Building Nunavut: A Story of Inuit SelfGovernment The Northern Review #1 (Summer 1988):59-72.) by Peter Jull [Jull Opus Main Page] nunavut The aboriginal organisations funded by Ottawa have changed the character of the north and of Canada. In the NWT they were the first aboriginal public bodies which could tackle territorywide and national issues. In spite of, or perhaps because of, territorial government hostility, they became rallying points for aboriginal opinion. And while the territorial governments excluded aboriginal employees form policy or management levels, despite many directives insisting on greater aboriginal hiring, the organisations provided them work and great opportunities for social and political action. Very quickly Ottawa recognised de facto that NWT politics, opinion and political legitimacy were divided between the legislature and the aboriginal associations. Great care was taken to balance these interests, and Ottawa through the Trudeau and Clark government years played a role of active neutrality: its goal was to secure a social, economic and political development in the north which would provide equality between aboriginal northerners and the newer arrival. In particular, Ottawa resisted territorialgovernment attempts to secure devolution of powers and budgets, seeing clearly that these would consolidate the position of, and otherwise benefit, the whites while largely leaving aboriginal northerners aside. The NWT government is something of a marvel. Its history deserves to be written and written carefully before it all, soon one expects, passes into the past. Essentially it is the greatest Canadian monument to progressive programming for an underdeveloped area, and the boldest attempt at total government ever seen in this country. It was the designed to respond humanely to the poverty and isolation Canadians saw in the north, and to deliver southern standards of living conditions to the most remote icebound hamlets. It cut corners to upgrade living standards quickly, and the main corner cut was the viewpoint of the aboriginal residents. This administration concentrated expertise to solve northern problems, to bring the good things from the south to the north. It was a directed effort, and was specifically designed to | |
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