This Land Is Our Land.

In the hearts and minds of Inuit, Nunavut has always been. It remained only for Canada to recognize the fact; the recognition has been more than 30 years in the making

Plans for dividing the Northwest Territories (NWT) go back a long way. In the 1960s, the governments of John Diefenbaker and Lester Pearson both tabled bills on the subject. But, nothing came of them and the territories continued to be governed by appointed bureaucrats in Ottawa.

Then, in April 1967 Yellowknife became the seat of NWT government.

To many Inuit this didn't change much; some of them described it as the last colonial government existing in Canada. Inuit were still dependent on decisions made far away. A rising group of young leaders among the Inuit began agitating for a larger say in decisions that governed their lives.

In 1971, they formed the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC). The group's founders decided they needed to speak with a united voice on Inuit issues and on development of the North.

ITC's goals were to:

* pursue and negotiate land claims for the Inuit of Canada;

* preserve Inuit language and culture;

* promote a sense of dignity and pride in the Inuit heritage;

* provide a focal point for determining the needs and wishes of all Inuit;

* represent Inuit on matters affecting their well-being;

* improve communications to and between Inuit communities; and,

* to help Inuit achieve full participation in Canadian society.

In 1976, the Inuit Tapirisat went to see Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. The group made a proposal for an Inuit land claim, and also for the creation of an Inuit homeland to be called Nunavut. That got negotiations moving, but still only at the speed of an Arctic glacier.

The federal government seems always to have been interested in the Inuit Tapirisat proposals, but, as always with such things, the devil is in the details.

Creating a new territory is an enormously complex procedure. Acts of Parliament must be changed and new ones passed. Decisions must be made about who is responsible for what. Assets and liabilities must be divided in a fair way (and one person's definition of fair is likely to be another person's definition of unfair). A whole new bureaucracy has to be hired, trained, and put in place. Some sort of constitutional framework must be erected. And, boundaries have to be fixed. This last point has been one of the most difficult to solve during the creation of Nunavut.

Through meetings, seminars, conferences, and informal chats, the negotiations moved forward. In 1982, Ottawa set clown its conditions for continued support for division of the Northwest Territories. They were outlined by Richard Van Loon, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister for Northern Affairs: First of all, continuing support for division by a majority of Northerners; second - not easy - an agreement on a boundary; third, the settlement of Aboriginal land claims; and, fourth, the agreement on the division of powers between the territorial level of government and the regional level of government.

The first problem was dealt with quickly. In April 1982, a plebiscite was held in the Northwest Territories. When the votes were counted, 56.5% of the people were in favour of splitting the territory. In the eastern Arctic, the region that was to become Nunavut, the vote went 80% in favour of division. So, the federal government had a very clear expression of the will of the people. But, that was the easy bit.

Soon, the negotiations ran into boundary paralysis. Fixing the boundaries on the north, east, and south was a doddle; it was the west that was the problem. In the old colonial days the solution was simple. Someone in a far and distant office would plunk a ruler down on a map and draw a line - that was the boundary. Too bad if it divided someone's tribal homeland.

Fortunately, the world has moved on from such methods. Now, boundaries are decided through negotiation. At first, most people assumed the western boundary of Nunavut would follow the tree line. The tree line would be a convenient marker because it, roughly, defined the outer limits of Inuit occupation. To the west of the tree line, the land was occupied by the Dene-Metis. But, throughout history, the Inuit and Dene-Metis moved back and forth across the tree line. Sometimes, the Dene-Metis hunted on the tundra; sometimes the Inuit advanced into the forest.

The cause of this movement was the caribou herd. Caribou do not conveniently stay in one place; they migrate and hunters follow them. Dene researcher Michael Anderson spoke about how it was in centuries past: The elders say when they were out hunting they used to meet the Inuit in the barren lands beyond the tree line and have tea. They spoke a little Inuk. The Inuit spoke a little Denesuline. If it was up to the elders to settle this, it would be settled in a minute.

But, the elders didn't get to try. The negotiations became political and dragged on for more than seven years. Sometimes, the discussions got downright nasty and broke down. After everyone cooled off, they came back to the table, sometimes with as many as 20 negotiators from each side. Progress has been made and the western boundary has been fixed, but not to everyone's satisfaction.

