Symons Lecture on the State of Canadian Confederation * Our Arctic, Our Canada * Tuesday November 3, 2009 * Prince Edward Island

Thank you for your very gracious and generous introductions, Minister Bertram. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, Professor Symons. Previous lectures in this series have drawn from some of Canada’s finest champions and I am proud to be among such distinguished company.

 

I am very touched by the honour the Confederation Centre has bestowed on me today. I am especially pleased to receive this medal, this work of art, in a venue dedicated to arts and Canadian creativity. I share this honour with the many Inuit who have worked tirelessly and courageously to make it possible for me to be here. As you will learn later in my presentation, we have our own fathers and mothers of Confederation and to them I say … (Inuktitut and then translate) thank you for your guidance, your courage, your wisdom and your strength.

 

I am the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, or ITK, the national voice of the Inuit of Canada. In English, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami means “Inuit are united in Canada.”

 

Our work at ITK centres on ensuring that Inuit interests are reflected in national policy making affecting the Arctic. Later, I will provide you with some examples of key policy areas that need the attention of Canadians.

 

It is an added pleasure to be here in Charlottetown. It is, of course, entirely fitting that this lecture series is given here in the city that is considered to be the birthplace of Confederation.

 

PEI is Canada’s smallest province and is characterized by gentle green hills, farmland and expanses of beautiful sand. It is in stark visual contrast to my home – Inuit Nunangat – which covers one-fifth of Canada’s land mass and an even greater portion of combined marine areas.

 

Yet in many important respects, there are obvious similarities between PEI and the Inuit homeland in Canada.

 

§     We are relatively few in number and are very conscious of the limits this places on our ability to shape national events.

 

§     Much of our economy is built around primary production – in our case, hunting and trapping has been important, rather than agriculture, while commercial fishing is important to both of us.

 

§     Like you, we have welcomed the jobs and incomes that have come through the public sectors of our economies, while at the same we have worried about whether too much reliance on the public sector serves to limit or undermine entrepreneurship and innovation.

 

§     We are aware of how our fundamental economic well-being and future economic prospects have so often been dependent on big, impersonal, and often mysterious forces situated a long way away … whether in the global financial capitals that decide interest rates or in foreign capitals which decide whether or not, for example, to ban seal products.

 

§     Inuit still live in a society made up of small communities, where personal reputation and interpersonal connections count very heavily in the rhythm of daily life.

 

The title for my lecture today is “Our Arctic, Our Canada.” In choosing this title, a number of possibilities came to mind. Two factors contributed most directly to my choice.

 

The first is that while I may be many things to many people (mother, grandmother, wife, blueberry-pie baker, just to name a few), my public life has been devoted centrally to the advancement of the rights and well-being of the Inuit of Canada and of the circumpolar world. Therefore, it is about Inuit that I wish to speak to you today.

 

The second factor that I considered is that this city and this place is an important venue for Canadians to think about our Confederation – what started it, what has shaped it, where it now stands, and how we can make it better and brighter and enduring for those who come after us. Inuit society is an inclusive society and despite some bumps along the road, much of what shapes Canadian values is our sense of inclusiveness.

 

In my life, I have always tried to think and act optimistically and it is this optimism that has fuelled my work over the past 35 years. So I am not here today to tell a tale of woes. Rather, I am here to inform you and hopefully to inspire you to learn more, and do more, about Inuit and our role in Canada.

 

First let me tell you a little bit about myself:

 

I am an Inuk, born in Arctic Quebec, a region known as Nunavik, in the small village of Kangiqsualujjuaq on the western shore of Ungava Bay. My mother was Inuk and my father, from the south, managed the local Hudson Bay company post. I spent my adolescence in the North, living a very traditional lifestyle. We camped, lived on the land, made our own clothes and hunted and gathered food. And while today many people find it difficult to imagine or otherwise unacceptable to kill and eat wild animals, Inuit see this connection to wildlife and the environment as a part of a natural cycle, a fundamental underpinning of our existence on the planet – as vital today as it was four thousand years ago.

 

An important part of my cultural tradition is the strong bonds that are created across the generations. Some of the most influential and most enduring are those that are created between elders and youth. My maternal grandmother, Jeannie, certainly one of the most important people in my life, was my teacher and mentor.

 

My mother, Nancy, took on that role later in my life and her influence continues today. They both instilled in me a boundless energy for learning and self-improvement. They also taught me to always be proud of who I am and to keep my mind open to other points of view.

 

From my father’s side of the family, I had the good fortune to learn about the “South” and the “non-native world” from a man who had a profound love and respect for the North, its people and its natural beauty, and who also recognized and valued what the South could offer his family.

 

These influences have served me well as my people and I were propelled through a period of intensive and rapid change.

