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Makivik quietly signs framework pact with Québec

After months of labour, Makivik moves ahead on new-government talks with province

ODILE NELSON

The Québec government and Makivik Corporation signed a framework agreement on a new government for Nunavik, with little media fanfare or public ceremony.

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Pita Aatami, the president of the Makivik Corporation, signs the framework agreement on a new government for Nunavik as Quebec premier Jean Charest looks on. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MAKIVIK CORPORATION)

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The agreement, which is the subject of both a pending court case and much debate in Nunavik, was signed by Pita Aatami, president of Makivik, and Benoît Pelletier, the Québec minister for Canadian intergovernmental affairs and native affairs.

"Mr. Jean Charest, Premier of Québec, received at his Montreal office Mr. Pita Aatami, President of Makivik Corporation, for a meeting during which leaders signed a framework agreement establishing the basis for negotiations between Québec and the Inuit, which will lead to the merging of certain institutions and the creation of a new form of government in Nunavik," a press release jointly issued by Makivik and the Liberal government read.

"This meeting with a representative of the Inuit nation...once again underscores the willingness of Mr. Charest to establish and maintain close relations with the Aboriginal people of Québec," it continued.

The federal government, the third party in the new government negotiations, must still sign the agreement. A Makivik spokesperson said she expected this would happen in the near future, but could not give an exact date.

Nunavik has been seeking a more autonomous relationship with the Québec provincial government since the region settled its land claims agreement with the provincial and federal governments in 1975.

But over the decades referendums on sovereignty, elections, labour disputes, and even natural disasters have derailed negotiations.

Formal negotiations for the Nunavik self-government framework began quietly in August 2002, after all three parties appointed members to their respective negotiating teams.

The first rumour that the framework agreement was nearing completion escaped in October 2002. But by the end of January 2003, negotiators had still not released the document.

Makivik negotiators then said the agreement would be finished by mid-February but this deadline also passed. Then, in mid-March, the former Parti Québecois government called an election, dissolving the National Assembly and leaving talks in limbo.

When the new Liberal government came to power in April, there was some question as to whether or not it would honour the previous government's negotiations.

To further complicate the matter, talks were proceeding under the threat of a court action brought by the Kativik School Board.

In November 2002, three months after negotiations began, the KSB filed a legal action against Makivik Corporation. The motion sought an immediate freeze to negotiations.

The school board claims Makivik negotiators never received a mandate to represent Nunavimmiut at the negotiating table, and that the birthright organization is acting illegally.

A Québec judge refused to grant a sudden stop to the new government talks, but he did permit the injunction to proceed through the courts.

Then in May 2002, Makivik went to Québec Superior Court and asked a judge to dismiss the school board's injunction. The judge is currently reviewing Makivik's request.

The KSB injunction still has the potential to retroactively negate the current framework agreement and any negotiations that stem from it.

But all delays and disputes were put aside last week when the Liberals honoured the former PQ government's commitment to a new government for Nunavik.

"Our government believes in the virtues of dialogue. One cannot hope to establish sound and constructive relations without first holding discussions between elected members," Québec Premier Jean Charest said.

The framework agreement is the first step in any aboriginal treaty process. It outlines the areas of discussion for future negotiations, and sets out a timetable for the completion of the process's next step, an agreement-in-principle.

The Makivik spokesperson said she could not release the agreement's details until the federal government signed it.

But the press release said the agreement "establishes a formal process for arriving at a final agreement dealing with the merging of the main institutions of Nunavik into a single entity."

"The agreement stipulates in particular certain leading principles, as well as a set of topics that should be the subject of negotiations. It also provides for the putting in place of a mechanism to consult the other aboriginal groups concerned and a new funding regime adapted to the merged organizations."

Though the final new government framework agreement was not released, the most recent draft available to the public divides the new government negotiations into two phases.

The agreement outlined the first phase, which includes the amalgamation of the existing administrative structures into one united body, and promised a second-phase that would explore what additional, autonomous powers the new structure will enjoy.

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