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No one talked about sovereignty or the partition of Quebec, as Premier Lucien Bouchard came North to sign several handout agreements with Nunavik organizations.
JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News
KANGIQSUALUJJUAQ Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard's visit to Kangiqsualujjuaq this week may signal the start of warmer relations between Quebec and Nunavik.
Last Tuesday, Makivik Corporation President Zebedee Nungak told Bouchard he's not losing sleep anymore over the prospect of an independent Quebec, despite his long-standing criticism of Bouchard's sovereignty movement.
Meanwhile, during his visit Bouchard urged people in Nunavik not to try and solve all the world's problems, and to put aside all "negative" ideas, such as the partition of Quebec.
Over the summer, Ottawa and Quebec City have been waging a war of words over Ottawa's suggestion that those regions of Quebec whose residents wish to stay in Canada may be partioned from regions whose residents wish to separate.
But no one wanted to talk about the partition issue during Bouchard's visit.
Nunavik wants self-government talks
Instead, Nunavik leaders told Bouchard they want to move ahead once more with self-government negotiations.
They suggested that a new body, with appointees from various Nunavik organizations and government bodies, could discuss how to revive a process that fizzled after the 1995 referendum on sovereignty.
If talking with Quebec can produce results, Nungak says this kind of dialogue can"t hurt.
"Does it work for us? Does it work for our people and our territory?," asked Nungak. "If it does, we will pursue it."
The recent visit to Kangiqsualujjuaq was Bouchard's first official visit to Nunavik, and the first by any Quebec government leader since 1984.
Shaking Bouchard's hand
Bouchard's arrival in Kangiqsualujjuaq was reason enough for celebration, as residents turned out in force to shake his hand.
Young students at Satuumavik School came out to try out the French they're learning in school.
The Parti Québecois leader brought along an entourage of Quebec provincial government cabinet ministers and deputy ministers to meet with representatives from the Kativik Regional Government, the Kativik Regional Development Council, and the Makivik Corporation.
"We have a common future," the Premier told the gathering. "We have so much to work on."
Those who participated in a two-hour official meeting behind closed doors called the discussions "positive," "optimistic," "fruitful," "civil" and a "solid step forward." Observers said Nunavik's housing crisis, transportation problems, and the need for more wildlife monitoring were among the topics they discussed.
The Quebec government also signed three major agreements with the KRG.
"It's about arranging our relations," said Bouchard. "You have rights we want to recognize."
Various hand-out agreements
The framework agreement on development now gives the KRG's development council a larger role in acting on regional priorities. Its 15 recommendations are designed to boost Inuit culture, language, education and employment.
Another deal, worth $200,000 a year, formally recognized the creation of the Nunavik Tourism Association.
The mining industry will also get $1 million a year for three years. This money is supposed to encourage Inuit to get involved in the mining industry through education, training and creation of joint ventures.
Chevrette likes the warm and fuzzies
Guy Chevrette, Quebec's minister for natural resources and regional development, said he's delighted with the warm reception given to the government team.
"Now there's a kind of understanding where before there was aggressivity," Chevrette said.
He said that's because his Quebec government has shown it wants to carry through on its promises.
The officials left Kangiqsualujjuaq to continue on to the James Bay region for a visit of the hydroelectric facilities there.
But before heading South, the Quebec government plane dipped close above the water to give Bouchard a look at some huge icebergs.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsHealth Minister Kelvin Ng is ordering six of his senior bureaucrats to take a look at the Baffin and Keewatin health boards.
DWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT NWT Health Minister Kelvin Ng has ordered a review of planned changes to the way two Nunavut health boards have decided to offer medical services.
Ng, who announced the review this week after meeting with mayors and Inuit leaders in Rankin Inlet, said he wants assurances that recent changes proposed by the Keewatin and Baffin regional health boards won't affect medical services.
"If I do find that's the case, then I will intervene," Ng said.