 

In the late 1940s, when I was born, government had just “discovered” us and thus began the move off the land to centralized communities, the relocation of families, the delivery of government health and social support programs – in short, the effort to keep us, a traditionally nomadic people, in one place so we could be more easily administered.

 

As I grew older and more exposed to the social and political systems imported from the South, I quickly found that there was one system in Canada for “white people” and another for indigenous people. I learned the words “racism” and “discrimination” – concepts that were foreign to me in my early days. I also learned that the social fabric of Inuit society, including the role of men and women, youth and elders, were very different from those in the South.

 

There are two root words in Inuktitut, ilira and kappia, used by Inuit to describe the combination of fear, respect and nervous apprehension they felt about the southerners, both men and women, who came to the North. These feelings permeated our lives and our relationship with southerners, southern institutions and southern values.

 

It was years before I gained the self-confidence to assert myself and my beliefs in the non-indigenous world.

 

From this perspective, I would like to share with you some of my experiences working with other young and inspired Aboriginal people in reshaping our relationship with Canada and Canadian society.

 

I began working on Aboriginal rights issues in the early 1970s. Landmark legal decisions in British Columbia and in the North had provided a new legal basis for discussing Aboriginal rights to lands and resources.

 

My first real experience was during the negotiations for the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, which grew out of an important legal decision in Quebec. This agreement was the first comprehensive Aboriginal land claims agreement in Canada. Matters of land ownership, rights to resources, compensation for damages and local and regional government were successfully concluded.

 

We were a small, rag tag, poorly funded group of Inuit and Cree up against governments and very powerful industrial interests. We were very young but had fluency in English, unlike our elders or more experienced local leaders. Because of this language skill, our traditional leaders invested us with the responsibility to go forward and explain our people to the southerners who were intent on developing our lands without our approval or even our involvement.

 

Hence, when the Quebec government announced that the largest hydroelectric development project in the world was to be built on our lands, we were catapulted into the world of white politicians and businessmen.

 

I have these indelible memories of sitting in darkened boardrooms somewhere inside office towers in Montreal wondering “What on earth am I doing here?” I remember walking into those rooms filled with dread. But at the same time, we knew that many people back home were counting on us to be the link between them and the powers that were controlling their lives. We had no choice – we had to do it.

 

We succeeded. We got our agreement. It was painful and many compromises were made. We also lost colleagues along the way for whom the stress was too much to bear. 

 

There was no turning back after that. We got a taste of what we could do when we stood up for our rights and our heritage.

 

---

 

Now that I have given you a little insight into myself and my life experience, allow me to organize the rest of my lecture around six core themes – in fact – questions.

 

1.            Who are the Inuit of Canada? 

2.            How did we get to be where we are today?

3.            What challenges do we face, both on our own and in common with other Canadians and all the peoples of the world?

4.            What can Inuit contribute to Confederation?

5.            What can Confederation do for Inuit?

6.            And you, my audience today. How do you fit in all this?

 

Let me begin with some background on who we are. 

 

There are approximately 55,000 Inuit living in Canada, spread from Labrador in the east to the Northwest Territories in the west. The Arctic is one third of Canada’s land mass with 50% of Canada’s shoreline.

 

There are 53 Inuit communities ranging from populations of more than a 1,000 to as small as 200. Unlike many First Nation communities, Inuit do not live on reserves. We have chosen municipal status within our respective territories and provinces.

 

Inuit are the solid majority of the permanent population in Arctic communities, with the exception of Inuvik and Iqaluit. Inuit are also becoming more numerous in some southern cities, such as Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg and Edmonton.

 

The Arctic is our homeland. We call it Inuit Nunangat. We have occupied this vast territory for thousands of years. We have developed a culture and language deeply rooted in our physical surroundings. The Arctic defines who we are. In turn, our presence and way of life help define the Arctic.

 

What many of you may not realize is that it is really until very recently, Inuit lived a very nomadic lifestyle with very little contact with the “outside world.” While there were explorers and fur traders from as early as the 1600s, followed by whalers in the 1800s, it was not until the early to mid-1900s that the modern Western world caught up with us.

 

And caught up with us it did. It is not my intention to enter into a discourse on colonialism. Suffice it to say that, like other aboriginal peoples in Canada, Inuit suffered through a harsh colonial period – the remnants and consequences of which are still with us today. 

 

There are Inuit living today who were young adults before they ever encountered non-Inuit. Imagine that! They lived on the land, hunted and fished, were highly organized around the family and extended family, and spoke a very complex and nuanced language.

 

So within a few generations, Inuit were forcibly resettled, converted to Christianity, suffered terribly from contagious diseases, had their children subjected to residential schools and their family members sent to TB sanitariums, some never to return.

