Nearly 25 years after Nunavut became a territory, it has signed a final agreement with the government of Canada to have the final say over a long list of decisions that were, until now, usually made in Ottawa.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier P.J. Akeeagok and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Aluki Kotierk signed the agreement at a ceremony in Iqaluit this afternoon.
It’s the largest land transfer in Canada’s history, Trudeau said — two million square kilometres of land and water.
Throat singers share a laugh after singing during the opening of Thursday’s devolution ceremony. (CBC)
The 239-page document outlines how Canada will give control over Nunavut’s land and resources to the government of Nunavut — a process known as devolution.
The agreement officially begins April 1, and the parties will have until April 2027 to get it all done.
“It’s high time. It’s a turning point for Nunavummiut,” said Paul Quassa, a former Nunavut premier and land claims negotiator.
Speaking just before the signing, Trudeau called it a “historic” day.
“A lot of work has gone into making today possible,” he said. “Leaders, negotiators, officials of many stripes have all worked hard for many years for the same goal: for Nunavummiut to have increased control for decisions on their land, waters and resources.”
Nunavut first become a territory in 1999, and has slowly been negotiating with the federal government to have the final say over how many decisions are made. That’s a process that both the Yukon and N.W.T. have undergone, as well.
One final area to be negotiated for Nunavut was land and water management, which covers resource development. That negotiation process began in 2008 and the territory signed an agreement-in-principle on devolution in 2019.
Quassa was part of the land claim negotiations that created Nunavut. The signing of devolution, he said, is something he’s imagined for a long time.
“It’s like honey, I guess — it’s sweet,” Quassa said. “This is something I’ve looked forward to since the day we started negotiating with the Nunavut government.”
Paul Quassa says Nunavut’s signing of devolution is ‘high time.’ (Kieran Oudshoorn/CBC)
The devolution agreement also finalizes the terms for transferring administrative control of Nunavut’s Crown lands and resources to the territorial government, and outlines the conditions of the post-transfer period.
As of the transfer date, government of Canada employees whose jobs become territorial responsibilities, and who work in Nunavut, will be offered jobs with the territorial government.
For its part, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. will be in charge of a post-devolution human resources strategy, to ensure Inuit are hired to fill roles within the Nunavut government.
Right now, the government of Canada makes all the final decisions for the development of minerals, oil and gas on Nunavut’s public land.
Devolution will change this, giving Nunavut the final decision-making authority.
“We’ll decide our own future,” Premier P.J. Akeeagok said. “Before this, it was Ottawa who had the final decision over whether a project would advance.”
Premier of Nunavut P.J. Akeeagok meets with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, not shown, in his office on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Monday, Oct. 24, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang (Justin Tang/CP)
It will also give the Nunavut government greater authority to collect royalties from development projects.
Is Nunavut ready?
Joe Savikataaq, Nunavut’s premier from 2018 to 2021, said Nunavummiut likely won’t see any immediate change now that devolution has been signed.
“It won’t happen overnight,” Savikataaq said. “They don’t flick a switch and we just take over responsibilities tomorrow. It will be a long, drawn out process.
“It’s another step in Nunavut growing up,” he added.
Joe Savikataaq is a former Nunavut premier and current MLA for Arviat. (Ashley Burke/CBC)
Savikataaq also pointed to the Nunavut government’s longstanding struggle to fill vacancies in its various departments and its failure to meet its Inuit employment goals.
He said taking on more staff, and adding new departments, will be difficult but that it needs to happen.
“If we weren’t ready, then we shouldn’t have been negotiating,” he said.
Quassa agreed.
“This is something that we had envisioned,” Quassa said. “We are becoming an important player within Canada.”
Akeeagok said it’s about time decisions for Nunavummiut are made by Nunavummiut.
“Will it be challenging? Absolutely,” Akeeagok said. “We’ve always had a vision of Nunavummiut making decisions for their future.”
President of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. Aluki Kotierk shakes hands with Canada’s then-Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett and Nunavut’s then-Premier Joe Savikataaq after they signed the devolution agreement-in-principle in 2019. (Sara Frizzell/CBC)
A deal 25 years in the making
As part of the transfer, Nunavut will receive an additional $85 million a year from the federal government. Canada will also provide one-time funding to the territory: $67 million for transitional activities, and $15 million for training.
It also means several pieces of legislation will need to be altered or repealed to give power to the Nunavut government.
That includes repealing or replacing the Nunavut Act, a federal law, to give the territory control over public lands and rights to waters.
Public lands include any onshore lands that currently belong to the government of Canada, and includes beds and bodies of freshwater, minerals, oil, gas and buildings and structures
The Nunavut legislature’s power will also be expanded to include the management of lands and resources in Nunavut, including laws about the exploration and exploitation of non-renewable resources.
It also means a territorial minister will be the final decision-maker on project proposals under the Nunavut Planning Act
Savikataaq said he also pushed for negotiating on offshore resources at the same time. The final agreement states that those negotiations will begin post-signing.
“Some of those negotiations were tough,” he said.
Savikataaq, who represents Arviat in the Legislative Assembly, also urged the government to transfer some of the jobs created through devolution to other Nunavut communities.
“Not all the jobs should be going to Iqaluit. We should be seeing jobs in communities,” he said.
N.W.T.’s devolution agreement took effect in 2014. Yukon’s took effect in 2003.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