"But as it stands now, we are fairly comfortable that they are moving in the right direction as a result of having to make these types of decisions to try to improve service and to try to be a bit more efficient in the provision of the services."
Report by Sept. 26
Six senior bureaucrats from the GNWT's Department of Health, including Ng's deputy minister Dave Ramsden, will conduct the review. They've been asked to report directly to Ng by Sept 26.
"I want it done in a quick, timely fashion, within the next couple of weeks, because some of these changes are contemplated for October 1st, which is just around the corner."
Both Keewatin and Baffin health boards have come under fire from critics in recent weeks for choosing to end long-standing relationships with southern medical institutions.
Earlier this year the Keewatin Regional Health Board (KRHB) broke off talks with the University of Manitoba's northern medical unit, which has provided the region with general and specialized health services for years.
A contract with McGill University to deliver specialist services to Baffin residents ends Sept. 30, but the Baffin Regional Health Board has yet to decide on a contract with the Ottawa Heart Institute to supply those services after that date.
The minister said he wants to know, specifically, how the boards can provide these health services during the transition periods.
"I guess there's concern about, first of all, whether or not there's still going to be the services available. The other issue is the pace of change," Ng said.
Dismayed by what they believe to be lack of public consultation by the Keewatin board, hamlet councils in Rankin Inlet, Arviat and Baker Lake have already said they want to leave the regional health board.
Won't deal with conflict allegations
But Ng said the health-board review won't deal with the issue of consultation. Nor will the report address conflict-of-interest allegations, which have been swirling around Elizabeth Palfrey, the chair of the Keewatin board.
"I'm not so concerned with conflict of interest. I mean I am concerned, but this review is more primarily focused on the medical services. That's where the general feel I get of the concern area is right now," Ng said.
The announcement of the review comes two weeks after Kivallivik MLA Kevin O'Brien publicly requested that NWT commissioner Helen Maksagak conduct a public inquiry into the activities of the Keewatin Regional Health Board.
The commissioner has not yet made a decision to act on the request.
Ng said he has received support for the review from both health boards.
"Both the chairs I've spoken to, Ann Hanson and Betty Palfrey, accept us taking a look at how they plan to change over from their current practice."
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT Baffin health board officials who appeared before Iqaluit town council Tuesday night were on the defensive about a recent decision to sever ties with McGill specialists in Montreal.
Ann Hanson, chair of the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Board, and Pat Kermeen, the board's chief executive officer, fielded questions from Iqaluit town councillors about the Sept. 30 termination of the Baffin's 30-year relationship with the McGill-Baffin program.
"I take full responsibility for this initiative about Montreal services," Hanson told council. "I'm fully to blame and Pat is not at fault."
Hanson was reacting to a question from Councillor Kenn Harper about whether the decision to sever ties with McGill was made by the board or by the board's administrators.
At the end of the month, the Baffin board will no longer contract specialist services from McGill in the same way it has in the past. At the same time, the board is pursuing a new deal with the Ottawa Heart Institute, where Baffin patients are already being referred.
Right now, no Baffin patients are being referred to specialists in the North.
Mayor Joe Kunuk said he's spoken with a number of people who've expressed concern about the future of specialist services because of the move from Montreal to Ottawa.
Nunatsiaq News paparazzi?
"That comes from getting information from the paparazzi of the North," Kermeen rebuffed, referring to a story in last week's Nunatsiaq News about the move.
Kermeen said some Baffin residents will still be referred to Montreal specialists, though this will no longer be co-ordinated through the McGill-Baffin program.
"I"m not paying co-ordinators in McGill to find physicians for me," Kermeen explained.
Councillor Harper was dubious about the suggestion that interpreters would take on a larger role with patients in Ottawa, acting as social workers or physiotherapists.
"I'm dismayed to hear that because some interpreters want to work as social workers, you're agreeing to this," Harper told Kermeen. "I'm not impressed with that aspect of your plan."
Poor communication?