 

Today in the Arctic, the cost of living is staggering. I can fly economy class at least twice from Ottawa to Hong Kong for the cost of flying from Ottawa to Pond Inlet. Essential foods and commodities are also very expensive. A loaf of bread in some communities can cost $8, while 2 litres of milk goes for $13.

 

Country foods continue to be a very important part of our culture and daily lives. Hunting, however, has become very expensive. It costs tens of thousands of dollars to properly equip a hunter. Gas, as you can imagine, continues to skyrocket. Incomes are often shared within extended families in order to support a hunter and assure access to country food.

 

With few exceptions, there are no road connections to the rest of Canada. Transportation is by air and sea. While air travel shrinks these distances, Inuit communities are still very isolated from the rest of Canada.

 

Despite the tremendous distances, the Arctic is now connected by modern communications to the rest of Canada and the world. All Inuit communities have some level of broadband access.

 

All four of our Inuit regions have achieved comprehensive modern-day land claims agreements. These are Constitutionally protected treaties between Inuit and the Crown and have formed the basis of a relationship with the Government of Canada and the Governments of Quebec and of Newfoundland and Labrador.

 

Land claims agreements provide us with a set of tools for shaping our lives and developing our lands and resources. Collectively, Inuit own large parcels of land, some with full subsurface rights. We now share in the management and, to some extent, the benefits from natural resource development.

 

We have access to investment capital and are using it. We own air and marine transport companies, fishing companies, service industries for oil and gas development, and are joint venturing with various business enterprises.

 

We are also now very well organized politically. We have our national organization, sophisticated regional organizations that have grown from our land claims agreements, and a strong international network through the Inuit Circumpolar Council. I can proudly say that Inuit have made important contributions to the global discussions on climate change, indigenous rights and sovereignty, to name but a few. Inuit now have an essential role in international discussions about arctic waters, marine transportation, environmental initiatives and the future of international Arctic relations generally.

 

These are all important dimensions of who we are. But most importantly, we are a people. We know we are a people in our hearts and in our bones, as well as in our heads. We have the common memories, common bonds, common values, the common way of looking at things and expressing things that tie us together. We are Inuit.

 

Why is this important? It is important because until all Canadians understand this, we will have not reached our most important objective – which is to be seen and accepted as the Inuit of Canada with our rightful place as a founding people and all that must come along with that understanding.

 

Inuit have been very involved in the development of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and its adoption by the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2007. While not having formal treaty status, that declaration now forms part of the world’s human rights architecture.

 

Following the adoption of the UN Declaration, and the increasing international focus on the Arctic as a region, including underlying issues of international law, circumpolar Inuit decided to make their own statement about the rights of Inuit as a people.

 

In April 2009, circumpolar Inuit representatives adopted and released a document titled A Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Sovereignty in the Arctic. That declaration made the following assertions with respect to the identity, rights, and responsibilities of Inuit as one of the world’s indigenous peoples:

 

Inuit are an indigenous people with the rights and responsibilities of all indigenous people, including the right to self-determination, to freely pursue our economic, social, cultural and linguistic development, and to freely dispose of our natural wealth and resources. States are also reminded of their obligations to indigenous peoples under a variety of international agreements

 

Inuit are an indigenous people of the Arctic with status, rights and responsibilities as a people among the peoples of the world that are exercised within the unique geographic, environmental, cultural and political context of the Arctic. This fact has been acknowledged by the eight-nation Arctic Council, to which Canada belongs.

 

Very importantly, the Circumpolar Inuit Declaration does not assert the identity of Inuit as one of the world’s indigenous peoples as a substitute, or as an alternative, to being citizens of the four Arctic states in which we live. Rather it states that Inuit have rights as an indigenous people, and also as citizens. I take pride in being both an Inuk and a Canadian.

 

At a time when issues of sovereignty in the Arctic have been very much in the news, the declarationoffers a reminder that the concept of sovereignty must necessarily be situated within a wider body of still changing international law.

 

---

 

What does all this mean when we return to the question: Who are we, the Inuit of Canada?

 

The answer, I believe, is clear.

 

We are a people in our own eyes, in the eyes of the Constitution of Canada and in the eyes of the world. We are also proud and contributing citizens of Canada. We can say this with the same conviction and confidence as you can identify yourselves as Canadians and Islanders.

 

Surely one of the features and one of the strengths of liberal democracies is accepting, cherishing and nurturing our differences as well as our commonalities. Inuit have fought hard to get to this core sense of how we fit into today’s Arctic as both Inuit and as Canadians. We plan on keeping it.

 

You need us and we need you as we tackle enormous global challenges such as climate change, where a shared sense of humanity must eclipse all competing assertions of stand-alone sovereignty. Inuit have always stood ready to work in partnership but, to be convincing and to be valuable, partnership must be based on mutual respect and understanding.

 

So how did Inuit get to where we are today?

