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November 6, 1992

On October 31, 1992, just a few days before Inuit beneficiaries were to cast ballots in the November 3, 4 and 5 vote to ratify the final Nunavut land claims agreement, officials from the GNWT, TFN and the federal government signed the Nunavut Accord in Iqaluit. The Nunavut Accord contained the basis for the Nunavut Act, committing Ottawa to the creation of Nunavut. On April 1, 1999, Nunavut's first legislative assembly will hold its first session in the same place — just as John Amagoalik predicted.

"Today Canada is here to say Yes to Nunavut"

JIM BELL
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT — John Amagoalik pointed his silver ball-point pen at the balcony overlooking Iqaluit's Inuksuk High School gymnasium.

And then he went back, back to a time when he was just another young man and yet another impossible young man's dream was born inside his heart.

"I remember back in the early 1970s when I was a student here, standing up there and watching the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories on this floor. And I remember saying, 'One day we are going to be there, to make our own decisions about our people and our land.' That day is almost here."

The children of Nunavut hooted and whistled and stamped their feet.

Amagoalik and seven other Inuit and government officials had come to scribble their names onto the Nunavut Accord. They had come to remind the people that only one more mountain stands between them and the Promised Land — the land claim ratification vote on November 3, 4 and 5.

Ballots will be counted November 12. If Inuit say No, the Nunavut Accord will die.

Most of the young high school studens who witnessed last Friday's Nunavut Accord signing ceremony weren't even born when the idea of Nunavut was conceived nearly 20 years ago. They reserved one of their loudest eruptions for Iqaluit MLA Dennis Patterson, who announced that Education Minister James Arvaluk had let them off school for the day.

But many of them were still old enough to take part in this week's vote. And the assembled politicians did their best to make sure that they, and all other eligible Inuit voters, saw the link between the Nunavut Accord and the land claim agreement.

"They (the land claim agreement and the Nunavut Accord) are two essential building blocks which will lead to a brighter future for the young people of Nunavut," Northern Affairs Minister Tom Siddon told them.

Sporting a gold inuksuk-shaped Nunavut pin in one lapel and a red and white Canadian flag in the other, Siddon made no secret of the federal government's burning desire for a Yes vote this week.

"I'd like to say thanks to Inuit for such a resounding Yes to Canada on October 26. Today Canada is here to say Yes to Nunavut," Siddon declared.

He went on to say that the negotiations last December that produced the final land claim agreement nearly foundered on the issue of political development.

He said it was his last-minute personal intervention that led to the inclusion of Article 4 - the land claim provision in which the federal government promised to negotiate the Nunavut Accord. "I decided it had to be done."

"We are just about there," Siddon, holding his thumb and forefinger a fraction of an inch apart. "The one remaining piece to get us there is the ratification decision next week. That is your decision."

So said all other speakers. Amittuq MLA Titus Allooloo, the chairman of the Nunavut caucus in the NWT Legislative Assembly, said that although Canadians were overwhelmed by the thought of voting in one referendum, Inuit had to vote in three this year.

"So far the answer has been Yes. I hope this reflects a trend that carries through next week," Allooloo said.

Most other speakers used the occasion to heap praise upon one another.

James Eetoolook, the acting president of the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut, turned to John Amagoalik, who pursued the creation of Nunavut even in the days when no one else seemed to care about it, and called him "the father of Nunavut."

"Many politicians came and went, but John remained," Eetoolook said.

As for NWT Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stephen Kakfwi, Eetoolook praised him for "courageously urging people in his region to support the boundary plebiscite."

"Mr. Kakfwi has long been a friend of Nunavut," Eetoolook said.

And to Tom Molloy, the federal government's chief negotiator for the TFN claim, Eetoolook said "his honesty and integrity throughout the process has earned us all the deepest respect."

Eetoolook also sent a message to the people of the new western territory, with whom, he said, the Inuit are parting in friendship and respect. We wish you Godspeed in realizing your dream of Denendeh," he said.

Not everyone joined the party. Nunatsiaq MP Jack Anawak, a vociferous critic of the TFN land claim agreement, last week dismissed the exercise as a public relations gimmick.

But for John Amagoalik and all the other young dreamers of the 1970s who are now turning white-haired and paunchy, it was a moment to savour.

"We are here because for a long time we have believed in a dream," Dennis Patterson said.

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