Nunavut government ignores NLCA Article 32, NTI alleges

James T. Arreak, the executive director of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., speaks Sept. 8 at the release of the 2014-15 report on Inuit society and culture. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)

The right of Inuit to be consulted in government policy development, guaranteed under Article 32 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, remains an “undervalued and under-utilized” tool for partnership between Inuit and the governments of Nunavut and Canada, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. says.

That’s according to NTI’s 2014-15 annual report on the State of Inuit Culture and Society, released Sept. 8 after a cultural and social summit, that NTI hosted in Iqaluit’s Frobisher Inn.

NTI says in the report it will take the lead in 2016 to develop concise Article 32 guidelines with regional Inuit organizations and public servants.

NTI alleges this is required because of murky inter-governmental guidelines encouraging an ad-hoc approach for public servants to consult Inuit on a case-by-case basis.

“Despite some cooperative agreements put in place between NTI and the Government of Nunavut that identify shared policy priorities and outline general guidelines for collaboration… there remains no agreed-upon strategy or plan for implementing Article 32,” the report said.

That result is inconsistent levels of cooperation between government and Inuit, represented in Nunavut by NTI.

“[That approach] is minimalist, unconvincing, unsustainable and at odds with the general sweep of both domestic Canadian and international norms and standards in relation to the right sand roles of Indigenous peoples,” the report explains.

“The work is necessary to achieve the vision set out by the Nunavut Agreement for a public government that allows for Inuit self-determination over key policy areas including social and cultural policies and programs.”

The reports cited several government policies enacted in recent years showing the alleged inconsistency in Article 32 implementation.

First and foremost is the relationship between NTI and the Government of Nunavut during the development of the 2008 Education Act, which NTI claims was “severely strained.”

“This case illustrates a worst-case scenario for Inuit because consultation was virtually non-existent,” the report said, adding “the GN breached the Nunavut agreement by failing to implement Article 32 obligation[s].”

“It describes how the GN’s choice to carry out policy-making in this fashion has potentially come at significant social and cultural costs that may not be borne our for some time.”

NTI submitted 77 recommendations amending the proposed 2008 Education Act when it reached Nunavut’s legislature that year as Bill 21.

The GN dismissed 72 of those recommendations before Bill 21 was passed.

“We’ve bent over backwards to meet them [NTI] where we think we can meet them, but at the end of the day the minister still has to be accountable for education in Nunavut,” the Nunavut education minister in 2008, Ed Picco, said in an interview with Nunatsiaq News in Sept. 2008.

NTI also alleges it wasn’t consulted properly under Article 32 when the federal government implemented the Nutrition North program, replacing the former food mail program in 2011.

“[Nutrition North] was imposed on Nunavut Inuit and other Nunavummiut without consulting NTI despite the Government of Canada’s treaty and public law obligations under Article 32,” the report said.

As an example of effective cooperation, NTI commended the work done between its organization and the GN forming the Nunavut Roundtable on Poverty Reduction in 2010, which had a signed memorandum of understanding between the two parties.

“Although far from complete, the anti-poverty work is an example of what NTI and the GN can accomplish through a collaborative relationship characterized by mutual respect,” the report said.

The annual report was released to media and the public at the conclusion of a summit on Inuit social and cultural issues at Iqaluit’s Frobisher Inn, Sept. 8.

The event, which was not open to the media, included about 65 attendants, representing regional Inuit organizations, community leaders, elders, public servants and community non-profit organizations.

2014-15 SICS Report by NunatsiaqNews on Scribd