Future of Nunavik begins with a three-letter acronym

Nunavik is close to signing off on its self-government deal, says Minnie Grey, Nunavik’s chief self-government negotiator. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

KUUJJUAQ — The future government of Nunavik now has its own acronym: NRG.

The Nunavik regional government, which may come into effect in April 2013, just needs money, a new building and the support of government and Nunavimmiut to become reality.

Negotiations with officials in Ottawa and Quebec City on the region’s final self-government agreement are in their “final stretch,” says Minnie Grey, Nunavik’s chief negotiator for self-government, who spoke at last week’s meeting of the Kativik Regional Government in Kuujjuaq.

Grey promised to deliver a “very simple” and “very clear” self-government deal to Nunavimmiut by next March.

Under the NRG, Nunavik’s regional organizations, the Nunavik regional health board, Kativik School Board and KRG, will amalgamate into one new, large Nunavik government organization, but no one would lose jobs or benefits in the changeover, Grey said.

Asked whether the NRG would be able to make progress in tackling Nunavik’s drug and alcohol-caused social problems, Grey was less sure, telling councillors that the government would not be able to solve every problem.

Regional councillor Johnny Akpahatak also wanted to know if Inuit language and culture would see more support under the NRG— and whether beluga-hunting quotas might be lifted because “we can’t hunt beluga as much as we want to.”

But Grey couldn’t promise him any changes, saying federal fisheries regulations would still apply and that the proposed government would be non-ethnic, that is, for all residents of Nunavik, French, English and Inuit.

And people in Inukjuak still aren’t convinced that they will support the Makivik Corp.-driven move to self-government, said their regional councillor Andy Moorhouse, who wondered if Inukjuamiut would be able to express their concerns before the final self-government agreement is a done deal.

Grey said she and co-negotiator Harry Tulugak would visit Inukjuak and Salluit in January.

They’ll make another field trip to all 14 Nunavik communities after the final deal is signed, but before Nunavimmiut vote on whether to ratify the deal in a regional referendum, she said.

As for which community will become the new headquarters of the NRG, Grey couldn’t say — that decision will be up to Quebec, she said.

Number crunching — in what’s called “a cost substantiation document”— shows the cost of running the new Nunavik assembly, paying for five new full-time executive council members, advisory councils for education, health and elders, at least 20 new senior officials and three finance officials will cost an additional $2 million a year, Grey said.

There will also be a price tag attached to the NRG’s transition committee, and for the first election of the Nunavik assembly, as well as for the construction of a new building to house the government— which may be “in excess of $40 million”— and training for rookie assembly members and staff.

The total operating budget for the new NRG would be split 20-80 between Ottawa and Quebec City, Grey said.

A final agreement on the whole package should be ready for signing by March 2010, she said.

The next step after that will be to schedule a referendum to ratify the agreement next fall.

If ratified, the final agreement will go to the federal and provincial cabinets for approval, before heading off to Quebec’s National Assembly for a series of amendments to existing laws as well as a new piece of legislation to establish the NRG.

The Quebec lawmakers will establish the powers, responsibilities, functioning and basic electoral rules of the NRG and set a date for its creation, possibly as soon as Apr. 1, 2013.