Nunavut planning board hoping to settle with Ottawa out of court

Hunter Tootoo, chair of the Nunavut Planning Commission, said April 9 now that the commission has completed the complex task of ruling on the Baffinland land use conformity issue, they can turn their sights on getting the draft Nunavut Land Use Plan finalized. (FILE PHOTO)

The Nunavut Planning Commission has backed off from legal proceedings against Ottawa hoping they can instead negotiate a funding dispute out of court.

Hunter Tootoo, chair of the NPC, said April 9 that they’ve given themselves a June deadline to work with Ottawa and find a way to pay for the last round of public hearings for the final version of the Nunavut Land Use Plan.

“We’re optimistic that we can resolve the matter before June so that things can go ahead,” Tootoo said. “It’s not that complicated, from our perspective.”

The commission released it’s long-awaited territorial land use plan in June 2014.

The plan, if approved, would set out legally binding rules stating which pieces of land in Nunavut may be used for what purpose, including lands that would be protected from development and lands where development would be allowed.

Tootoo said the plan took years to complete and involved public consultations and comprehensive input from both the Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

But when the time came to hold a final round of technical and public hearings — a process that comes with an estimated $1.7 million price tag — Ottawa refused to pay the bill.

The NPC alleged Ottawa was breaching its fiduciary duty, breaking promises and compromising the commission’s “independent integrity,” so it started legal proceedings in federal court to force Ottawa to hand over the money.

But the chair of the board, Percy Kabloona, has been replaced by former Nunavut MLA Hunter Tootoo and the NPC seems to be taking a different approach to the problem now.

Tootoo said he spoke with Bernard Valcourt, the aboriginal affairs minister, about the issue two months ago, and they agreed to keep the lines of communication open.

“I said look, we don’t want to be in court. It doesn’t do anybody any good to be fighting with each other. Let’s sit down and work this out so we can achieve our mandate and you’ll achieve yours by having this plan in place,” Tootoo said.

In fact, Tootoo is planning to meet with Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada officials as well as partners in the GN and NTI during the mining symposium in Iqaluit this week to continue informal talks.

“We just want to say ‘what do we need to do to move forward, guys?’ Let’s get it done,” Tootoo said. “We’re right at the finish line. Let’s get it across.”

Ottawa recently agreed to increase the budgets of several Nunavut regulatory boards created by the land claim agreement, collectively known as “Institutions of Public Government.”

While the Nunavut Impact Review Board and the Nunavut Water Board received increases of 55 per cent each, the NPC’s budget was increased by only 25 per cent.

Tootoo said he’s not sure why the NPC got short-changed in relation to other boards.

“You’d have to ask the feds,” he said.

The announcement of the budget increases came shortly after another big announcement — that NTI and Ottawa had reached a tentative agreement in a long-standing legal dispute involving implementation of the land claim, including the alleged underfunding of IPGs.