 

Inuit presence in the Arctic predates all historical records. Archaeologists are still debating how far back Inuit occupation of the Arctic can be traced, and the complex interconnections among the pre-Dorset, Dorset, and Thule cultures. All very important stuff, but we know from our own legends that we have been in the Arctic for a very, very long time.

 

What archeology and prehistory do tell us is that our ancestors can be traced back to the Siberian side of the Bering Strait, and likely migrated to what is now Alaska during the Pleistocene Age, when a “land bridge” formed to link the two continents.

 

So in that sense, a short answer to the question “How did we get to be where we are today?” is … “We crossed over to Alaska and just kept going east until we hit the east coast of Greenland and then ran out of land.”

 

Despite emerging regional and temporal variations, our life in the Arctic portions of eastern Siberia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland has always been built around the opportunities, risks, and realities of a hunting way of life.

 

Then came the Europeans.

 

From the time of Martin Frobisher’s ill-fated voyage and continuing through centuries of activities involving naval ships, whalers, traders, missionaries, police and public servants, Inuit have been working out a complex of inter-societal relationship with qallunat (our word for non-Inuit)and, more specifically, a political and legal relationship with the Crown – first the British Imperial Crown and then the Crown in right of Canada.

 

In the period leading up the 1960s and 1970s, the relationship between the Europeans and Inuit was a grossly one-sided one, with Inuit suffering a steady loss of control over our ability to make decisions both for ourselves and for the lands and waters that have sustained us for thousands of years.

 

We became a colonized people, pushed to the margins of political and economic and social power in our own world. The low points of this one-sided relationship came when entire families were wiped out by measles, when Inuit households were coerced into relocating thousands of miles in order to serve agendas developed elsewhere, and when Inuit children were taken away to residential schools.

 

A society’s loss of control cannot be illustrated more pointedly, or more painfully, than through the rupturing of the bonds between parents and children. This is particularly painful for a society that, as I mentioned earlier, was – and remains – organized around family.

 

While change is inevitable in the world, the relative speed and intensity experienced in the North has resulted in deep, deep damage. 

 

Yet I have hope – hope that the ingenuity and strength of Inuit will carry us through. I see hope in the continuing strength and evolution of our language, without which we could easily become a lost people. 

 

This hope, however, is often visited by fear. Whenever I learn of another suicide or the despair that drives children to substance abuse, I fear for the future of our young people. 

 

Then I remember grandmother’s stories and I hear all the voices that taught me so well when I was a child – with so much love and so much confidence. I feel the warmth of the tent and the smell of the animal skins as they are laid out over the snow. I sense the anticipation of the story that will surely be told to us before we sleep. All of this comes rushing back.

 

I do see a future – one that will be shaped by the power of the past. 

 

---

 

In the early days of Constitutional reform, we were forgotten and faceless peoples no matter where we lived. We were just part of Canada’s “Native Problem.” We were caught up in political policies seeking assimilation on the one hand, and the relentless push to extract or develop natural resources in the interests of Canadians on the other. Our rights as aboriginal peoples were nowhere to be seen.

 

This lack of voice, this invisibility, close to home, was apparent in our early efforts to engage the rest of the world. In his recently released book, Who Owns the Arctic?, UBC law professor Michael Byers relates a telling story … let me quote it for you:

“John Amagoalik, as the former president of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, recalls attending a meeting of the United Nations, where a foreign diplomat blithely stated that ‘nobody lived in the Arctic.’ Amagoalik approached the diplomat afterwards, held out his hand, and said ‘Hi, I’m nobody.’”

 

John A, as he is known to us, is often called the father of Nunavut. It was his vision and energy that drew together the forces and threads that culminated in the creation of the Nunavut Territory. He is one of our founding fathers.

 

But being colonized for a time does not mean being resigned to staying that way.

 

We mounted a huge effort, along with First Nations and Métis, and called for our voices to be heard in the ideals of a new order based on social economic fairness and justice for all.

 

We did everything we could to re-assert ourselves and to regain control over the lands and waters of Inuit Nunangat, and of our future. We used the courts, the political process, the negotiating table and, from time to time, the streets to make our case.

 

Starting in the 1960s, a succession of young Inuit decided to do everything possible to take on the larger society that had colonized us and to re-gain at least a degree of control over our own lives. I am proud to say I was among them. All of this was happening in a faraway place many Canadians had little or no knowledge of at that time. The Arctic was not considered a part of mainstream Canada. We knew instinctively that had to change.

 

We did this by studying the larger features and assumptions of Canadian society and deciding how we could develop and promote a political agenda that would adapt and employ those features and assumptions to our benefit.

