NTI: Ottawa yet to commit to IPG deal

I would like to correct the report in the March 31, 2006 edition of Nunatsiaq News, “NTI, GN and Ottawa reach deal to pay IPGs.”

I understand that this information came from Thomas Berger’s Final Report and you, like Berger, were misled.

The deal to which you refer was subject to the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) obtaining internal approval from the Treasury Board Secretariat and this has not been obtained.

The agreement attached to Berger’s report was negotiated on Dec. 21, 2005. Subsequently, when the Parties were exchanging final drafts of the agreement, DIAND added the condition requiring internal approval.

It is not evident what DIAND has done to obtain that approval. If they ever do go to the Treasury Board Secretariat, we have no idea how long that process would take. The Institutions of Public Government (IPGs) have been instructed by DIAND to prepare their budgets on the basis of their 2005-06 funding levels.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. is concerned that DIAND negotiators came to the table in December to negotiate the agreement without a mandate or appropriate instructions. If things continue as they currently are, NTI is not confident the agreement will be voluntarily implemented.

I would also like to point out that DIAND has done nothing to implement any of Berger’s recommendations from the Interim Report. In particular, in spite of Berger’s recommendation that the Government of Canada should not refuse any request to refer an issue to the Arbitration Board, except where the issue involves a matter of vital interest with impacts that go beyond the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, DIAND has vetoed three NTI referrals to the Arbitration Board under Article 24.

These include whether DIAND has consulted with Inuit and whether they have monitored and evaluated the effect of government procurement policies within Nunavut. Not exactly matters of vital national interest.

These comments speak only to the more modest, and more straightforward of Berger’s recommendations.

As for Government of Canada action on Berger’s recommendations regarding Article 23 – near term investments in specific programs to prepare young Inuit for employment and longer term investments in an effective system of bilingual education in Nunavut – as Inuit, we will continue to work relentlessly and speak loudly so the government has to be fully accountable and live up to their obligations in the NLCA.

Paul Kaludjak
President
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.