Podcast dusts off Nunavut Land Use Plan: Could new leadership revive it?

A trio of recent leadership changes has the potential to achieve a decades-long goal to ratify a land use plan for all of Nunavut, and World Wildlife Fund Canada is using the moment to call attention to the issue through a new podcast episode.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the Government of Nunavut, and the federal government — the three parties that must sign off on the Nunavut Land Use Plan — have all held elections within the span of a year.

“We really see this as an opportunity for the three parties to come together with a renewed sense of approving the Nunavut Land Use Plan and moving forward to guide development in the territory,” said Brandon Laforest, lead Arctic specialist with World Wildlife Fund Canada.

Paul Okalik, the first premier of Nunavut, is calling for three levels of government to pass the Nunavut Land Use Plam, in his role as lead Arctic specialist with World Wildlife Fund Canada. (Photo courtesy of Brandon Laforest)

His organization runs the This is Wild podcast, which explores conservation issues across Canada. Its sixth and final episode, released Friday, takes a look at Nunavut’s draft land use plan, which has gathered dust since its completion in June 2023.

The document has evolved over four drafts in the past 16 years.

The plan would act as a guide across Nunavut, balancing environmental concerns against future development while reflecting the values and priorities of Nunavummiut.

Environmental advocates such as World Wildlife Fund Canada have lauded the most recent draft for the document’s protection of caribou calving grounds.

Others, though, have criticized it for potentially locking away minerals in designated protected areas and stranding exploration projects.

Paul Okalik, Nunavut’s first premier, is a major voice in the podcast, speaking as an Iqaluit-based lead Arctic specialist for World Wildlife Fund Canada.

He takes listeners on an audio journey through the calving grounds of Nunavut’s Beverly and Qamanirjuaq caribou herds, sharing perspectives of elders who came before him and delving into the next generation’s take on the issue.

“As children, the first rule that we were taught is not to make too much noise, to not scream, not yell unnecessarily, because you’re not to disturb the caribou in their homeland,” Okalik says in the opening moments of the podcast.

He describes how his family and community have traditionally used caribou for sustenance and how it continues to be an important part of the Inuit diet — especially when compared to what can be found at northern grocery stores.

“Maybe a quarter of the fruit that I purchase at the store is spoiled by the time it gets to our part of the world,” he says in the podcast. “So it’s not as nutritious and it’s not as healthy as what we consume from our traditional territories.”

To protect these animals — as well as Inuit health, culture and way of life — Nunavut needs a land use plan, Okalik argues.

He makes sure to note he is not calling for a moratorium on mining or development. But, borrowing from the language of southern companies that want to do business in Nunavut, he describes Inuit as shareholders, and the land itself as the shares.

“We don’t put a dollar number on our shares because they are priceless,” he says in the podcast. “This is our food. This is our source of clothing, this is our future that they’re playing with.

“So those shares will lose incredible value for all of us in the long run if they’re destroyed or damaged, because these herds depend on these habitats for being able to survive.”

Okalik joins a chorus of recent voices that have called for passage of the Nunavut Land Use Plan. In August, former politician Tagaq Curley and filmmaker Qajaaq Ellsworth made their case for its ratification. Nunavut MP Lori Idlout has also called on the federal government to sign it.

This is Wild is available on Spotify, iHeart Radio Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and Audible.