May 28, 1993

On May 25, 1993, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Nunavut Tunngavik President Paul Quassa signed the Nunavut land claims agreeement. Mulroney delighted the crowd with at enthusiastic attempt at speaking Inuktitut.

Tungasugitti Nunavummi! Welcome Nunavut!

JIM BELL
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — Five men and one woman sat down together in Iqaluit one day this week to write their names on a piece of paper.

And when they had finished, the people of Nunavut had all but joined the Canadian family.

"Welcome Nunavut," Prime Minister Brian Mulroney declared on May 25, as more than 700 excited onlookers at Iqaluit's Inuksuk High School and tens of thousands of Canadian television viewers watched him sign the Nunavut land claims agreement.

"This is a great day in the history of the North, in the history of Canada," Mulroney said. "You have waited a long time for this moment and you have waited patiently. Now let us resolve to build on this achievement to advance together . . ."

Tunngavik President Paul Quassa, Tunngavik first vice-president James Eetoolook, NWT Government Leader Nellie Cournoyea, Ammituq MLA Titus Allooloo and Northern Affairs Minister Tom Siddon also put their names on the deal.

Iqaluit residents roared with delight when Mulroney began his speech in Inuktitut: "Quviassuktunga tikigama nunavumut." ("I'm happy that I've arrived in Nunavut.")

Mulroney also displayed the cutting wit that has charmed and enraged Canadians since 1984. He made fun of the people who scolded him last week for going on a boar hunt with Russian President Boris Yeltsin. "I was attacked for going hunting . . . just wait until those journalists come to Nunavut."

And Mulroney revealed the direct role he played in getting the land claim deal finished during eleventh hour negotiations in mid-December of 1991. At that time he said he received a phone call from Northern Affairs Minister Tom Siddon, who told him Inuit negotiators wouldn't accept the agreement unless Ottawa promised to create a Nunavut territory.

After that phone call, Mulroney gave his blessing to Article 4, a section of the agreement that would lead to the Nunavut Accord — the political deal in which Ottawa has promised to pay for the creation of Nunavut. And he praised Siddon for pushing it through.

"You really have no idea what an accomplishment it is to get this kind of agreement in this kind of economic climate through the government of Canada," Mulroney said. "I was of course sympathetic to what was going on, and from time to time it is not unhelpful to have the prime minister on your side. But I can tell you that without Tom Siddon's tenacious leadership we would not be celebrating this remarkable achievement here today."

Although he won't be prime minister in 1999, Mulroney said he wants to attend Nunavut's birthday. "I plan very much to be part of the official celebration, so Mr. Chairman, save me a seat."

John Amagoalik, the master of ceremonies for Tuesday's event, won a round of applause when he welcomed Mulroney "to my little corner of Canada."

He went on to say that the Nunavut deal is more than just an exercise in national expansion.

"For the first time since 1949 when Newfoundland joined Confederation, the map is going to change," Amagoalik said. "It is also more than just changing the map. It means the nation of Canada, if it wants to, can come to terms with people who call this country their motherland."

And the Nunavut pact is also an example for the rest of the world, Amagoalik, said. "We are showing that complex issues can be resolved at the table rather than with artillery and machine guns . . . It is only fitting that the prime minister put his signature on these historic documents, which history will judge as a good day for Canada."

As for the man who will go down in history as the northern affairs minister who helped make the dream of Nunavut come true, Tom Siddon harkened back to his trip to Igloolik in April 1990. That was when negotiators unveiled the Nunavut land claim agreement-in-principle.

During his stay Siddon made a midnight trip to the floe-edge with Paul Apak. "I asked Paul how he knew where he was going and he said, 'It's simple — you look at the snow.' And I said, 'yes I see snow, lots of snow.' And he said 'Look again at the snow. In the snow you will see the direction to go.'"

"And, of course, as the wind blows patterns in the snow, the Inuit have navigated and survived and flourished in this land for thousands of years, with very little, but with a great deal in their hearts, with a great deal in their hearts, now to share it with all Canadians."

Nunatsiaq MP Jack Anawak said in an interview after the ceremony that Tuesday "was very much a historic day. This is a day of realizing the dreams and aspirations of Inuit . . . and 1999 will soon be here."

But Anawak said that now, more than ever, the people of Nunavut must embark "on the road to healing" if the new territory is to be a success. "It (the Nunavut agreement) still doesn't solve the social problems that have been caused by trying to cope with years of rapid social change," Anawak said.

"While we are going through the process, let's take care to make sure we do it right and that we're healthy in spirit and in body."

Two new laws — the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claim Settlement Act — may now go before Parliament. DIAND official Jack Stagg had said earlier in the day that should happen either this week or next.