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| Celebrating Nunavut. | |
Since its inception, CARC has vigorously supported the negotiated settlement of aboriginal peoples' land claims, and has urged the federal and territorial governments to take seriously the aspirations of aboriginal peoples to govern themselves and to determine their own future. In the North, we need not repeat the mistakes and misjudgements that still plague the South. Rather, new and innovative constitutional and political arrangements can be put in place to ensure that aboriginal peoples and others can live side by side in amity.
Perhaps the most thought-provoking, and now the most successful proposal for constitutional and political development in the North has been the creation of a Nunavut Territory. This has been a major goal of Inuit for over two decades. Earlier this year, Canada' s parliament ratified the huge land claim of the Inuit of the Northwest Territories (NWT), and proclaimed it law. As a result, the long-awaited Nunavut Territory and Government will be created in 1999.
In 1987, Gordon Robertson suggested in Northern Perspectives:
It could be that imaginative political development in the North, with full involvement of the native peoples there, is just the thing we need to remove that nagging doubt whether Canada really is different and really has a character of its own.
This is still an intriguing idea, and explains why, to many, Nunavut is a matter of national interest and national importance.
The Inuit of Nunavut have broken the mold of the past. They have done this openly and democratically, using powers of persuasion. They are now better equipped to determine their own future, and can participate more fully in national decision-making. In the past, Inuit have approached Ottawa through aboriginal organizations and have been perceived by many as just another interest seeking the ear of the federal government. In the future, Inuit can approach Ottawa as a fellow government. This is the beauty-and the simplicity-of Nllnsvllt
This issue of Northern Perspectives includes speeches delivered by the Prime Minister, other politicians, and Inuit leaders on the occasion of the signing of the Nunavut Agreement in Iqaluit on 25 May, 1993. To mark this occasion, we have translated this Northern Perspectives into Inuktitut.