 

We did this by soliciting help from young lawyers and researchers, many of whom still work with us. Together we developed a political agenda that took squarely into account that, in a contemporary context, power in society is distributed across a public sphere, with institutions of political representation, and a private sphere, where economic muscle in the form of rights to property and access to capital are uppermost. We were learning fast!

 

In the late 1960s and 1970s, we quickly came to see that three major opportunities were available to us:

 

First, issues of common aboriginal title and rights flowed from a series of court cases that had re-opened what was considered long-settled case law that had rejected legal rights flowing from aboriginal use and occupation.

 

Second was the growing Constitutional ferment in Canada and the search for Constitutional reform in Canada, fuelled largely by Quebec’s restlessness but accompanied by other issues such as arguments for guarantees of individual and minority rights.

 

And third, the map of Canada included much of the Arctic in what could be described as the “holding category” of the Northwest Territories and regions such as Nouveau Quebec and northern Labrador – all being a very long way removed from major political focus.

 

It is difficult for me to summarize in a few minutes, the enormous efforts and ultimate successes we achieved.

 

In many ways it began in 1971 with the creation of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, which later became the organization I now lead. Led by Tagak Curley, another of our founding fathers, Inuit representing the various regions gathered in Ottawa as delegates to the founding conference of ITC. The goal was to create an organization that would unite Canadian Inuit across the Arctic into a common movement with the strength and mandate to act.

 

With this, our collective voice was born!

 

The settling of comprehensive land claims was our next focus. Permit me a quick overview.

 

First came the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. This agreement was achieved before Canada and aboriginal peoples had even dreamed of a comprehensive policy for the settlement of aboriginal claims. It was, in fact, an out-of-court settlement that morphed into a land claims agreement in response to the Province of Quebec’s plans to harness the hydro-electric potential of some of the major rivers in northern Quebec without our involvement or consent. Inuit mobilized around the leadership of Charlie Watt, now a member of the Senate. It set the bar for agreements to come.

 

The vision for land claims in the Inuit portion of the Northwest Territories started as far back as 1972. Spearheaded by ITC in collaboration with legal experts, a framework and process for resolving claims to the Arctic and rights to resources was developed based on emerging legal precedents. In 1974, in collaboration with a team of socially responsible researchers, a massive effort to document the land use and occupancy of Inuit was launched. Nellie Cournoyea was an inspirational force behind the study and later led the Inuvialuit through the land claims process and became Premier of the Northwest Territories. Another of our founding leaders.

 

This work culminated in the historic 1974 Inuit Land Use and Occupancy Study. With the completion of this work, responsibility for the negotiation process shifted from ITC to the regional organizations and led to the Inuvialuit Final Agreement in 1984and the Nunavut Final Agreement in 1993. 

 

Both these agreements provided Inuit with land ownership, rights to resources, capital transfer payments and a series of important co-management arrangements for lands, waters and renewable and non-renewable resources.

 

The Inuit of Labrador had been at the negotiating table for over 20 years. Events in early 2000 converged to bring the necessary pieces together to complete their land claims. The massive Voisey’s Bay Mining Project being one important catalyst. They succeeded in completing the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement in 2006. An important feature of this agreement is the creation of the Nunatsiavut Government and a Labrador Inuit Constitution.

 

The most recent and last piece of the land claims portrait for Inuit was the 2008 Nunavik Inuit Offshore Land Claims Agreement. It applies to the offshore region around Quebec, northern Labrador and offshore northern Labrador. 

 

These modern treaties have opened a new chapter in northern development. They govern how development will take place and define a role for us. They provide a more predictable and inclusive business environment and reinforce the great desire in the Arctic to achieve economic self sufficiency in ways that build our cultural values into the new economy.

 

In the midst of the settlement of land claims, we were also actively involved and key players in a series of Constitutional Rounds:

 

In 1981, a round of negotiations led by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau reached a patriation agreement that formed the basis of the Constitution Act of 1982. At the same time, Inuit created a body called the Inuit Committee on National Issues. It would be impossible for me in the time allowed to give justice to the immense efforts made by the key players on this committee. Suffice to say that the outcome was recognition of Inuit as one of the three aboriginal peoples of Canada, and affirmation of the aboriginal rights and treaty rights of Canada’s first peoples in the new patriated Constitution.

 

I should also point out that Inuit approached the patriation of the Constitution as not just an opportunity to draw attention, for the first time, to the identities, roles and rights of Canada’s aboriginal peoples. Inuit also viewed patriation as a means to create a stronger and better Canada for all Canadians. For instance, Inuit were early and consistent supporters of the adoption of safeguards for the fundamental rights of all minorities and of individuals.

 

Opposition in Quebec to the 1981 patriation package, of course, led to renewed constitutional discussion, beginning in the mid-1980s. The result was a series of proposals that became known as the Meech Lake Accord. Inuit and other Aboriginal groups inserted themselves into the process in an attempt to have matters such as aboriginal self-government included in the discussions.

