Though most of the people living in Nunavik are aware of the current negotiations for Nunavik Regional Government, we sometimes forget that the struggle for autonomy in Nunavik began a long time ago. In fact, part of this struggle goes so far back in time that Nunavik youth aren't able to remember it.
The following timeline highlights events that are precursors of the current Nunavik Regional Government negotiations. This "pre-negotiations timeline" was proposed by Martha Berthe of Tasiujaq. She suggested that it would be a good way to show young people like herself the beginnings of the Nunavik Regional Government issue and how it has evolved.
The voices of Nunavik elders were heard at this year's Elders/Leaders retreat held in Montreal, December 1-2. The six official elders, representing the elders of Nunavik, met with elected leaders and key advisors from Nunavik organizatons: KRG, KSB, NRBHSS, Makivik, as well as the President of Saputiit Youth, Saturviit Women and the LHC Association.
The meeting followed discussions from last year's meeting in Tuqsukattaq, where the theme was the well being of Nunavik and the future of its children. This year the main discussion centered around the situation of children in Nunavik and how to find a solution to the alarming rate of children being removed from their families. Communities need to work with Youth Protection to find alternative and local solutions.
In the fall of 2009 the two negotiators, Minnie Grey and Harry Tulugak, paid a visit to the Nunavimmiut post-secondary John Abbott students. After an enjoyable supper with the students, they gave a PowerPoint presentation on the latest developments of the Nunavik Regional Government negotiations.
The presentation informed the students on what has been worked on, gave them a history of the forty plus years of debate by the people of Nunavik, what is currently being done and what outcome is expected in the future. This presentation took a couple of hours.
Camp Tuqsukattaq Gathering
About a year ago, in September 2008, we organized a special consultation gathering of various elected leaders and key officers from the three Organizations to be amalgamated and from Makivik. During the three-day gathering, together we reviewed the entire structure of the NRG, its financing by Canada and Quebec, its electoral system and its labor relations with its future employees.
One year later, the negotiation process is in its final stretch.
We are presently in a process of completing a series of 4 documents:
1. The Final Agreement itself, the one that will be legally binding once it is ratified and from which the formal legislation creating the Nunavik Regional Government will be inspired,
A special edition of the Nunavik newsletter is now available. In this issue we do our best to answer the questions that we are frequently asked, in particular:
A very warm welcome to the website during this holiday season. We hope you've had a fruitful year and that you will be able to share some special time with friends and family. For those of you who are returning to the website we'd like to welcome you back! We hope you've found it informative and useful over the past year. Your interest in the negotiations is very important, and the input we've received from many of you is really appreciated.
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www.nunavikgovernment.ca
On this interactive website, you can express your opinions. Your comments are welcomed. Simply click on the "comments" link below a message and type away!
Here, you will find up to date information (news articles). There are also sections providing historical background, documents about the negotiations, photos, video clips and a glossary of important words.
The Nunavik negotiating team
