QIA gets bucks from CanNor to plan Inuit-owned municipal land parcels

CanNor will contribute $49,052 to the Qikiqtani Inuit Association to help the Inuit organization plan for the commercial and residential use of Inuit-owned lands within municipalities like Iqaluit. (FILE PHOTO)

The Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency will give the Qikiqtani Inuit Association $49,052 to help the organization manage Inuit-owned parcels of land in Iqaluit, Kimmirut, Cape Dorset, Pangnirtung, Pond Inlet and Qikiqtarjuaq, CanNor announced June 12 in a news release.

Under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, Inuit hold fee simple title to parcels of land within many Nunavut municipalities, as well as 30.5-metre strips of land along shorelines within municipalities.

Ottawa’s money will help QIA pay for planning work aimed at commercial and-or residential development on such Inuit-owned municipal lands.

Also, it well help QIA develop land use policies for the Inuit-owned municipal beach strips that it controls.

“Developing a plan for Inuit owned lands will help support a foundation for QIA’s community planning, economic development and long-term prosperity,” Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq, the minister responsible for CanNor, said in the news release.

QIA’s land and resources department will manage the planning project with Qikiqtaaluk Properties Inc., a real estate development subsidiary of Qikiqtaaluk Corp., QIA’s economic development arm.

The money flows through CanNor from the Aboriginal Economic Development “suite” of federal programs, all of which were subsumed under CanNor when the new northern agency was created.

“On behalf of QIA, I am pleased that CanNor is supporting Inuit with prudent land management practice in the Qikiqtani region,” QIA President Okalik Eegeesiak said.