Inuit-Crown partnership holds first post-election meeting

At their first meeting since last October’s federal election, held on March 6, participants in the Inuit-Crown partnership committee added some new items to their to-do list, but otherwise had little to say about previously stated priorities.

For example, they had nothing to say about a promise to eliminate tuberculosis from Inuit Nunangat by 2030, which is supposed to be implemented by a task force that emerged from the Inuit-Crown partnership.

The partnership committee, co-chaired by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed, was created following an agreement the two leaders signed in Iqaluit on Feb. 9, 2017.

At those Inuit-Crown meetings, Inuit leaders from Inuit Nunangat sit down with federal cabinet ministers to set priorities for federal spending and federal policies in each of their four regions.

That’s led to an arrangement where the allocation of federal money budgeted for Inuit needs is determined by the leaders of the four Inuit land claim regions.

But at last Friday’s meeting of the partnership, neither side had any big new concrete projects or programs to announce, other than a decision to add some new items to their workplan for 2020-21.

One is “economic development and procurement,” while another is what they call “legislative priorities.”

They also agreed to merge housing and infrastructure into a single priority area, and to add the development of a national action plan responding to the report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls..

At a televised press event held on Friday, Trudeau and Obed heaped praise on the process, but made few concrete commitments.

Obed also praised the new practice of allowing “Inuit self-determination” over federal money that flows into Inuit Nunangat.

“The way in which we work together is sometimes just as transformative as the specific investments and specific topics that we work on,” Obed said.

And he praised a Liberal election promise to eliminate the First Nations, Inuit and Métis infrastructure deficit by 2030.

“This fits very nicely into the work of this table between Inuit leadership issues that are on our workplan,” Obed said.

As he often does, Trudeau played up climate change, calling it “a huge threat to Inuit Nunangat and the North.”

And he heaped praise upon himself and his government for its work with Indigenous people.

“We move forward on the path to reconciliation but we still have a great deal of work to do,” Trudeau said.

But Trudeau said the group has to keep its momentum going, and to “dig in” on those issues that are proving to be a challenge.

He also repeated a promise to reduce gaps between Inuit Nunangat and the rest of the country.

“We will continue closing the gap from everything to housing to health,” Trudeau said.

A statement from the prime minister’s office says the group will continue to work on:

• Improving implementation of Inuit land claims agreements through the co-development of policy and review mechanisms.

• Informing the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act, and providing support for the reclamation, revitalization, maintenance, and strengthening of Inuktut in Inuit Nunangat.

• Implementation of the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework, and work to modernize the co-development approach to programs, policies, and legislation.

• Closing the infrastructure gap between Inuit Nunangat and the rest of Canada by addressing short, medium, and long-term housing and community infrastructure needs.