Citing a letter by Dr Gary Pekeles that appeared in last week's Nunatsiaq News, Harper questioned the lack of communication between the board and Dr Pekeles, the director of the McGill-Baffin program, before the decision was made to sever ties with the Montreal service.
Kermeen said she met repeatedly with Dr Pekeles during the past year, but felt the board's concerns were being ignored.
"It took almost a year working with them to get any movement to decide we were serious," Kermeen said, adding that the reality of losing hundreds of thousands of dollars has awakened their interest. "They're unhappy because they're going to lose $400,000."
She said with the overhaul of the southern specialist service from McGill to the Ottawa Heart Institute, the board expects to save about $450,000, mainly in administration costs.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsEmployees at the Baffin region's home away from home in Montreal now face an uncertain future.
JIM BELL
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT Baffin region hospital patients will have a place to stay in Montreal after Sept. 30 but no one can say for how long.
Baffin House, the Baffin region's 20-bed patient home in Montreal, will stay open for the forseeble future, said Rosalie Edwards-Dupre, Baffin House's nurse manager.
"How our service will continue, and whether or not the staff will remain in the numbers they are now, will, of course, depend on the number of patients who will continue to be referred to us," Edwards-Dupre said.
"But it's a very loose time-frame that I've been given, and it may or may not hold true," Edwards-Dupre said.
As of September 30, the McGill-Baffin program, under which Montreal medical specialists provided serves to Baffin residents, will end.
Baffin health officials say they'll replace the service with a new deal they're working out with the Ottawa Heart Institute.
But it's still not clear when that service will start. The Baffin board is supposed to talk about the new contract at a meeting later this month.
Right now, the Baffin board has no medical specialist services.
They say, however, that doctor-patient relationships involving McGill-Baffin specialists will be "grandfathered" in the new deal.
That means patients who want to keep longstanding relationships with certain specialists in Montreal who know their medical histories will still be able to see those doctors.
That also means that for now Baffin House employees will continue to see Inuit patients from Baffin.
"After Sept. 30, we'll be open and receiving patients, but we've been told there won't be any new referrals down our way," Edwards-Dupre said.
As for how many people will continue to work at Baffin House in the future, Edwards-Dupre said she doesn't really know.
"I would assume we would not be staffed at current levels if decreasing numbers of patients are coming down, but there is nothing written in terms of time-frame or planning," Edwards-Dupre said.
Baffin House opened in December of 1985, after Baffin patients had complained for years about inadequate patient accommodations in Montreal.
Before then, Baffin patients usually stayed in low-budget hotels and guest houses.
Right now, Baffin House employs four interpreters, one driver, a half-time manager, a liaison nurse, a housekeeper-cook, three "dietary-housekeeper aides," and three night security people.
Edwards-Dupre said she doesn't know what will happen to those people after more Baffin hospital services are provided by Ottawa institutions.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT A new Iqaluit town council to be elected next month would have the power to overturn a decision made in July to locate Nunavut government buildings in downtown Iqaluit.
"They'd have to look at the consequences if they overturn that decision," said Mayor Joe Kunuk, who steps down from that post next month, when a new mayor and council are elected October 20.
Kunuk, along with Tagak Curley, president of the Nunavut Construction Corporation (NCC); Eliot Roger, an official with federal public works and government services; and Ian Mosher, Iqaluit's municipal engineer, fielded questions from a crowd of about 100 residents who turned out for a meeting last Thursday evening.
The focus of the meeting was to discuss issues such as increased traffic, road access, and pedestrian safety as Iqaluit grows into its role as Nunavut's capital, but many people wanted to rehash a July town council decision to locate new government buildings in the downtown area.
Pitsiula Akavak, chair of the community wellness organization Illitiit, told the panel that council's decision was short-sighted.
"Our children will be blaming us for this mistake... for the havoc we're creating," she said.
Some who spoke said locating two large government buildings near the Parnaivik building downtown will congest the area, reduce residential property values, increase vehicle traffic, and endanger pedestrians, among other complaints.
