The top 10 newsmakers of 2005

Nancy Karetak-Lindell: saying yes to same-sex marriage

Facing pressure from constituents on both sides of the issue, Nancy Karetak-Lindell, the Liberal MP for Nunavut, made news last year by simply taking a neutral, undecided position on Bill C-38, the proposed same-sex marriage law.

But she made even more news last April when she abandoned her neutrality and decided to support same-sex marriage. She did so only 15 minutes before a House of Commons vote that defeated a Conservative amendment to change the meaning of Bill C-38.

“I am supporting the legislation, as I do not see how I can support discrimination of any kind against another human being on this earth,” Karetak-Lindell said in a statement distributed widely throughout Nunavut.

She also said yes to the bill when it received third reading in June. After getting speedy passage through the Senate, Bill C-38 received royal assent later in the summer. As a result, same-sex marriage is now legal everywhere in Canada, including Nunavut.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier: the Arctic’s “climate warrior”

Sheila Watt-Cloutier, the chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, made news all last year with her efforts aimed at drawing attention to the effects of climate change on the Arctic and its people.

The centrepiece of her work is a petition presented to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, which alleges that the U.S. government’s refusal to accept limits on the production of carbon dioxide emissions threatens the right of Inuit to practice their traditional hunting culture.

Iqaluit residents will also remember the role Watt-Cloutier played in the “Arctic Wisdom” event on the sea ice near Apex last April, with help from a team of environmental activists and politicians from southern California, and two young film stars: Salma Hayek and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Mary May Simon: standing up for the neglected

Though she holds no elected position or prominent appointment right now, Mary May Simon, the former circumpolar ambassador, showed last year that she can still makes thing happen by working quietly behind the scenes.

This time, her work helped draw attention to a rapidly growing group: Canada’s urban-based Inuit, who likely make up more than 10 per cent of the country’s Inuit population.

Simon, who serves on the board of Ottawa’s Tungasuvingat Inuit, worked as a facilitator for a major gathering of urban Inuit held this past October in Ottawa. This was the first meeting of its kind ever held, and it helped to shed light on the complex issues faced by Canada’s long-neglected urban Inuit.

As well, Simon continues to work on her Arctic Children and Youth Initiative.

Thomas Berger: consensus maker of the year?

Thomas Berger, the renowned human rights lawyer, made news last year by applying a badly needed laxative to the constipated process that’s aimed at producing a new 10-year implementation contract for the Nunavut land claims agreement.

After four years of negotiations, implementation contract talks broke down for good in late 2004. Because the last contract expired July 9, 2003, all sides — NTI, the federal government, and the GN — have since made do with year-to-year extensions of the old deal.

After his appointment as a conciliator last spring, Berger produced an interim report last fall that urges NTI and the federal government to establish common goals as a basis for negotiation.

His final report, due early this year, will contain his long-awaited analysis of the biggest issue dividing NTI and the federal government: how to carry out, and pay for, training programs for Inuit aimed at carrying out the Inuit employment objectives in Article 23.

The fishermen of Qikiqtarjuaq: doing it their way

In 2005, the Nattivak Hunters and Trappers Association of Qikiqtarjuaq made news by expanding their work towards a community-based turbot fishery, despite indifference and outright opposition from the GN, NTI and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, and the near-total turbot monopoly that the Baffin Fisheries Coalition holds in northern Davis Strait.

Through their business arm, the Masiliit Corp., Nattivak struck a deal with an Inuit-owned fisheries co-op in Makkovik, Labrador to harvest 160 tonnes of turbot in southern Davis Strait, in addition to their longstanding 320-tonne turbot quota located in the same area.

At the same time, they made arrangements to acquire two longliners and retrofitted a smaller boat, the Gaski, for use in a pilot project aimed at demonstrating the viability of a local inshore fishery.

But in early fall, Masiliit ran into problems when they requested the NWMB’s permission to fish a special 100-tonne quota just beyond the 12-mile limit in an area adjacent to Qikiqtarjuaq. By the time they received that permission, the boat they had arranged to harvest the fish was forced to go to another area.

The Nunavut Broadband Development Corporation: connecting Nunavut

The Nunavut Broadband Development Corporation finished installing its broadband network last year, bringing affordable, high-speed internet access to every Nunavut community.

Called “Qiniq,” the network uses wireless technology. This means that laptop computers attached to special modems can be used anywhere within range of Qiniq’s transmitters.

In its 2005 economic outlook report, the Nunavut Economic Forum said that the Qiniq network, which cost only $10 million to build, may turn out to be the most important infrastructure project ever completed in Nunavut.

Nunavut’s polar bears: how many and where?

Nunavut’s polar bears made news this year — because scientists and Inuit can’t agree on how many of them there are, where they are, and how many may be hunted each year without threatening their population numbers, especially in light of global warming.

In January, the Government of Nunavut announced new, long awaited polar bear hunting quotas for Nunavut communities that raise Nunavut’s total allowable catch by 115 animals. They claim to have based this decision on traditional knowledge received from hunters.

Red-faced GN officials, however, may now have to back-track from that position. That’s because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been asked to consider a ban on the importation of polar bear parts in the U.S. If it were imposed, such a ban would cost Nunavut about $2 million a year in sports hunting revenues.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Stirling, a respected polar bear biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service, released study results late last month at a U.S. conference on marine mammals that show the Kivalliq’s polar bear population declined by 22 per cent between 1987 and 2004, from 1,200 animals to less than 950.

In a story published in the Globe and Mail, Stirling said polar bears in the region are getting less to eat because sea-ice is now melting earler, and he said it’s possible that polar bears could disappear completely from the region in 40 or 50 years.

Labrador: the last Inuit land claim deal

The last outstanding Inuit land claim in Canada was settled on June 23, when the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement Act received royal assent.

Under the agreement, the Inuit of Labrador will surrender aboriginal title to the 72,5000 square kilometres of land that make up the Labrador Inuit settlement area.

In exchange, they will receive $140 million; title to 15,800 square kilometres of Inuit-owned land; an Inuit-run regional government; Inuit community governments; $156 million to pay for implementation of the agreement; and an agreement to create a national park in the Torngat Mountains.

The region covered by their new government is now called “Nunatsiavut.”

Palluq Manning: health care victim

After spending seven months in a coma, Palluq Manning of Cape Dorset woke up in Ottawa earlier this year to find that the Government of Nunavut no longer considers him a Nunavut resident.

Manning, a diabetic who requires kidney dialysis three times a week, found himself living homeless in Ottawa. At the same time, the GN washed its hands of him, saying the Government of Ontario is now responsible for supplying him with health care.

Although Manning later recieved some help through the Tungasuvvingat Inuit agency in Ottawa, his case raised numerous issues that are still unresolved, including the plight of many urban Inuit, and Nunavut’s lack of chronic care services.

Nathalie Martel: putting Nunavut on the global judo map

On Oct. 8, Nathalie Martel, a 15-year-old blue-belt from Iqaluit, took home bronze in the 48-kilogram juvenile women’s category — making her the first known Inuk international judo medalist.

She also demonstrated that Nunavummiut are capable of excelling at world class levels in sports other than hockey and traditional Arctic sports.

Martel started judo four and a half years ago, and has taken the sport seriously for the past three years. Last summer, she placed seventh at the Canadian championships.