 

The negotiations were focused on reaching an agreement to keep Quebec within the Canadian fold as one of the two “founding nations.” We were told that our concerns would complicate matters and distract from the focus of Quebec’s status within Canada and hence, the country’s survival. We were marginalized in the process. Passage of the Accord required unanimous consent of Parliament.

 

Who can forget the image of Elijah Harper, a Cree from Manitoba, holding an eagle feather sitting quietly as the lone voice repeating – no. His dissent was based on his belief that Aboriginal Peoples had not been adequately involved.

 

Following on the failure to ratify the Meech Lake Accord in 1990, and after intensive negotiations here in Charlottetown, Inuit representatives were active participants in the process that led to the Charlottetown Accord – the basis for a new constitutional agreement.

 

This Accord attempted to resolve long-standing disputes around the division of powers between federal and provincial governments. The Accord also contained something called the “Canada Clause,” which sought to codify the values that define the nature of the Canadian character. Included was the recognition of Quebec as a distinct society, approval in principle of aboriginal self-government and a time frame for future negotiations to give it form.

 

The Accord, as we all remember, was defeated in the ensuing national referendum, putting an end, perhaps for a generation, formal attempts to revise our Constitution in any major ways.

 

In November 2005, the then Liberal Government, provincial and territorial governments and National Aboriginal Organizations signed the Kelowna Accord along with a $1 billion package designed to deal with the profound gaps in health, education and housing that cripple aboriginal peoples and that shame our country. The Accord committed to the achievement of targeted outcomes and allowed for a high level of public accountability.

 

The incoming Conservative Government chose not to support the Accord. But that was not the end of the story. After much lobbying and effort on the part of National Aboriginal Organizations, Bill C-292 was passed, acknowledging the sound purpose and principles of the Accord, and the political and moral imperatives behind it. It was very encouraging to all Inuit that the majority of Canada’s elected representatives at the federal level stood up clearly for two things: overcoming gaps in aboriginal living standards, and honoring commitments made by Government of Canada. That said, the bill has never been implemented.

 

What challenges do we face – on our own and in common with other Canadians and all the peoples of the world?

 

Inuit are still struggling and paying a heavy price, for the legacy of colonization and the societal stresses that accompanied the rapid and intense changes in our lives. The pace of change in our lives has been breathtaking and has few parallels in the developed world. 

 

Sixty years ago, most Inuit were still living on the land, following the seasonal migrations of animals and conforming to age-old traditions of hunting and fishing, confident in their abilities and secure in who they were.

 

Today, we are experiencing youth suicide, violent deaths and substance abuse at record levels. We are reeling from these realities and struggling to find solutions and a path forward.

 

The reality that exists in many of our Arctic communities calls into question one of our core Canadian values – social justice. And yet, this has not made it to the forefront of policy discussions.

 

Let me give you just a few very graphic facts. Inuit face substantially lower educational outcomes than other Canadians; our housing conditions remain well below the Canadian standards; our health indicators continue to lag behind the rest of Canada; substance abuse plagues our families and communities; and – a very real consequence of all this – our suicide rate is 11 times the Canadian average, with young people grossly overrepresented in the numbers.

 

I ask you – is it acceptable for citizens of Canada to be suffering these conditions?

 

Facts such as these are sobering and can, if we are not careful, become paralyzing rather than motivating.We certainly do not believe that other Canadians are antagonistic or ill-disposed to us and we believe that there is a great appetite on the part of other Canadians to find creative solutions to our issues in ways that will benefit both us and Canada as a whole.

 

In that regard, I cannot overstate to you the importance of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s apology to Inuit and other aboriginal residential school victims last year in the House of Commons. It is a healthy society that learns from its past and resolves to make itself a better place.Inuit are confident that Canada is that kind of society and that Canadians have the needed generosity of spirit and strength of will to demand this standard.

 

And we are making progress. Unfortunately, the good news stories often do not make it into the media reports. So let me share some with you.

 

§     In April 2009, Governments, ITK and the Regional Inuit Organizations signed an Inuit Education Accord, which sets in motion a process to develop a National Strategy on Inuit Education to achieve educational outcomes for Inuit children comparable to all other Canadians, without sacrificing culture and language.

 

§     You will be pleased to know that Nunavut has developed a strong relationship with the University of Prince Edward Island. Educators at UPEI worked with the Government of Nunavut and Inuit educators to build the first ever Nunavut Masters of Education Program which graduated 21 Inuit students last June at a ceremony in Iqaluit. If there are representatives of the university present today, thank you.

 

§     Imagine our delight last fall when the Prime Minister appointed Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq as the new Minister of Health. Imagine being able to speak to a federal Cabinet Minister in our own language. Imagine finally having someone who knows first-hand the challenges we are facing in the Arctic as she speaks with her Cabinet colleagues.

