KRG won’t support new Nunavik secretariat—at least not now

Makivik Corp. president Jobie Tukkiapik, centre, and Kativik Regional Government then-chair Maggie Emudluk, left, all smiles in 2014 after signing Nunavik’s Parnasimautik consultation report at Kuujjuaq’s Katittavik town hall. (FILE PHOTO)

UMIUJAQ—Kativik Regional Government councillors say they need more information before they can support a new staff position to oversee the region’s Parnasimautik initiative, or Plan Nunavik.

Parnasimautik is a blueprint for the economic and social development of the region, outlining the priorities of Nunavimmiut identified through extensive community consultations, lead by Nunavik organizations in 2013.

A 2014 report published from those consultations calls for more investment and focus on preserving and promoting Inuit culture, including wildlife harvesting and traditional family values, as well as education.

But the KRG says it’s not yet prepared to support a Makivik Corp.-led proposal to open an office to house a Parnasimautik secretariat.

In a resolution the regional government passed May 31, the KRG said the secretariat, “would affect the present dynamics between the organizations where the independence of each organization would be compromised or diluted.”

The resolution also said the KRG did not see the pertinence of a secretariat at this point in Parnasimautik’s development.

For its part, Makivik said the secretariat would simply involve the hiring of a single employee who would work out of Makivik’s Kuujjuaq office and be tasked with overseeing the plan’s implementation.

Makivik first approached the KRG to help fund the staff position earlier this year, and proposed the idea to delegates at its March annual general meeting.

Tunu Napartuk, a member of the KRG’s executive committee, said Makivik hasn’t provided much information on what the staff member’s role would be.

“They didn’t ask us: how would you like to see this work done?” Napartuk told regional council meetings in Umiujaq last week.

“It’s like they put in the details themselves and that’s a concern,” he said. “It’s going to take money for sure.”

But Napartuk noted that the resolution doesn’t mean the KRG is entirely against the idea of a secretariat—just that the organization wants more information first.

Parnasimautilirijiit, the committee that oversees the plan, is made up of Makivik and the KRG, along with the Kativik School Board, the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services, the Nunavik Landholding Corp. Association, Avataq Cultural Institute and Qarjuit Youth Council.