December 14, 2007
Around Nunavut
NTI hires Akitsiraq grad
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. has hired Sandra Omik, a graduate of the Akitsiraq law class, as legal counsel.
Omik, 34, started work Dec. 3 at NTI, where she will help interpret the implementation of the Nunavut land claim agreement. It's a big change from her previous job for the last two and half years, working as a public prosecutor in the Nunavut courts.
A big reason why she took the new job, she said, is to spend more time with her 11-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son.
She hopes the new job will also let her follow her interests in human rights.
But moving away from her field of expertise, criminal law, wasn't easy. She said she didn't apply to work for NTI after graduating because she felt "inadequate." Even after several years of work experience, when she applied for the job, "I felt so scared," she said.
Omik was formerly the chief commissioner of the Nunavut law review commission. In 2002, Maclean's magazine named her one of Canada's leaders of tomorrow.
Kugaaruk gets bowhead hunt
Kugaaruk residents will be able to hunt a bowhead whale this August or September.
The community, also known as Pelly Bay, won out over eight others. Kugaaruk residents were to hunt a bowhead last year, but the hunt was cancelled.
Bowhead hunts are only held every few years, as the animal is considered an endangered species. The last hunt was in Repulse Bay in 2005.
Bowhead whales grow up to 20 metres, and live as long as 200 years. Their numbers plummeted dramatically due to hunting by commercial whalers in the 19th and 20th century.
A 1991 study put the number of bowheads in the eastern Arctic at less than 1,000. Around Baffin Island, only 350 whales were believed to be left, compared to an original estimate of 11,000 whales in the area before commercial whaling began.
A gatekeeper who lets everyone in
The Nunavut Planning Commission may complete a land-use plan for the territory in "three to five years, if partners are on side," says its executive director, Sharon Ehaloak.
The NPC is supposed to serve as the "gatekeeper" to Nunavut's environmental regulatory system, Ehaloak told Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. at its recent annual general meeting, held in Rankin Inlet Nov. 27 to 30.
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The NPC does this by checking proposed projects, such as mines, against a land-use plan, which sets broad guidelines of what type of activity is appropriate across the territory. A plan may, for example, ban mining in or near important hunting grounds.
But since the NPC's inception in the early 1990s, and after numerous public meetings, it has had little luck meeting its original goal of developing six regional land-use plans.
Only two presently exist, for the Kivalliq and North Baffin. This means that, as a "gatekeeper," the NPC lets almost everyone through the door, on to the next regulatory body, the Nunavut Impact Review Board.
Planning talks have bogged down, Ehaloak told NTI, because of disagreements among partners, who include the Government of Nunavut, the federal government, NTI and regional Inuit associations, over the details of these regional plans.
So, in 2006, the NPC decided to instead create a broad, Nunavut-wide plan, which the two complete regional plans would be folded into. Disputed details would be left out of this plan.
The broad planning policy, which would help shape this Nunavut-wide plan, was approved by NPC's board in November.
Funding isn't everything
"We need funding."
It's a constant refrain, often heard at gatherings such as the NTI annual general meeting week.
But there may be something more difficult to find than hand-outs in Nunavut. It's volunteers.
Several members said it's hard to find Nunavut residents willing to help a good cause for free. Most people expect money.
"It's difficult today, because people want to be paid for their services," said Jesse Mike, youth coordinator for the Qikiqtani Inuit Association.
"A lot of people refuse to do stuff without being paid," said Jose Kusugak, former president of Inuit Tapariit Kanatami.
Kusugak also said, contrary to other opinions expressed at the meeting, "there's a lot of money for youth," offered by many organizations.
But to get that money, youth groups may need dedicated volunteers to help tap into funds.
Red tape doesn't help. Joshua Kango of Iqaluit said he isn't allowed to take kids out on his boat because he doesn't have an outfitting licence.
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