Thank you very much, and thank you, committee members, for inviting us here today. I am the executive director of the Nunavut Planning Commission. I've been with the commission for 12 years. Jonathan Savoy, you've met. Our legal counsel, Shane Hopkins-Utter, is with us as well.
We have given you a written brief, so we're going to just highlight points throughout so we can have a fulsome dialogue. For those who don't know about the commission, the Nunavut Planning Commission is an institute of public government. It was created under the Nunavut Agreement. The NPC has a broad mandate under the Nunavut Agreement and the NUPPAA legislation to develop land use plans that guide and direct resource use and development in the Nunavut settlement area.
The NPC's broad planning policies, objectives, and goals established in 2007 apply to the MPAs in the Nunavut settlement area. The NPC is presently working on the draft Nunavut land use plan, which is before the commissioners, and we continue to approve and implement regional land use plans, the North Baffin regional land use plan—which includes Lancaster Sound—and the Keewatin regional land use plan.
The commission performs conformity determinations on any MPA initiatives proposed in Nunavut. The commission is a member of the Nunavut Marine Council. In the commission's consultation process, we have learned that planning for the use and protection of the marine environment and the marine wildlife is highly important to Inuit and their rights under the Nunavut Agreement.
Inuit want sustainable economic development and want employment opportunities. To clarify our recommendations, recommendation number one is for ongoing research on whether MPAs have positive economic impacts. Inuit want food security, and a strong economy, one that respects our culture and our traditions.
Jonathan.