Nunavik leaders share region’s plan for the future in Quebec

A one-on-one in Quebec City: Makivik Corp.’s president Jobie Tukkiapik, standing, speaks to Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard Aug. 19 at a supper in in Quebec City as Maggie Emudluk, the Kativik Regional Government’s chairperson, at left, listens. (PHOTO COURTESY OF MAKIVIK)

Leaders from Nunavik present the Parnasimautik report Aug. 19 in Quebec City to a roomful of Quebec government ministers and officials. (PHOTO COURTESY OF MAKIVIK)

Quebec politicians and officials should now be more informed about the needs and aspirations of Nunavik.

That’s after Nunavik leaders presented the Parnasimautik Consultation (We are Preparing) Report to the Plan Nord Ministerial Committee in Quebec City this week.

The report, signed in 2014, sets out clear priorities for Nunavik’s leadership, from the need to protect and promote the Inuit language and culture, to identifying clear terms for allowing resource development in the region.

The report — prepared in response to Quebec’s Plan Nord development scheme for northern Quebec — reflects the outcome of the most comprehensive community consultation ever carried out in the history of Nunavik, Makivik Corp. said in a news release about the Aug. 19 meeting.

“I felt proud to present the report that we worked so hard to produce to the Quebec government. The issues at hand will not be resolved easily or without hard work on the government’s part and ours,” said Maggie Emudluk, chairperson of the Kativik Regional Government, who co-chaired the community tours that produced the Parnasimautik Report, in the release.

During the three-hour meeting Quebec government ministers viewed a trailer from a film documentary which Makivik commissioned to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.

That was followed by a presentation of key elements of the Parnasimautik Report, along with its priorities for action, which were followed by a general discussion with the ministers.

“The voices of the Inuit have been heard and culminated in a report that is a blueprint for the future. Nunavik Inuit are ready to shape our Parnasimautik vision into reality. Governments and industry must be prepared to commit and act as true partners,” Makivik President Jobie Tukkiapik was quoted as saying in the release.

At the Quebec City presentation: the members of Parnasimautilirijiit which includes the presidents of the regional organizations in Nunavik — Makivik, the KRG, Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services, Avataq Cultural Institute, Kativik School Board, Nunavik Landholding Corporations Association, and the Nunavik Youth Forum.

They were accompanied by Adamie-Delisle Alaku, Makivik vice president and a board member on the Société du Plan Nord, the corporation which is overseeing Quebec northern development under Plan Nord.

In 2014, the new Liberal government in Quebec took steps to revive the Plan Nord, as its blueprint for development above Quebec’s 49th parallel.