After nearly 25 years as a territory, Nunavut is expected to sign a devolution agreement Thursday with the federal government.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to arrive in Iqaluit Thursday to sign the agreement alongside the territorial government representatives and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.
The signing of this agreement essentially transfers responsibility of Crown lands and waters from the federal government to the territorial government.
The details of the agreement have not been released publicly, but will be available once the agreement is signed.
The prime minister is expected to land in Iqaluit Thursday afternoon and sign the agreement shortly after.
Nunavut’s devolution has been a long process. In the 1960s, Canada began transferring decision-making control to the territories for areas of government such as healthcare and airports.
In 2019, the governments of Canada and Nunavut, as well as Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., signed an agreement in principle, which set a deadline of three years to settle outstanding issues, and five years to reach a final agreement.
At that time, land and water management — including resource development — was one of the final areas of negotiation.
Transferring responsibility for land and water would also make Nunavut responsible for Crown land in the territory. That land is currently managed by government of Canada employees. At the time of the agreement in principle, it was expected that those employees would be given the option to follow their job to the government of Nunavut or be transferred to another federal job.
Nunavut passed the next hurdle, an agreement-in-principle outlining the main issues, in 2019
A final devolution transfer agreement was negotiated and, Thursday, is set to be signed by all parties
Then the groups put together legislation and mechanisms to implement the agreement.
Finally, those are implemented through a “series of legislative changes to be approved through Parliament and mirrored in the Nunavut Legislative Assembly.”
TORONTO – Ontario is pushing through several bills with little or no debate, which the government house leader says is due to a short legislative sitting.
The government has significantly reduced debate and committee time on the proposed law that would force municipalities to seek permission to install bike lanes when they would remove a car lane.
It also passed the fall economic statement that contains legislation to send out $200 cheques to taxpayers with reduced debating time.
The province tabled a bill Wednesday afternoon that would extend the per-vote subsidy program, which funnels money to political parties, until 2027.
That bill passed third reading Thursday morning with no debate and is awaiting royal assent.
Government House Leader Steve Clark did not answer a question about whether the province is speeding up passage of the bills in order to have an election in the spring, which Premier Doug Ford has not ruled out.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
