Nunatsiavummiut sign land claim deal

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

Labrador Inuit signed a $300-million land claim deal last Friday, creating a self-governing region and ending more than 25 years of negotiations.

It is the last land claim agreement to be signed by an Inuit region in Canada. Highlights include:

* $140 million cash to the Labrador Inuit Association.
* $156 million in implementation funds and funding for education, health and social programs.
* Establishment of a 72,500-kilometre Nunatsiavut region where Inuit will have “priority harvesting rights” with 15,800 square kilometres of Inuit-owned lands.
* Creation of the Torngat Mountain National Park Reserve.
* Creation of self-governing authority, the Inuit Central Government, in Hopedale and Nain.

The implementation of the deal will start in early 2004.