National Defence committee  We certainly recognize that the present Prime Minister has gone north more than any other prime minister in the past. We were disappointed with the first two or three times he was up there. He never met with Inuit leaders. He never mentioned the Inuit in his speeches. We were cur

National Defence committee  Historically the relationship between the military and the Inuit has been almost non-existent. During and after the Second World War, the military had a big presence in the Arctic. It had a big presence in those early days. That also included the American military, in places like

National Defence committee  Overcrowded housing, as you have described it, is a condition in some of our communities, and 18 or 20 people are living in three-bedroom houses. Of course that's not acceptable. It creates tension among families. It poses a health hazard to the people living there. As far as H

National Defence committee  First of all, I don't see how opening up the passage for commercial use could deal with the high cost of living. The very first concern of Inuit living in that region is to make sure the passage is environmentally protected, because Lancaster Sound is recognized by the internati

National Defence committee  Regarding the use of nuclear submarines, battleships, we don't want to militarize the Arctic. We don't want the Arctic to become a contest between powerful countries like Russia and the United States. As I said, we want recognition of the passage as internal waters so that it w

National Defence committee  The kind of relationship we will have with the Government of Canada is described by the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. That's number one. As far as opening up the area for economic development, oil and gas, mining, and that sort of thing, if it's going to help our communities the

National Defence committee  All of those things--health, education, economic development. They're all important issues to our people. You probably know that suicide rates are extremely high, eight or nine times higher than the national average. As I said, education achievement levels are still very low. T

National Defence committee  If the eventuality of commercial use of the Northwest Passage is to come, we want to be involved in how it happens. But first of all, we want to make it very clear to everyone that, as we said from the beginning, the Northwest Passage is internal waters. That is a position we are

National Defence committee  It's our feeling that questions about sovereignty and about development always come back to the implementation of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. In important issues like sovereignty, we hope that the Government of Canada will recognize that implementing the land claims agreem

National Defence committee  The Government of Canada is consulting much more than they used to. I think many departments used to just keep doing whatever they had been doing for years and years out of habit, but in the last 10 years I think the different government departments have begun to realize that the

National Defence committee  The apology has always been part of our position. When we approached the Government of Canada to negotiate this compensation package, it included an apology. As I said, we worked out the compensation side of the agreement but the apology was just left hanging. No further discussi

National Defence committee  If I remember my statistics correctly, I think the last figure that we saw and we heard on the news was that approximately 32% of Inuit students make it through high school. As to post-secondary education, that percentage is even smaller. I think it's down to the mid-teens. Pos

National Defence committee  It's the type of thing that takes years and perhaps generations to work out. We need more Inuktitut teachers. We need better infrastructure in our communities. We need things like harbours and wharves and hydro development. The way to assert Canadian sovereignty is not necessar

National Defence committee  We have no university in the north. If anybody wants to go to university, they have to come south. We do have a post-secondary program called Nunavut Sivuniksavut, which operates here in Ottawa and is extremely successful. But all university students have to come south because th

National Defence committee  Most of them return. I think a very high percentage of students who come south for education do come back north to live. The problem they face down here is homesickness. They miss their food, they miss their families and friends. So that's the most difficult part of living down h