Departing ADM says their’s still hope for Nunavut

After five years in Nunavut, our family will soon be leaving. Before doing so, however, I wanted to express my faith in the mission of this still relatively new government and territory.

Too often we hear the critics point out all that is wrong with Nunavut: less often do we hear about its accomplishments. Nunavut did not create the challenges it faces – it inherited them. And Nunavut is not ignoring the challenges it faces – it is dealing with them in the best way it can. Too often we hear that the issues facing Nunavut must be resolved now, as if waving a magic wand is all that is required to put things right.

Nunavut’s “magic wand” was the creation of the territory itself. The establishment of a government for Nunavut has allowed it to focus its limited resources on issues of importance to Nunavummiut in a way that was not possible for the people of the eastern Arctic prior to 1999.

Without it, Nunavut would not have departments dedicated to developing education and health systems that focus on the specific needs of this territory. Its bureaucrats would not be lobbying Ottawa on Nunavut-specific issues. Its schools would not be developing Inuit lawyers. And Nunavummiut would not have a department dedicated to the protection and promotion of Inuit culture and language, which is, in the final analysis, the very reason Nunavut was established in the first place.

This initiative called Nunavut is one that is being watched by many around the world, and I say that without exaggeration. I have given many talks over the past five years to representatives of a number of foreign governments struggling to find ways to deal with their aboriginal peoples, and who look to Nunavut as a possible example of “best practices.”

Is there still room for improvement? Absolutely. But the challenges faced by the new territory were not created overnight, and will certainly not be resolved overnight. What will contribute to Nunavut’s continued advancement is the steady determination of its people and government to continue working toward building a better society.

Nunavummiut are living in historic times. We are the generation that will, in our old age, be able to say that we were there when Nunavut was created, and that we had a hand in its development. We leave Nunavut irrevocably linked to it. It has given us lifelong friends and a child, who will always be a Nunavummiut. And it has created in us advocates for this wonderful ideal that is Nunavut. We can only hope that we gave to it as much as it gave to us.

Anthony Saez
Former:
Assistant Deputy Minister of Justice
Acting Deputy Minister of Justice
Assistant Deputy Minister of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth