Simon to Harper: Healthy Inuit Communities Drive Arctic Economic Development

Iqaluit – Wednesday, August 19 – National Inuit Leader Mary Simon, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl this evening to discuss the urgent need for improved and increased health and social programs and services throughout the Arctic.

“A healthy, educated community is a strong community,” said Simon. “It is the basis for a strong economy and a strong nation.”

She also called on the federal government to include all four Inuit regions in national policies and programs affecting Inuit.

“Inuit Nunangat and its four regions, each with comprehensive land claims, encompasses lands and waters that are governed by many jurisdictions – federal, territorial, provincial, regional and Inuit. It forms a continuous chain defining Inuit rights and jurisdictional arrangements across the Arctic,” said Simon. “We are four regions but one people. We should be dealt with by the federal government as a cohesive whole.”

Simon commended the government for its recently announced Federal Northern Strategy and Northern Economic Development Agency. However, if they are to ultimately be successful, she emphasized that the programs must include all four Inuit regions – Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut and the Inuvialuit region of the Northwest Territories.

Inuit face different living conditions and social issues than other aboriginal peoples in Canada. This applies, for instance, to the H1N1 pandemic, Simon pointed out. ITK has called for an Inuit-specific appendix to the Canadian Pandemic Plan, to be developed with Inuit.

“I believe Leona Aglukkaq and her team are doing what they can,” said Simon, “but the one area where we need to do a better job is in informing and educating Inuit about our plans to deal with this and future pandemics.”

Aglukkaq and Simon have committed to an immediate follow-up meeting on H1N1.

Finally, Simon discussed with the Prime Minister an understanding reached earlier this month in Regina among Canada's premiers and national aboriginal leaders to seek a Federal/Provincial/Territorial/Aboriginal process. The proposed meeting is to get all leaders with jurisdiction over Aboriginal Peoples to the table at the same time, leading to a First Ministers' Meeting with a mandate to create a new, post-Apology vision for how the next generation of Aboriginal Peoples can improve their living conditions.