NTI aims AGM at the future

For Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., this year’s annual general meeting is all about the future.
As NTI delegates from every community in Nunavut gathered at Iqaluit’s cadet hall this past Tuesday, their president, Paul Kaludjak, urged them to devote their thoughts to “our future,” the theme of this year’s meeting.

To that end, NTI gave pride of place to the future’s living symbols: Nunavut’s youth.

With help from the Canadian North airline, NTI flew Nunavut Sivuniksavut’s entire first year class — all 21 of them — from Ottawa to Iqaluit, where they performed at the opening ceremony. After that, they sat in a large block at the back of the hall, taking notes and listening carefully.

“You delegates will probably be beaten by their knowledge in the future,” Kaludjak said after introducing the students.

Started in 1985 by the old Tungavik Federation of Nunavut as a way of training field workers, Nunavut Sivuniksavut evolved into a pre-university program aimed at preparing Inuit youth for either post-secondary education or entry into the work force.

Morley Hanson, a Nunavut Sivuniksavut instructor, said this is the first time that NS students have sat in on one of NTI’s annual general meetings.

“It’s quite exciting for the students… They’re looking at this as a really good learning experience,” said Hanson.

The study of Nunavut’s land claim agreement and territorial government is a big part of the NS curriculum, so Hanson said the students will use their Iqaluit trip to visit various government and Inuit association offices.

In his introductory remarks, Kaludjak reminded delegates of the changes that communications technologies are bringing to the Arctic. Referring to the knowledge that resides on computers and the Internet, he said that for Inuit, “this is something that we can add to our own collective knowledge.”

And Kaludjak paid homage to the memory of the late Frank Calder, the legendary Nisga’a lawyer and land claim activist who died Nov. 4 at 91.

“It’s sad to see him go,” Kaludjak said. “He has been a tremendous help to us.”

In 1967, Calder hired Thomas Berger to represent him and launched a lawsuit aimed at establishing the existence of the Nisga’a’s aboriginal title. Known as the “Calder case,” the lawsuit’s reception by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1973 persuaded the federal government to negotiate land claims agreements with aboriginal peoples who had never surrendered their aborginal title in a treaty.

That included the Inuit who then lived in the Northwest Territories, and led directly to the submission of the first Nunavut land claims proposal in 1975.

Meanwhile, as of the Nunatsiaq News publishing deadline this past Tuesday, delegates were looking at NTI’s audited financial statements for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006, presented to them by the organization’s chief operating officer, Annie Tattuinee.

Those statements show that NTI made a big payment on its long-term debt to the Nunavut Trust within the last fiscal year. NTI paid the Trust $8.4 million, bringing the debt down to about $100.6 million.

The Nunavut Trust’s job is to invest the $1.1 billion in compensation money that Ottawa gives Inuit under the Nunavut land claims agreement. Money earned by those investments is supposed to be distributed to NTI and the three regional Inuit associations to pay for their operations.

But in its early years, NTI had to borrow from the Nunavut’s Trust’s principal to pay for start-up costs.

In recent years, they’ve been under increasing pressure to re-pay that money to the Trust to ensure that the Trust’s capital is eventually restored in full. That’s partly because in 2002, 2003 and 2004, the Trust’s earnings fell sharply. Because there were little earnings to distribute, they made loans to NTI instead, depleting its capital.

So when the federal government makes its last payment to Nunavut Inuit in 2007, it’s likely that the Nunavut Trust’s capital will be about $100 million short.

But last year, the Nunavut Trust enjoyed healthy earnings and was able to distribute $46.1 million to NTI.

In the past NTI also paid $3.4 million to the Royal Bank to pay down another long-term debt.

Including the $13.3 million that it distributed to the three regional Inuit associations, NTI spent $36.7 million on its operations in 2005-06. Its biggest single expense was salaries and employee benefits: $9.2 million.

In their financial statements, NTI’s executive also disclose the 2005-06 salary ranges for its four full-time executive officers and 10 staff directors.

The president, first vice president, second vice president and chief executive officer receive salaries of between $139,954 and $156,070 a year.

NTI’s 10 staff directors receive salaries of between $103,169 and $138,953 per year.

The four executive officers also get the use of company vehicles, and the three elected executive members receive paid housing. All employees get vacation travel assistance and northern allowance payments.

About 46 voting delegates are attending this year’s annual general meeting, along with numerous staff members and observers from other organizations.

To get all their work done, NTI delegates may continue their meeting into Friday morning this week. For most of their agenda, they’ll hear reports from various affiliated organizations, as well as representatives of government.

NTI’s board was to have met with the Nunavut cabinet on Tuesday evening.