the NLCA will amount to about two years worth of inter-governmental transfers between the Government of Canada and the Government of Nunavut.

The capital transfers paid under the NLCA can, properly managed, ensure that Inuit rights under the NLCA are upheld for future generations, and allow Inuit organlzations overseeing implementation to develop a select number of Inuit-specific programs that will supplement, not replace, the programs provided to Nunavut citizens through the Nunavut and federal governments.

I would like to conclude on a personal note. The creation of Nunavut owes no small debt to the consistently supportive, often gutsy, editorial position of Nunatsiaq News over many long years when there were lots of important people in Yellowknife and elsewhere who would have been just as happy to kill the Nunavut project and then shed a few crocodile tears over its demise.

The building of Nunavut will require the same kind of positive, we-can-do-it-together energy as surrounded its conception, gestation, and birth. C’mon, Jim Lighten up, and ditch the “salvage” imagery. There may be some rough weather, but we’re up to the challenge, the crew’s got some experience, and there’s not a bad breeze at our backs.

Jose Kusugak
President
Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated