Whither Nunavut in the coming 25 years?

Dennis Patterson was the senator for Nunavut from 2009 to 2023 and the premier of the Northwest Territories from 1987 to 1991. In this guest column he wrote for the 25th anniversary of Nunavut, he contemplates the future that lies ahead for the territory. (Photo courtesy of Dennis Patterson)

As I look ahead to the coming 25 years on Nunavut’s 25th anniversary, I reflect on how the miracle of carving out a new territory came to be.

Nunavut was established as a result of a strong and respectful collaboration between the Inuit of Nunavut (then Tungavik Federation of Nunavut), and the government and legislative assembly of the Northwest Territories.

Ottawa would never have been persuaded to create a new homeland for Inuit alongside the largest land settlement in Canada, with a public government as the expression of the inherent right to self-government, had it not been for that rock solid, united front.

Unfortunately, today, that unity in common cause which was envisioned by the elder statesmen who negotiated the agreement is no longer there.

Despite “feel-good” pledges to work together, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Government of Nunavut are too often in conflict, competing for money in Ottawa and fighting in court, making lawyers rich but not addressing the roots of conflict.

The federal government is exacerbating the problem by handing hundreds of millions of dollars to Inuit to deliver programs like infrastructure, housing and tuberculosis eradication — areas which are clearly within the jurisdiction of the Inuit-led Nunavut government, which is not unwelcome except that it has been done without including the GN in the negotiations. And so NTI is developing a rival bureaucracy.

So whither the coming 25 years?

First, this jurisdictional bickering has to stop. The recent devolution agreement with Canada is encouraging, since NTI and the GN worked closely together as equal partners to remove colonial federal control over managing Crown lands and resources in Nunavut.

Once the GN and NTI get back in their own lanes — the GN to deliver services to the public, and NTI to implement the land claims agreement and serve its beneficiaries — then Inuit and the Nunavut government can work together again to create a renewed welcoming but rigorously regulated investment climate to profit from our rich natural resources, particularly minerals, (but not to overlook our huge potential in tourism, fisheries and the arts) to improve everyone’s lives.

You see, governments alone cannot solve all of our pressing problems.

Once this true collaboration is re-established through enlightened leadership, Inuit and non-Inuit alike in Nunavut will be in a position to capitalize on our rich natural resources to reduce reliance on the federal government for handouts in the form of transfer payments.

Projects like Qikiqtani’s Mary River deposit, with its rich iron ore prized for making “green steel” in Europe which can be delivered with less impact on hunters through the railroad south to Steensby Inlet, will liberate billions of dollars. That money can then be applied to solve long-standing problems like the housing crisis in our most populated region.

In the Kivalliq, Agnico Eagle’s proposal to extend its Meliadine mine to 2042 must be reconsidered. This will help fund a hydro and fibre optic link to the Kivalliq, which will free up bandwidth for other communities which will still depend on satellite internet.

In the Kitikmeot, the visionary Grays Bay Road and Port Project can produce enormous royalties, jobs and business opportunities based on development of critical minerals in the rich Slave Geological Province.

Those minerals are needed to reduce North American reliance on China, which has cornered the critical minerals market, jeopardizing the North American transition to green energy.

Based on our incredibly rich mineral deposits and our rapidly growing fishery, in the coming 25 years Nunavut will evolve from a government and service-sector economy to a diversified economy with a thriving private sector.

Royalties and tax revenues flowing from these developments and others that are still only in the planning stages will allow Nunavut to make progress on long-standing goals: building a Nunavut heritage centre, Nunavut performing arts centre and a university of the Arctic, which should specialize in Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and not try to compete with other southern universities offering courses in geology, commerce, medicine and other programs like that.

Neither the federal government nor the GN will undertake these projects without Nunavut contributing additional revenues flowing from our rich, renewable and non-renewable resources.

At the same time, we can be confident that through their guaranteed representation on co-management boards which regulate wildlife, water, and socio-economic impacts, it is the Inuit of Nunavut, the guardians of our land, who will protect our fragile environment by setting the conditions to mitigate impacts, or reject projects which don’t.

The building blocks are in place for Nunavut to prosper in the coming 25 years. We have the resources to make progress toward becoming a “have” and no longer a “have not” jurisdiction.

We will start to take our proud place as equals in Confederation, no longer having to beg Ottawa for money to deliver essential programs.

Dennis Patterson was the senator for Nunavut from 2009 to 2023, and was premier of the Northwest Territories from 1987 to 1991.