Nunavut: The Construction of a Regional Collective Identity in the Canadian Arctic

Abstract

In 1999, a new political entity emerged in Canada. The Nunavut1 Territory was carved out of the Northwest Territories (NWT) on April 1, 1999 (Legare 1998a, 1999; Dahl et al. 2000). It is the largest political unit of Canada, covering one-fifth of the Canadian land mass, 2,121,102 km2. Nevertheless, this vast geographic area is sparsely inhabited by only 27,000 people, a majority of whom are Inuit (82 percent).2 Nunavut's tiny population is scattered among twenty-seven far-flung communities with great distances in between; the capital Iqaluit is the largest community, with only 5,000 people. Nunavut was first proposed in February 1976 by the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC), the institution representing the political interests of Canadian Inuit. The Nunavut proposal (ITC 1976) was aimed at settling the outstanding aboriginal rights of the Inuit of the NWT. The basic idea behind the proposal was to create a territory within which the vast majority of people were Inuit. u In Canada aboriginal rights are rooted in aboriginal title. This title is recognized in the historic British document known as the Royal 3 65 Proclamation of 1763. According to British law, aboriginal title arises from long and continuous use and occupancy of the land by aboriginal peoples prior to the arrival of European colonial powers in North America. It is a form of property rights. The Royal Proclamation recognized this title and requires that the Crown (i.e., the federal government) settle outstanding aboriginal title rights through a land-ceased