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Inuit, Métis at odds over Labrador land claim deal

Dispute threatens creation of new political entity resembling Nunavut

SARA MINOGUE

Labrador Inuit voted "yes" to a land claims agreement that would pave the way for a new political entity similar to the government of Nunavut, only to find that Labrador Métis plan to challenge the deal in court.

Seventy-six per cent of voters said "yes" to the agreement in a vote on May 26.

A total of 3,719 Labrador Inuit cast ballots in the election, representing about 86 per cent of eligible voters. Fifty per cent plus one of the eligible voters had to vote yes to ratify the deal. An abstention was counted as a "no."

William Andersen III, president of the Labrador Inuit Association, called the deal a "blueprint for the future, one that needs to be lifted off the page and translated into actions, policies and structures."

But the Labrador Métis Nation has thrown a wrench into that plan. The LMN is in the process of filing a legal challenge to the Supreme Court of Newfoundland.

The Inuit land claim area overlaps a Métis claim filed in 1991, which includes virtually all of Labrador south of Nain. Yet Canada has never officially recognized the Métis as a group with traditional land title, and the future of the claim is uncertain.

The Labrador Métis Nation also takes offense to LIA's claim to represent the last Inuit land claim in Canada.

The LMN represents 6,000 people of mixed Inuit and non-aboriginal heritage. The LIA represents 5,300 Inuit in northern Labrador.

In the past, the federal Department of Justice has suggested that Labrador Métis seek membership in the LIA.

Despite the dispute, the LIA hopes to move forward. The deal would give Labrador Inuit control over their culture and language, traditional land use, co-management of resources, and provisions for economic development and ocean management.

It also comes with a $140 million capital transfer from the Government of Canada, to be paid out over 15 years. The government will pay a further $156 million for the implementation of agreement.

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the federal government have yet to ratify the agreement, but have expressed their commitment to the deal.

Once that happens, the LIA will act as the transitional government until elections are held to form the Nunatsiavut ("our beautiful land" in Inuktitut) Government, according to the Labrador Inuit Constitution, which was ratified by 66 per cent of Inuit who voted in a 2002 referendum.

The Nunatsiavut Government will manage Inuit rights and benefits from the agreement, and have the power to make laws relating to cultural affairs, education, health, child and family services and income support, and to establish a justice system.

An elected president will lead a 16-member assembly that represents seven Inuit constituencies. Six of these are within the land claims area, while the seventh represents beneficiaries outside of the settlement area.

Anyone with 25 per cent or more Labrador Inuit ancestry can sign up as a beneficiary. This could include Labrador Métis.

Individuals who settled in the land claims area before 1940, or are descended from someone who did, are also eligible.

Beneficiaries living outside of the settlement area will have the same rights to fish and wildlife as Inuit inside the area.

The new government will receive 25 per cent of provincial mining tax revenues from subsurface land resources in Labrador Inuit Lands, which make up about 21 per cent of a land area the size of Ireland.

The government will also collect five per cent of provincial sub-surface resource revenues from Voisey's Bay, which lies outside of the settlement area, but which may be included when the project ends.

As in Nunavut, the Inuit government will have the right to negotiate impact and benefits agreements before new developments go ahead in the settlement area.

Fiscal agreements with the Newfoundland and federal governments will be negotiated every five years.

The deal also creates Torngat Mountains National Park Reserve, Canada's newest national park, covering 9,600 square kilometres on the northern tip of Labrador.

The legislative capital will be Hopedale, while the administrative capital will be Nain.

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