Aariak slams feds in Ottawa speech over devolution delays

Nunavut premier Eva Aariak touted Nunavut’s assets during a Dec. 8 speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa.

But she also used the occasion to blast the federal government for its lack of action on devolution talks and the “cloud of uncertainty” that hangs over the control of Crown lands in Nunavut.

“We cannot let this uncertainty continue and I, for one, am fully committed to removing it.”

After Nunavut Sivuniksavut students performed for the crowd, and a lunch of Arctic char from Pangnirtung Fisheries was served up, Aariak delivered her own tartly-flavoured menu.

“Our future prosperity will come from three sources,” Aariak said: “our people, our natural wealth and certainty.”

“That third key to unlocking our territory’s potential is probably not something you expect,” she said.

But attracting investment demands that investors have certainty about who owns Nunavut’s resources and how decisions will be made about their use, she said.

The Nunavut land claims also boosted certainty through an effective regulatory regime.

That, Aariak said, will be strengthened through the Nunavut Planning and Project Assessment Act.

The act should be introduced to Parliament in this session, she said.

“One cloud of uncertainty remains and that is over the ownership of Crown land – 80 per cent of Nunavut’s territory in Nunavut, where our land and resources are still in the hands of the federal government,” she said, calling this an “unwelcome legacy of a time when governments acted to settle our affairs on our behalf.”

Aariak said Ottawa promised to devolve ownership and powers over Crown lands and resources to Nunavut.

“It made this a priority in its Northern Strategy. And in 2007, it signed a protocol that will form the basis of negotiations. This commitment, though, has not translated into meaningful action.

“Four years later, Ottawa has yet to name a negotiator — and this is unfortunate. Devolution cannot come quickly enough in these uncertain economic times. Investors need to know who they will be dealing with and what the rules around development are going to be.”