As Nunavut came into existence, about 600 Dene in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan were still in court. They have never recognized the 60th parallel, which forms the northern boundaries of the Prairie provinces, as legitimate. That old ruler across the map trick cut right through their traditional hunting grounds, and they want Nunavuts southern boundary moved about 200 kilometres to the north.

The land claim settlement was also a long, drawn out affair. In the first place; the Inuit plunged the federal government into confusion by making the claim. Until 1973, Ottawa had no real land claims policy, so they had to make one up as they went along. This took time and delayed bargaining. And, in 1982, the TunngavikFederation of Nunavut (TFN) took over negotiations from the Inuit Tapirisat.

The federal government had never negotiated such things as offshore rights and the sharing of royalties before. The negotiators also had to come to grips with the legal framework for self-govern-ment for the first time. Settling the Inuit land claim created the policy within which other claims have since been negotiated.

But, it was a slow and painful process. During the negotiations Canada had three different prime ministers, six different ministers of Indian and Northern Affairs, and four different deputy ministers of that department. While the federal Department of Indian and Northern Affairs did the negotiating, it was often necessary to consult other departments -Environment, Fisheries and Oceans, Energy, Mines, and Resources, Defence, all were involved at one time or another. The Government of the Northwest Territories also had to be briefed on the talks.

A proposal would be made by TFN. The federal negotiators would review it, consult with colleagues, and pass it up the chain of command. Various levels of government would have to sign off on it and send it back, often with changes. The proposal would then go back to TFN for response. Then, back to the federal negotiators again.

For Tom Molloy, Ottawa's chief negotiator throughout the process, there were many frustrations. He wrote about this later: The internal debate was necessarily lengthy ... however, this led to accusations by TFN that government was foot-dragging, stalling, or even showing bad faith.

In the beginning, there was suspicion and mistrust on both sides. The Inuit were particularly vocal: they felt government had a history of making decisions affecting Inuit without consultation. Problems escalated in 1982. The parties disagreed over the wildlife management provisions and government appointed a chief negotiator who was unknown to TFN. I was the Chief Negotiator, and the first weeks were not easy. Absence of trust between Inuit and government had to be addressed before serious negotiations could begin. Good faith was only built slowly, through long and tiring bargaining sessions. As the months and years passed, we shared accommodations in the north; we spent evenings together socializing; we planned annual Christmas parties and annual summer picnics.

After 13 years of bargaining, Ottawa and the Inuit reached an agreement-in-principle in 1990. It remained only to dot the Is and cross the Ts. Even that, took two more years of hard bargaining. In September 1992, the two sides signed the deal, but only after a couple of last minute hic-cups.

The Inuit had always said part of any land claim settlement had to be a commitment on the part of Ottawa to the creation of Nunavut. And, here was Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Tom Siddon trying to exclude the creation of Nunavut at the eleventh hour. The Tunngavik Federation said, no Nunavut - no deal. The minister backed off and the agreement went through.

Two months later, the people of Nunavut overwhelmingly approved it in a plebiscite. The level of support was 84.7%. Finally, in June 1993, the Nunavut Act was passed by Parliament and the land claim was settled.

That just left the creation of the new territory to be seen to. The federal government was not prepared to negotiate the division of the Northwest Territories as part of the land claim. It was a separate issue said Ottawa that had to be dealt with elsewhere. The Inuit didn't see it that way but went along with it anyway. After the plebiscite of 1982 showed strong support for a divided NWT, the bargaining began.

A decade later, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney travelled to Iqaluit to sign the Nunavut Agreement. On 25 May 1993, the clock started ticking off the countdown to the birth of Nunavut on 1 April 1999. The new territory covers 1.994 million square kilometres, which is 20% of Canada's land area, and crosses three time zones.

And, this is not the end of the process. Richard Van Loon is Senior Assistant Deputy Minister for Northern Affairs. He's been involved in the Nunavut issue for a long time. In 1993, Mr. Van Loon spoke at a conference:

The end-point from the perspective of the Government of Canada is the creation of provinces in the North. I think, too, that there's not much doubt that the structure in the North will be three provinces. There will be, of course, a Yukon province. There will be a western Arctic province. And there will be an eastern Arctic province called Nunavut.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES:

1. The Calder Case of 197.3 was a turning point in the federal government's approach to negotiating Aboriginal land claims. Have a team of students research this case and present a report to class.

