Faced with federal budget cuts, national Inuit org brainstorms at AGM

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami president Terry Audla, left, with Carol Jattan, ITK’s finance director, speaks Sept. 16 at the organization’s annual general meeting in Cambridge Bay about the 70 per cent cuts to ITK’s core funding over the past two years. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

Board members of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami stand in the atrium of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association building in Cambridge Bay Sept. 16 with Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner Marie Wilson (fourth from left, first row). (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

CAMBRIDGE BAY — When Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami convened its annual general meeting Sept. 16 in the western Nunavut town of Cambridge Bay, delegates, who include top elected officials from Inuit birthright organizations across Canada, learned more about the extent of ITK’s reduced budget and its impact on operations.

Cuts in core funding imposed by the federal government mean the organization that serves Inuit now has 70 per cent less money to fund its core operations than it did two years ago.

Overall, Nellie Cournoyea, the president of the Inuvialuit Regional Corp. and ITK treasurer, reported this means ITK had a total budget — core funding plus program funding — of $6.4 million in 2014 but only $5.3 million in 2015.

Speaking Sept. 16, one day before he stood for re-election, incumbent president Terry Audla said that when he was elected as ITK president in 2012, he vowed to pursue new sources of funding to reduce ITK’s reliance on the federal government.

As a result, he described year 2014-15 as “a year of measured and important change.”

Since April 2015, ITK has raised $1.3 million from non-governmental sources, Audla said. That’s four times more than the amount raised in 2011.

“We were forced to make some tough decisions about how we operate. As a result, we had to let go a number of staff. And we renewed our focus on expanding our funding base beyond government services,” Audla said.

The ITK administration, finance and communication departments, which rely solely on core funding and not money from specific project funding, have been “pinched,” he said.

Meanwhile, ITK wants to promote many projects, such as the Inuktut language standardization drive and Inuit education efforts, just to mention two of the ITK’s ongoing programs.

And ITK also wants to work on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 “calls for action,” released this past June, and the development of National Centre on Truth and Reconciliation.

At the AGM Sept. 16, TRC Commissioner Marie Wilson outlined what the commission wants to see in the future, including a national council on reconciliation.

Wilson urged ITK board members to include the TRC “calls for action” in their regional organization’s priorities and to question federal candidates about their positions on the TRC.

The AGM passed a resolution asking, among other things, for a new framework to support “the ongoing reconciliation between Canada’s Aboriginal people and the Crown.”

They also called on all levels of government to implement the TRC’s 94 calls to actions, along with Inuit involvement.

At the AGM, board members also delivered reports.

Rebecca Kudloo, the president of Pauktuutit Inuit women’s association, said “funding has been a challenge, as it has been for many other Inuit organizations,” such as the Inuit Circumpolar Council-Canada whose president Duane Smith revealed Sept. 15 at its Cambridge Bay AGM that Norway — not Canada — will help Canadian Inuit attend the United Nations climate change meeting in December.

But not every discussion revolved around money at the ITK AGM.

After hearing information in the reports, PJ Akeeagok, president of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, suggested that ITK board members find a way to share best practices on how, for example, they can craft Inuit impact and benefit agreements.

“We’re all in our own silos,” Akeeagok said.

The next ITK AGM will take place in Nunavik, likely in Salluit, during the same week as the ICC-Canada annual meeting.