Delegates ponder Nunavik’s economic woes

KUUJJUAQ — Nunavik’s recent Katutjiniq conference was supposed to focus on ideas for the future development of the region, but delegates often ended up talking about the tangled mess of social and economic problems that are crippling the region’s progress.

Well-attended workshops on employment and new economic opportunities turned out to be forums for participants to talk about what’s holding Nunavik back.

And when it came time to talk about social issues, suicide dominated discussion.

The pressure to find solutions to these social and economic dilemmas is enormous. Nunavik needs 775 new jobs by 2010 for its young and growing population.

In the meantime, the region has what’s considered the world’s highest suicide rate — one that would kill 211 people in a population of 100,000, compared to the Canadian rate of 14 per 100,000.

Those attending the conference repeatedly expressed their concern over the members of the new generation who are dropping out of school, having babies at too young an age, and killing themselves in record numbers.

“Our children don’t listen to us, because we are in meetings all the time,” said Johnny Annanack. “We used to just live on wildlife and being brought up by our parents, but it’s not the practice these days.”

A workshop on social issues called for better parenting and improved social services to curb youth suicide.

“We’ve been neglecting our children,” Mattiusi Luuku said. “I think there would be an improvement if we were better parents. We are to be blamed for the suicides.”

They also called for more appropriate education and social services, in Inuttitut, and more options for youth in jobs and recreation activities.

And they also wanted to see more input from Nunavik’s elders.

“We have no choice but to find solutions,” said respected elder Mitiardjuk Napaaluk.

The same comment was echoed by particpants in workshops on the economy and employment, where participants said the region’s development is held back by the lack of telecommunications and banking services, restrictive Quebec labour codes, the high cost of fuel and transportation, as well as over-taxation.

“If we don’t think about the infrastructures needed to run businesses in Nunavik, we will will never be able to develop strong businesses that will be able to survive,” said Yves Michaud, from Nunavik’s Fédération des coopératives du Nouveau-Québec.

Michaud and others called for immediate studies and action on these issues.

They were cool to the suggestion that joint-venturing could be a way of compensating for the region’s lack of infrastructure.

With 10 mining companies carrying out exploration in Nunavik, there are increasing opportunities to supply back-up services.

But delegates said they’d prefer to participate as equal partners and risk-takers in the region’s development instead of being “go-fers.”

For example, becoming owners in a regional junior mining company instead of merely camp suppliers, or building houses instead of seeing them arrive completely finished off the sea-lift.

“If people want economic solutions, they should stop throwing their money down South,” Johnny Peters said.