Around
Nunavut
July 11,
2003
French cruise ship
coming to Iqaluit
The French cruise ship Le Levant is scheduled to sail into Iqaluit on
July 22, when about 90 well-heeled passengers will disembark to catch a charter
flight from Iqaluit to Toronto the next day.
For $7,995 per person, the tourists enjoyed a 15-day cruise that took them
to St. John's, Hebron, Akpatok Island, Cape Dorset and Kimmirut.
They're staying in 45 well-appointed staterooms finished with inlaid wood and
equipped with marble bathrooms. As is traditional in the passenger ship industry,
they'll enjoy a gala dinner hosted by the captain before leaving Iqaluit.
July 11, 2003
Interim funding deal
reached for Nunavut boards
Negotiators with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the Government of Nunavut, and the
Government of Canada reached a deal on July 8 to pay for the operations of Nunavut's
various environmental management boards for one year.
That means that their failure to create a new implementation contract for the
Nunavut land claim agreement won't affect the ability of those boards to carry
out their jobs - at least until March 31, 2004, when the interim deal expires.
Known in bureaucratic circles as "IPGs" or "Institutions of
Public Government," the affected entities includes bodies like the Nunavut
Water Board, the Nunavut Impact Review Board and the Nunavut Wildlife Board.
For the past 10 years, the IPGs have been funded through provisions contained
in the implementation contract for the Nunavut land claims agreement.
That contract, which expired on July 9, 2003, set out who was responsible for
doing what in carrying out the terms of the Nunavut land claims agreement, including
the operation of the IPGs.
Talks on a new implementation contract have foundered over a major disagreement
on how much money Ottawa should spend to implement Article 23, the provision
that deals with the hiring of Inuit by government.
NTI and the GN want Ottawa, within the terms of a new implementation contract,
to spend between $10 million and $20 million a year on training and other educational
activities related to Article 23.
Although their decisions may be vetoed by territorial or federal cabinet ministers,
the IPGs are generally responsible for creating environmental regulations affecting
water use, land use and wildlife management in Nunavut.
Their members are appointed by the minister of Indian and northern affairs,
from lists supplied by NTI, the GN, and various other government agencies.
The Nunavut Arbitration Board, which adjudicates disputes related to the land
claims agreement, will also get interim funding under the deal announced on
July 8.
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