Nunavut and Newfoundland and Labrador to partner on several fronts
Agreement includes resource development, health care, among other initiatives
From left, Nunavut Deputy Premier Pamela Gross, Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey and Newfoundland and Labrador Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation Lisa Dempster pose for a photo after signing a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday in Ottawa. (Photo by Emma Tranter)
Nunavut and Newfoundland and Labrador have made a deal to work together.
Premiers from both jurisdictions signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday morning to collaborate and partner on different areas of interest, including fisheries, tourism and internet connectivity.
It also spells out a commitment to collaborate on natural resource development, health care, social development, language, wellness, climate change and transportation, and commits to strengthen the skilled labour workforce in both jurisdictions through education and training.
Speaking to a standing room-only crowd at the Northern Lights conference in Ottawa on Wednesday morning, Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok said his territory and Newfoundland and Labrador share many similarities.
“We also share similar challenges as governments,” he said.
“As coastal regions, we can collaborate on infrastructure that promotes growth for our Arctic regions.”
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey said he and Akeeagok were fast friends.
“It was an immediate friendship. And it’s because we share so many of those challenges together. In fact, P.J. and I have more in common than our Atlantic cousins,” Furey said.
“Today we get to bring some of those connections closer together.”
Furey said Nunavut and Newfoundland and Labrador share a like-minded approach to “safe and sustainable development.”
The two governments will also establish a committee to develop a framework for co-operation and co-ordination in areas of mutual interest.
The memorandum of understanding will be reviewed every two years, and progress will be reviewed annually by both governments.
The two jurisdictions already have a history of working together through a partnership between Memorial University and Nunavut Arctic College.
Nice to see connections being made whereby similar concerns can be addressed. Take Nunavik as another example. Students go off to Montreal and Quebec to study, when a college is just across the strait in Iqaluit. The leaders and demands of the voters should be researching more connections that make sense, that’s just a little example I use here. But economic, business,education, health , all that and more. The political components are not tuned very well.
I’d be surprised if Nunavut has any capacity at all to host out of territory students – housing and staffing jump immediately to mind. We can barely house and find staff for our in territory students.
Additionally, the offerings in Quebec are much more extensive than in Nunavut. This doesn’t even look at quality concerns.
Someday we may be able to do this, but it will be years.
I went down south to Montreal to study because there was no school in Nunavut offering my field of study. And even if they did, the quality of education would have been lower than what I received. And even if that wasn’t the case, there’d likely be no place for me to stay while I studied. And even if that would have been possible, it would have cost me thousands of dollars more a month than what I paid in Montreal… And in my field, it makes much more sense to learn about and make connections within the province of Quebec because that is where Nunavik is and who we have to deal with most often, not Nunavut.
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The real problem with education in Nunavik imo, is that we have the oldest Inuit school Board in the world and yet we are the only place in Inuit Nunangat that has NO post-secondary education offered in our own territory. It would be nice to go across the water to study in Nunavut I guess… but it would be a LOT nicer to not have to leave in the first place!
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Given the choice I had to make, I am glad I studied in Quebec because it made me much better at my job when I got back to Nunavik! Nunavut may be near by, but there are many, many differences in the way things go in both places.
Makes sense….half of Newfoundland is here anyways. LOL
And what a blessing that is. Who would do all the jobs that otherwise would not be filled?