Highlights: Nunavut is the last of the three Canadian Territories (after the Yukon and the Northwest Territories) to obtain management of its lands and resources. Nunavut contains deposits of gold, precious stones, rare earths, oil and gas, which are now more accessible due to climate change. The transfer is expected to take three years. The agreement also provides for better representation of Inuit in government positions. It is also about sovereignty and the right of people to self-determination and to building a better future for themselves.

This Thursday, January 18, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed an agreement transferring control of its lands and resources to the authorities of Nunavut. Lands rich in minerals. A big…

Canada: the government of the territory of Nunavut will manage its lands and natural resources

This Thursday, January 18, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed an agreement transferring control of its lands and resources to the authorities of Nunavut.

Lands rich in minerals.

A great day for Nunavut, this territory in northern Canada, four times the size of France.

General view of the city of Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada, July 28, 2022. AFP - ANNE-SOPHIE THILL

By: RFI Follow

Nunavut is the last of the three Canadian Territories (after the Yukon and the Northwest Territories) to obtain management of its lands and resources - twenty-five years after its creation in 1999. Because if the Canadian Provinces exercise the powers granted to them by the Constitution, the Territories only have those that Ottawa is willing to transfer to them.

However, Nunavut contains deposits of gold, precious stones, rare earths, oil and gas, which are now more accessible due to climate change.

This shows that the signing of the agreement was eagerly awaited by the approximately 40,000 inhabitants, the vast majority of whom are Inuit.

Also read: Canada: Inuit block access to a mine to protest against its expansion

“

Nunavut is our newest territory, officially created only a few decades ago,”

said Justin Trudeau.

But its people, the Inuit, have lived there since time immemorial and have created prosperity, culture, communities and a future for themselves.
It is also about sovereignty and the right of people to self-determination and to building a better future for themselves in a complicated world.

»

Two million square kilometers of land and water will be transferred from the federal government of Canada to that of Nunavut, he added.

Extraction, conservation, royalty collection: “

Our lands and resources are now in the hands of our people

,” said PJ Akeeagok, Premier of Nunavut.

The transfer is expected to take three years.

The agreement also provides for better representation of Inuit in government positions.

A view of Apex, a community near Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut.

Marc Godbout, from Radio-Canada

Read alsoIn Quebec, the thorny question of taking indigenous practices into account in research

Canada: the government of the territory of Nunavut will manage its lands and natural resources

Canada: the government of the territory of Nunavut will manage its lands and natural resources

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