Thank you, sir, for that question.
Just as a background point, members may recall that I was here a few weeks ago with Mary Simon, the president of ITK. I actually split my time between the ITK and NTI. The Inuit practise a very effective form of federalism, and that's why I'm able to do those two things and work for the two organizations at the same time.
In terms of your particular question, yes, NTI brought a comprehensive court case in 2006. That court case asserts that the crown, represented by the Government of Canada, is in breach of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement on 39 different points. The case is before the courts, so you will understand why I don't want to offer too much detail.
In terms of the most important issues in the case, I will bring two to your attention.
The first is that article 23 in the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement says that the crown has to work with the Inuit to try to make sure that the workforce in Nunavut reflects the population, so that there is a representative workforce in the public sector. Of course, by working on that on the public sector side, you also create education and skills for the private sector. So according to the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, the federal government should be working towards a workforce in Nunavut that is 85% Inuit. Since 1999 the ratio of Inuit in the government workforce in Nunavut has been below 50%. What's more disturbing is that the number is not increasing.
There was a mediation report done by former Justice Thomas Berger. In the spring of 2006, he recommended specific training and education measures that all parties should adopt. Nunavut Tunngavik endorsed the report within weeks of it being made public. Unfortunately, the crown has essentially gone sideways on it. We don't yet know whether the Government of Canada will commit to the Berger mediation report. It was the frustration at the lack of response to the report that actually triggered the commencement of the lawsuit.
The only other thing I'll add, if I have another moment, is that the dispute resolution system is not working in the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. It's not working in any of the major land claims agreements. The Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal Peoples completed a report last year that stated that the implementation policy of the federal government should be fundamentally revised and that there should be an objective way of resolving disputes so people don't have to go to court.
In the case of Nunavut, NTI has referred 17 different issues for arbitration, and the federal government has rejected all 17. From NTI's point of view, this isn't a very satisfactory way of conducting business. On the other hand, when litigation is the only option available, that's the option people are compelled to use.