Council and mayor criticized
Speaker after speaker during the evening criticized Mayor Kunuk and his council for not getting public input before the process was so far along.
"I think we waited too long for this public meeting," Apex resident Alicie Joamie said. "You should have had it prior to deciding where the building would be located."
NCC's Tagak Curley said there's no time now to revisit decisions that have already been made.
He was especially frustrated with the suggestion that a new council could overturn the July decision which gave the go-ahead to locate the new government buildings downtown.
"There are legal consequences in decisions being made by the municipality," Curley challenged. "We have exactly 18 months to open Nunavut government in Iqaluit. Anyone attempting to delay that process is going to have to accept that Nunavut will not have facilities at that time."
Curley was also quick to defend council's decision after one speaker suggested that some councillors voted for the site because they stood to gain personally.
Conflict-of-interest denied
"It wasn't a wide enough selection of council to truly represent the Town of Iqaluit as a whole," said resident Hal Timar.
Councillor Kenn Harper, a well-known businessman, denied he was in a conflict of interest when he voted on the motion.
"It's generally a thankless task being an elected official in a municipality, but we do it," Harper said. "I have always declared a conflict of interest when there was the suggestion of personal gain."
But the issue of location was far from settled. As the night wore on, so did the complaints. Some speakers even believed the meeting was simply a process and not an honest effort to hear community concerns.
"I'm getting the feeling we're not being listened to," said Becky Mike, as the meeting inched towards midnight.
Markus Wilcke, the vice-chair of Illitiit, wanted assurances from the panel that community concerns would be an integral part of the development.
"Is it irreversible... to perhaps reverse the decision to truly take into consideration what's been said here?"
Following mandate
In an oft-repeated statement, Curley said his mandate is to follow the direction given by council.
"I can only go by the parameters and direction given to us by council," he said. "We've been relying on the wisdom and leadership of the council. We should respect the democratic process."
There are a number of hurdles left for NCC and federal officials to clear before construction can begin on the buildings.
Town council must rezone the area from residential to commercial. Federal officials have yet to submit an impact statement to the Town on the effect its building will have on the municipality with repect to snow drifting, wind, parking and traffic flow.
NCC has no designs for the buildings and the federal Treasury Board has not yet approved funding. NCC is also negotiating with Kakivak, a subsidiary of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, to use part of its lot for the construction project.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsLEEVEDE ATAGOYUK
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT Members of the GNWT's student financial assistance panel heard an earful of complaints from students at Nunavut Arctic College's Nunatta campus in Iqaluit last week.
The five panel members are Chairperson Louise Vertes, Ruby Jumbo, Jason Lepine, Judy Anilniliak, and Wendy Colpitts. They're in their final leg of public hearings looking into how to reshape the GNWT's student financial assistance progam.
They've recently held hearings in Inuvik and Yellowknife. In Iqaluit, residents gave a piece of their minds about how they felt the student financial assistance should be revamped.
Going hungry on financial assistance
One student from Pangnirtung who doesn't want her name publicized said that she has to lie to her kids when they have meals.
She said she had already eaten when in fact she didn't because her financial assistance payments were late in arriving and she was having trouble making ends meet.
A big concern that students expressed was that in the Baffin, assistance payments are always late, creating harships for many students especially single parents.
Regional administration?
Many suggested that a project officer who understands the program inside out be located in Iqaluit so that students can ask questions directly instead of calling Yellowknife.
Also, students agreed there should be some sort of coordination between different agencies who provide funding support to students.
One student in the Nunavut Teacher Education Program said student financial assistance has been a three-year headache for her.
Rosie Kupeuna from Holman Island said there was an overpayment on her salary, and she couldn't get financial assistance because of government policy.
"I received my holiday pay and when it was time to go back to school, SFA turned around and said I can't receive any funding because there was an overpayment," Kupeuna said.
Kupeuna said she feels the GNWT is contradicting itself when it allows the student financial assistance program to get in the way of a good education.