 

§     At the regional level there are many important breakthroughs, including negotiated agreements with developers to bring employment and other economic opportunities; new self-government arrangements; developments in the arts; and the list goes on.

 

I would be remiss if I did not make mention, however, of a dark shadow looming over all of us – and looming large in the Arctic. Global Warming.

 

The urgency of mitigating the impacts of climate change grows with the almost daily news of unprecedented developments in our Arctic environment.

 

When US explorer Robert Peary mounted an expedition to the Arctic in 1906, he estimated that the Ellesmere Island Ice Shelf was some 9,000 square kilometers. Today the largest piece left is less than 900 square kilometers!

 

Put simply, the Arctic is melting, with dramatic consequences for all of us.

 

The ability to adapt has never been more important for Inuit than it is today. Environmental changes – of all kinds – are coming at a rate and to an extent that may exceed the threshold of Arctic peoples’ capacity to respond. Yet, Inuit are not content to be portrayed as the victims of climate variability and change; we want the opportunity to be part of the solution.

 

We have deployed some of our best and brightest to bring our message to the world. Two years ago, Sheila Watt-Cloutier was co-nominated with Al Gore for the Nobel Prize for their work on climate change. Inuit spokespeople tour the world calling for action. Just two weeks ago, I was speaking in Stockholm in preparation for the upcoming UN conference on climate change in December 2009.

 

Looking forward: What can Inuit contribute to Confederation?

 

Confederation is a family and, as in all families, we must each seek to support and rely on each other. Inuit society is built on the central importance of this value. Though shaken by events of the past decade, this sense of family continues to be our source of strength.

 

Inuit take great pride in the contributions we have already made since first acquiring the opportunity to speak to national audiences on national issues.

 

As discussed earlier, we have built a chain of contiguous land claims agreements that stretch across the Canadian Arctic from the Alaskan border to northern Labrador.

 

Through the creation of the Nunavut territory in 1999, we brought about the first change to the map of Canada since Newfoundland joined Confederation in 1949, and we have created the largest public government jurisdiction in the Americas that consciously builds on its aboriginal majority.

 

Nunavut also joins with Quebec as being the only member of the provincial and territorial club with a majority language other than English. Surely this says something positive about the flexibility and creativity of Canadian federalism.

 

Inuit were early and consistent supporters of the patriation of the Canadian Constitution in the early 1980s, including a Charter of Rights and the equal treatment of men and women in provisions relating to aboriginal peoples.

 

In 1980 and 1995 the Inuit of Quebec came out strongly for Canada in the two plebiscites held in Quebec with respect to Quebec sovereignty. As you recall, the “No” vote in 1995 was an extremely close one, and the massive Inuit vote in Quebec in favor of preserving the integrity of Canada and the rule of law was a crucial part of that thin margin.

 

We have stood up for Canadian sovereignty in the Canadian Arctic on many occasions, including on matters relating to the Northwest Passage and the ability of Canada to control all marine traffic through that Passage.

 

In recent years, we have been a creative contributor to the development of international institutions focused on the Arctic, having been active participants in the work of the Arctic Council since its inception.

 

Inuit constitute the bulk of the Canadian Rangers in active service in the Arctic. These Rangers form the backbone of the Canadian military’s ability to track events on the ground in the Arctic on a four-season basis.

 

It is our Inuksuk that was chosen to represent Canada as the symbol of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the Arctic is on the Olympic Torch route.

 

And of course, there is the matter of producing national hockey league players like Jordon Tootoo!

 

For the future, we look for new and ever more imaginative ways to play our part in contributing to, and celebrating, the Canadian federation

 

Looking forward: What can Confederation do for Inuit?

 

I can identify six actions that our Confederation, acting through the Parliament and Government of Canada, could do, and should do now, to strengthen the position and enhance the well being of Inuit.

 

Number one Show leadership and work with the rest of world to make real and reliable commitments to combat climate change. This should include a commitment at the federal level to help Inuit and Inuit communities address adaptation to the effects of climate change. The December 2009 UN Conference of Climate Change is the time to act.

 

Number two, in all its key assertions to sovereignty in relation to Arctic lands and waters, the Government of Canada should acknowledge the central importance of Inuit use and occupation of the lands and waters of Inuit Nunangat. Consistency in acknowledging Inuit use and occupation isn’t just a matter of effective advocacy before an international audience, it is also a matter of fundamental respect owed to Inuit.

 

Number three Government of Canada policy making for the Arctic must be built around the idea of a core partnership relationship with Inuit. The need for partnership with Inuit is even more compelling in the domestic policy context and this partnership must be more than tokenism or lip-service. Any Arctic strategy worth pursuing must put working with Inuit at its heart, not at the periphery.

