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Canada Welcomes Nunavut to the Confederation

by Greg Metzger

Canadian place names like Dawson, Fort McPherson, Fort Smith, Inuvik, Iqaluit, Yellowknife, Radium Hotsprings, and Tuktoyaktuk conjure up images of Jack London, and igloos, solitary seal hunters, and intrepid mounties , frigid winters, and desolate vast areas of endless white. The juxtaposition of native and anglo-european names also serve as a reminder of the diversity of the hardy resourceful peoples who call the Canadian North their home.

On April 1, 1999 school children in Canada (but alas probably not in the United States) will have a new territory and a new capital to memorize. Nunavut (Inuktitut for "Our Land") is being be created out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.

This date, we are told, was not chosen for any significant or sinister reason other than it was the start of a new fiscal year. April foolishness notwithstanding, at Midnight on April 1st , the eastern section of the Northwest Territories comprising 1,900,000 km2 extending north from Manitoba-Hudson's Bay-Quebec past the magnetic north pole to the very tip of the Canadian Arctic on Ellesmere Island will become a separate self governing territory in the Canadian Confederation.

Twenty-five thousand people live in Nunavut. Eighty-five percent of these are Inuit. A little math with these numbers yields about 0.013 persons per square kilometer or put the other way around 76 square kilometers per person. Since of the twenty eight communities in Nunavut, all but one of them are coastal, population density in the interior is significantly less than even this small number. Nunavut has a while to go before their baby boom bulge hits retirement, 56% of the population is under 25 years of age.

A new precedent is being set with the creation of Nunuvut. It is the first time in Canadian history that an indigenous people will have a voting majority. The new government will govern by consensus without formal political parties in the 19 member legislative assembly. Because of the vast distances and limited transportation, the new government will be highly decentralized. Modern telecommunications will be crucial in linking physically separate offices and departments. One immediate goal is the establishment a decentralized justice system in order to reduce both the time and cost involved in the judicial process.

Challenges that lie ahead include developing economic self-sufficiency, management of resources, protecting Inuit culture and language, ensuring the rights of qallanaat (non-Inuit) residents, and the mundane challenges (employment, education, health care) common to any modern society. On the dawn of this new experiment, it is fervently hoped that Nunavut may, through a combination of traditional values and modern innovation, show the world the way of peaceful coexistence.

Happy Birthday, Nunavut.

LINKS:
Visit Nunanet Worldwide Communications and join "NunaChat" for a real time chat.. Also check out:
http://www.inac.gc.ca/nunavut/index.html
http://npc.nunavut.ca/

Further Reading:

The Nunavut Handbook edited by Marion Soubliere.
Includes photographs and recipes for caribou, seal and whale blubber.

The Past and Future Land, by Martin O"Malley
A commentary on "The Berger Inquiry" which was instrumental in the
ultimate creation of Nunavut.