Interim funding deal reached for Nunavut boards

Negotiators with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the Government of Nunavut, and the Government of Canada reached a deal on July 8 to pay for the operations of Nunavut’s various environmental management boards for one year.

That means that their failure to create a new implementation contract for the Nunavut land claim agreement won’t affect the ability of those boards to carry out their jobs – at least until March 31, 2004, when the interim deal expires.

Known in bureaucratic circles as “IPGs” or “Institutions of Public Government,” the affected entities includes bodies like the Nunavut Water Board, the Nunavut Impact Review Board and the Nunavut Wildlife Board.

For the past 10 years, the IPGs have been funded through provisions contained in the implementation contract for the Nunavut land claims agreement.

That contract, which expired on July 9, 2003, set out who was responsible for doing what in carrying out the terms of the Nunavut land claims agreement, including the operation of the IPGs.

Talks on a new implementation contract have foundered over a major disagreement on how much money Ottawa should spend to implement Article 23, the provision that deals with the hiring of Inuit by government.

NTI and the GN want Ottawa, within the terms of a new implementation contract, to spend between $10 million and $20 million a year on training and other educational activities related to Article 23.

Although their decisions may be vetoed by territorial or federal cabinet ministers, the IPGs are generally responsible for creating environmental regulations affecting water use, land use and wildlife management in Nunavut.

Their members are appointed by the minister of Indian and northern affairs, from lists supplied by NTI, the GN, and various other government agencies.

The Nunavut Arbitration Board, which adjudicates disputes related to the land claims agreement, will also get interim funding under the deal announced on July 8.