2. The creation of Nunavut was achieved without a single law suit being filed and, even though discussion may have been heated at times, without violence. Discuss how this could be a useful definition of Canada.

FACT FILE

In 1996, the government of the Northwest Territories asked the public for suggestions about what to call the territory after the creation of Nunavut; 90% of the 6,000 people who participated favoured keeping the old name, while 1.3% suggested calling it Bob.

RELATED ARTICLE: IT'S A BIG PLACE

Nunavut covers five times the area of Newfoundland and Labrador and has a population a little larger than Mount Pearl; it is twice the size of Ontario and has the same population as Orillia; Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta would fit into Nunavut together and its population is about twice that of Portage La Prairie, North Battleford, or Leduc.

If it was a country, Nunavut would be the world's 13th largest. The distance from Nunavut's northern tip to its southern tip is the same as the distance from Winnipeg to Mexico City.

RELATED ARTICLE: THE OILMEN COMMETH

During the 1960s, oilmen turned the Arctic tundra into Swiss cheese. Oil companies, it seemed, were drilling everywhere looking for black gold.

As the drilling rigs sprouted, Inuit leaders woke up to the fact that they could only stand by and watch. Managing oil and gas development in the north was the exclusive responsibility of the federal government. Oilmen and bureaucrats could put together deals in Ottawa without conferring with the people on the land. There was talk of submarine oil tankers, of flying oil tankers, of pipelines - all of them a threat to the environment and traditional way of life. The people in the Arctic realized they had no control over what happened in their own backyards. They decided it was time to become politically active.

RELATED ARTICLE: WHAT THEY GOT

The largest land claim ever settled in Canadian history has changed the face of the North forever. The Inuit have agreed to give to the federal government all Aboriginal title to land, water, and the offshore not included in the agreement. In return, the Inuit receive:

* Title to approximately 350,000 square kilometres of land, of which approximately 36,000 square kilometres includes mineral rights;

* The right to harvest wildlife on lands and waters throughout the Nunavut Settlement Area;

* A wildlife management board to devise a system that serves and promotes the long-term economic, social, and cultural interests of Inuit harvesters;

* A guarantee that three National Parks will be established in the Nunavut Settlement Area;

* Compensation from the federal government of $1.148 billion payable over 14 years starting in 1993 (the capital is held in trust and interest from it used to finance business, student scholarships, and support for hunters);

* A share of federal government royalties from oil, gas, and mineral developments on Crown land;

* Where Inuit own surface title to the land, the right to negotiate with industry for economic and social benefits from non-renewable resource development;

* Measures to increase Inuit employment within government in the Nunavut Settlement Area;

* Increased access to federal and territorial government contracts to provide for increased participation of Inuit firms - the labour force hired on Nunavut projects must reflect the proportion of Inuit in the territory's population;

* A Trust Training Fund of $13 million.

All of these measures are guaranteed under Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution.

RELATED ARTICLE: NEIGHBOURS NEGOTIATE

Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa announced, in 1971, that his government was going ahead with its massive James Bay hydroelectric development. The Cree and Inuit, who lived on the land that was going to be flooded by the dams, said it would have been nice if someone had talked to them about it first. The Cree and Inuit were forced to take the government of Quebec to court to get its attention.

They won a court order halting the development and this forced Quebec to negotiate. Two years of bargaining, politics, and lawsuits later an agreement was reached. It was the first major agreement between the Crown and Native people since the early part of the 20th century.

The Cree and Inuit won the permanent right to control hunting, fishing, and trapping of all economically important species of game in northern Quebec; a strong degree of self-government in their own communities; the relocation of the site of the first dam; the clearance of timber from reservoir basins before flooding, with the Cree given first refusal rights on clearing contracts; and $225 million to be paid over a 25-year period.

This settlement was used as a model by the Inuit of Nunavut in pursuing their own claims.

Website

Land Claims - http:// www.ualberta.ca/-esimpson/ claims/nwt.htm