 

Number four Partnerships that are not built on trust and mutual respect will always fail. Trust at its most basic level is built on a confidence that promises made are promises kept. Following the Government’s Apology for the Residential Schools I addressed the Canadian Senate and said:

 

 

Number five The Government of Canada cannot expect the world to give full respect to arguments built on Inuit use and occupation of Arctic lands and waters when Inuit continue to lag so far behind other Canadians in relation to education, health and housing standards.

 

The world will tie assertions of sovereignty to the treatment of aboriginal peoples and regard for key environmental considerations. Inuit know that the economic and social problems we face did not come about overnight, and will not be remedied overnight. We also know that sovereignty will not be enhanced if it ignores the basic material needs of the permanent residents of the Arctic or fails to understand that the alienation of the young is the surest way to undermine respect for the law and tolerance for others. In other words, sovereignty must begin at home.

 

Number six Partnership with Inuit in the Arctic cannot be divorced from the Government of Canada’s obligation to stand up for aboriginal rights everywhere. It is time for the Government of Canada to act in concert with the resolution adopted by the House of Commons and sign on to the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Canada, along with only three other countries, voted against adoption of the Declaration at the UN General Assembly.

 

The declaration is the best available tool to address the longstanding human rights violations facing Indigenous peoples worldwide. The Government of Canada should follow the example of other governments and institutions around the world and support its implementation.

 

And you, my audience today … how do you fit in all this?

 

I am conscious that our advocacy work must be directed to those law-makers and policy-makers who are in a position to chart the course of our country at the national level.

 

In the course of my public life, however, I have been fortunate to have worked on issues from a variety of angles, from within the Inuit organizational structure, in the capacity of a diplomat representing Canada, and as a member of various special-purpose commissions.

 

I have learned that an energized and well-informed citizenry is an invaluable ally. So I would like to close my lecture by sharing a few of my thoughts about some things that might fit within your understanding of what our Confederation needs.

 

First of all, it is sometimes said that those who mix law and politics end up with bad law and bad politics. However, in my experience those unwilling to mix law and politics often end up with stagnant law and dead-end politics.

 

Secondly, it is important that law not be allowed to lag too far behind politics. Of course, statutes and regulations of fundamental importance cannot, and should not, be changed on a whim, but we all need to feel confident that our political institutions offer a degree of flexibility.

 

To achieve this, politicians and citizen activists must be willing to think outside the box. This is particularly true in relation to something that is moving as quickly, and is of such crucial importance as climate change. The global community will need to invent new international law and policy, and supportive domestic elements, at an altogether different speed.

 

Thirdly, a focus on economic growth and the rights and privileges of commerce should not obscure the equal importance of compassion for the most vulnerable. In the context of climate change, the radical shifts needed in aggregate global carbon emissions will be unachievable in the absence of close attention to the basic needs of all human beings to adequate education, shelter, food and work.

 

The distressing and harmful gaps in basic material well being – decent education, health, and housing – that separate aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians will not be overcome by blind faith that the passage of time cures all ills or the universal efficacy of trickle-down economics

 

As Canadians, we must share the responsibility for affecting change.

 

As I said to the Prime Minister in the House of Commons after he delivered the Government’s apology on residential schools, and now I say to you:

 

 

 

 

My Arctic is your Arctic too. We are clearly all in this together. Let us make Confederation work for all of us. And, as a nation, let us pull our weight, and shoulder our responsibilities, as common citizens of a shared and interdependent planet.

 

Let me end here with a personal story.

 

I imagine for many of us there is a moment in our lives, often when we first become parents, that we recognize the power of the past in shaping our lives. For me it is the pull of the Arctic blueberry bush.

 

In the early part of every summer I find myself checking the bushes, trying to image what kind of season we can expect, watching the first berries ripen and then the delicious taste of the first berry of the year. This is where the magic happens.

 

As I grow older I have come to understand that with each passing season both the berries and the memories that linger through my mind as I pick grow ever sweeter.

 

Traveling up the George River in a freighter canoe, living in tents, hunting, fishing and running a dog team, early mornings with the ptarmigan laughing, spruce bows on the floor, the crackling fire, listening to the legends, ice fishing with Mom with the frost covering the fur on our parkas – all these memories are so, so sweet. This was our life and in every berry patch it remains so for me.

 

But as I pick, hard as I try to stay in the moment, invariably the glorious past gives way to the challenges of the present. Can we overcome the social and health problems that so plague our families and communities? Then, just as quickly, reservation turns to inspiration as I spot a promising new patch of berries, ripe and bountiful, and I know that someday, we too will reap a harvest of justice and fairness.

It has been a privilege and a pleasure addressing you today, and I thank you for your kind attention.