Inuit Relations Secretariat loses interim director

Nunavik loses a long-time friend in Ottawa with the retirement today of Donat Savoie, interim executive director of the Inuit Relations Secretariat and chief federal negotiator for Nunavik self-government.

“The 36 years I have spent in the public service of Canada, and nearly exclusively with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, have brought a lot of fun and many nice accomplishments,” Savoie said in a farewell email sent to many of his acquaintances last month.

April 7 marks the end of Savoie’s assignment at the Inuit Relations Secretariat in Ottawa, and the end of his career as a federal civil servant, though he will continue on contract as negotiator for another two years for the Nunavik government file.

Savoie, who has become a familiar face to many Inuit in northern Canada, first arrived in the Eastern Arctic on May 3, 1967. That’s when he came to the Ungava Bay community of Kangiqsualujjuaq, then known as George River.

“I then developed a great interest and passion for the Canadian and circumpolar North and the Inuit,” Savoie said.

Savoie plans to continue his interest and involvement in the North after he leaves the federal civil service.

Savoie was born in Montreal and received a master’s degree from the Université de Montréal in 1969. For his masters’ research project, Savoie headed to George River, in 1967, where he lived with Tivi Etok and his family.

“By allowing myself to be integrated into this family and village, I learned a great deal about the Inuit way of life, their values, and the difficulties they faced daily in their quest for food and family essentials. This was an opportunity for me to witness not only their capacity to survive but their creative responses to many obstacles.”

Savoie said he was lucky to later work and be trained by people who were dedicated to the Canadian North, including Moose Kerr, the late L.A.C.O. Hunt, the late Graham Rowley, Professor Rémi Savard of the Université de Montréal, Professor Louis-Edmond Hamelin, founder of the Northern Studies Centre of Laval University, Marc-Adélard Tremblay, a professor Emeritus of Université Laval, and Brigadier General Keith Greenaway.

But Etok was the person who influenced Savoie the most in his thinking and career.

“I owe Tivi a lot and I consider him a great person, a very important elder Inuit, a philosopher and an outstanding educator and teacher,” Savoie said.

Although he is known mainly for his work with the federal government, Savoie continued his scholarly pursuits. He studied the archives left by Emile Petitot, an Oblate missionary and explorer who lived with the Dene from 1862 to 1882. Savoie wrote two books and many articles on Petitot.

From 1977 to 1988, Savoie served as DIAND’s director of scientific and circumpolar affairs, where he was responsible for the northern scientific training grants program and relations with other circumpolar countries.

In 1987, Savoie was the federal government’s chief organizer for the visit of the late Pope John Paul II to Fort Simpson, NWT.

Under the executive interchange program of the Public Service of Canada, Savoie also worked as senior advisor to Mary Simon when she was president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference.

In 1991, the Arctic Institute of Canada named Savoie as an Arctic Fellow, honoring his contributions to knowledge about the Arctic.

Over the years, Savoie was Ottawa’s chief negotiator on many negotiating teams.

Makivik Corporation plans to honour Savoie during the upcoming annual general meeting, April 4 to 7, in Kangirsuk.

Mary Jobin Oates, an Inuk originally from Kuujjuaraapik, who completed a law degree at University of Toronto’s Osgoode Law School, will replace Savoie as the interim executive director of the Inuit Secretariat.