September 21, 2001

Abolish James Bay agreement, POV mayor says

Little help for disabled Inuit.

ALISON BLACKDUCK
Nunatsiaq News

Harry Tulugak.

---

(FILE PHOTO)

---

PUVIRNITUQ — Puvirnituq’s mayor says his constituents won’t negotiate Inuit self-government in Nunavik until the James Bay agreement is extinguished.

“We consider all the land above the 55th parallel as ours,” said Mayor Aisara Kenuajuak. “As you can see, we have no ‘category land’ because it’s all ours, including what’s underneath — that’s the main concern of people here.”

According to the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, the land-claim area is divided into three categories.

On Category One lands, Inuit have limited sub-surface rights to six inches of topsoil. In Category Two areas they have hunting and gathering rights. On Category Three lands, Inuit have no more rights than other Quebec citizens.

In a 1975 vote, Puvirnituq, Salluit and Ivujivik rejected the agreement.

Kenuajuak made his comments last week after Makivik Corp. representatives Lisa Koperqualuk-Uqaituk and Harry Tulugak hosted an information session in Puvirnituq about the Nunavik Commission’s final report.

The commissioners filed that report with Makivik’s leadership earlier this summer. The report outlines a tentative model of Inuit self-government in Nunavik.

At the beginning of last month, Makivik’s public relations staff mailed copies of the report to each Nunavik household.

Makivik’s leadership hired Koperqualuk-Uqaituk and Tulugak to travel to Nunavik’s communities to explain the report. The two are also asking Nunavimmiut for feedback about the report.

They began their work in Kuujjuaraapik Sept. 4 and are planning to finish Sept. 21 in Kangiqsualujjuaq. Puvirnituq is the fourth community they’ve visited.

Approximately 20 Puvirnituq residents attended the session, which was held in the conference room of the municipal council’s office.

“Are we not allowed to say no?” wondered Paulusi Novalinga, a municipal councillor. “Are we realizing that we [won’t] govern ourselves [until] we’re dead and in heaven? No, that shouldn’t be the case.”

Since 1983, Kenuajuak said, provincial government leaders have told Inuit that they won’t negotiate self-government until Inuit are united politically.

“When we wanted to negotiate with the Québec government [in 1983] René Lévesque said if all Inuit were together, they would start negotiating. But the Québec government doesn’t always agree. Why can’t we have our own government [with] opposition parties? It’s not right.”

Speaking in Inuktitut, Tamusi Tukalak told Koperqualuk-Uqaituk and Tulugak that he remembered when “white people” came to his community “to trample” him in 1952.

“He was talking about the arrival of nursing stations and schools,” said Koperqualuk-Uqaituk, who was raised in Puvirnituq by her grandparents. “He witnessed the first building being brought in by dog-team.”

Koperqualuk-Uqaituk and Tulugak said that Inuit in other communities are saying the same things as Novalinga, Kenuajuak and Tukalak.

They said that most of the feedback they’ve heard from Inuit is about sovereignty and accountability.

“It’s been interesting,” Tulugak said. “Many are saying that if it’s based on shared jurisdiction (with the provincial government) it’s not full autonomy — it’s not good enough.”

“(People are saying) that they want a government based on an Inuit foundation,” Koperqualuk-Uqaituk added.

Koperqualuk-Uqaituk and Tulugak said they understand the frustrations expressed by Novalinga, Kenuajuak and Tukalak, but refused to comment on whether those frustrations are valid.

“We’re getting feedback,” Tulugak said. “We’re not supposed to have opinions.”
However, both said the meetings are going well.

“They’re very well-informed,” Tulugak said. “A group of people in Inukjuaq formed a study group this summer. They were going over the report and coming up with questions to ask us or things about the report that they wanted to point out.”

Next month in Kuujjuaq, Inuit will tell Makivik’s leadership whether they support the self-government proposal outlined in the commission’s final report.

If Inuit approve the report overwhelmingly, Makivik’s leadership will start self-government negotiations in earnest with the federal and provincial governments.

Five delegates from each community in Nunavik will go to Kuujjuaq. Members of each municipal government will appoint delegates who work in local politics, health and education.