NTI wants in on missile defence shield talks

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Paul Kaludjak says that by failing to consult Inuit during its talks with the government of the United States on a ballistic missile defence shield, the government of Canada is ignoring the Nunavut land claims agreement.

“It’s hard to say what we expect them to do next when we don’t know what they’re doing. We want to find out what’s going on. It’s provided in the land claim agreement that any major activity and economic initiative that the government wants to do in the Arctic, the land claims group must be part of the consultation process,” Kaludjak said.

The U.S. ballistic missile defence shield, or “BMD”, is aimed at defending North America against nuclear-armed missiles launched by so-called “rogue” nations or terrorists.

At the heart of the BMD is an early warning radar system for detecting incoming missiles, so that interceptor rockets launched from a site near Fort Greeley, Alaska would knock them out of orbit in mid-flight.

There are no plans to put missile shields in Canada now.

But, as Nunatsiaq News reported in January of 2002, senior staff at Canada’s Department of National Defence believe that if the U.S. government fails to get Denmark’s permission for use of the U.S. base at Thule, Greenland for BMD-related radar equipment, the U.S. would then look for a site on Ellesmere Island.

Though Canada has not officially decided to join the BMD initiative, the Ottawa Citizen reported this week that Canadian troops started missile training last September at North American Air Defence headquarters in Colorado – a sign that it’s inevitable Canada will join the U.S. scheme.

In a press release issued last week, NTI said that it is neither for nor against the missile defence system.

But NTI is angry at Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham and Defence Minister David Pratt for failing to respond to NTI’s requests for a consultation with Inuit on the missile defence system, even as the U.S. and Canadian governments move rapidly towards an agreement.

That, NTI says, violates provisions of the Nunavut land claims agreement stating that the impacts and benefits of big projects for Inuit must be considered.

“If they wanted Inuit on-side, breaking promises to Nunavut’s land claims organization regarding consultation would be a poor way to go about it,” Kaludjak said in the news release.

NTI first wrote to Graham in March of 2002 to set out its concerns about a possible missile defence installation in Nunavut. Graham replied by saying the idea is “hypothetical” and “premature,” and that there would be “close consultation with Inuit.”

NTI wrote to Graham again in 2003, and then to Graham and Pratt in March of this year. NTI has not received a reply.

NTI bases its call for consultations on four points:

* NTI needs a full understanding of the kind of system that is being contemplated;
* The Nunavut land claims agreement acknowledges the contribution of Inuit to Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic;
* Any missile defence installations should be subject to the screening, review, planning and management provisions of the Nunavut land claims agreement;
* Inuit want to know about the potential economic benefits of such a system.

Meanwhile, Josef Motzfeldt, a Siumut cabinet minister in the Greenland government, along with Per Stig Møller, the Danish foreign minister, met with Colin Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State, and Paul Wolfowitz, the U.S. deputy secretary of defence, in Washington last week, to talk about the U.S. request for use of the Thule base.

Greenland’s home rule government wants an equal say with Denmark on foreign policy, and renegotiation of a 1951 defence agreement between Denmark and the U.S. before they will agree to the U.S. request.