Individuals, education councils and Inuit organizations had been invited to submit reports to the panel.
It's now up to Dent
After the panel submits its report in October, Vertes said it will be up to Education Minister Charles Dent to decide where to go next.
"It has definitely helped the panel to hear and understand the concerns of students. We've been hearing different experiences of parents, spouses and students about some of the heartaches of SFA." Vertes said.
The GNWT's student financial assistance program has been criticized by the Auditor General of Canada, who in 1994 said there was concern about the sustainability of the program, its results, and management of the program's costs.
Since 1990, there has been rapid growth in the numbers of students accessing the program and, as a result the cost of the program.
In 1990-91 1,107 students recieved $7.5 million in grants, loans, and scholarships.
In the 1995-96 academic year 2,052 students got $15.5 million.
Back to TopFirst 21 communities will be wired by the new year, as planned, Ardicom chief Ken Todd says
DWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT Ardicom Digital Communications Ltd. is ready to put its concept for the NWT's information highway to the test.
The consortium formed by Arctic Cooperatives Ltd., the Northern Aboriginal Services Company (NASCO) and Northwestel is currently awaiting delivery of special switching equipment built by Northern Telecom.
When the order arrives, the equipment will be put together and tested in Yellowknife before being shipped to communities this fall.
Ken Todd, Ardicom's general manager, said the project fell a few weeks behind schedule this summer, but the first 21 communities slated for connection to the two-way, high-speed digital communications network will be connected before year's end.
Iqaluit, Hay River, Rae-Edzo the first
"We'd initially hoped to have Iqaluit, Hay River and Rae-Edzo completed by mid-September. That's not going to happen now. It's going to be more like the first week of October," Todd said.
Ardicom is under contract by the GNWT to connect 58 communities in the Northwest Territories to the network, which will support such information services as videoconferencing, telemedicine, distance education and the Internet.
Arctic Co-operatives Ltd., meanwhile, is preparing to offer municipal-area network services via coxial cable, which could increase communication speed to 10 megabits per second locally.
Ardicom will provide its services either through the Arctic Co-op's cable network, or, in some communities, through Northwestel's telephone network.
Which communities get the faster delivery of data will depend on how much the GNWT is willing to spend on access for schools, hospitals, nursing stations and government offices.
Up to the GNWT
That decision will likely be made after the departments of health and education have finished mapping out the kind of services they want, and how they'll be distributed.
"The issue will be to what extent does the GNWT want to invest in that kind of opportunity in specific communities," Todd said.
"We have been having discussions with GNWT and there is some interest in that in a couple of the locations. In other locations it would probably be 1.544 megabits per second."
Once it's up and running, Ardicom's frame-relay network will be available to local Internet service providers, too. They will be offered access to Ardicom's larger capacity "information pipelines" into the communities, which in turn could boost the quality of service to individual clients.
Todd said Internet providers will be able to choose between a 64-kilobit pipe and a 128-kilobit pipe.
Ardicom's frame-relay installation in each community will contain two main components: a so-called Passport switch, built by Northern Telecom, and a unit called a frame-unit access device or FRAD, which converts conventional data traffic into frame-relay format.
The Ardicom equipment is to be installed in each community alongside Northwestel's telephone switching stations, Todd said.
Back to TopSeptember
Banks of grey
Rolling in from the
horizon,
Screams of red and
yellow
From the nearby hills,
The sea is dark
And chilling to the bone.
The fish has gone upstream
The bull is fat.
Berries are bursting with juice.
Far off hills are covered
With an early blanket of white.
The grey in Okalik's coat is
almost gone.
The summer's crop of young geese
Have headed south.
The young buntings will stick around
for a while.
The Raven is fat
And ready for winter.
The kids are back in school
The streets seem almost bare.
The stores are decorating for Halloween
Almost two months from now.
When they put away the pumpkin
A Christmas tree will appear.
Somewhere, there are
bombings
Somewhere, there are
slaves
Somewhere, there is
hatred and anguish
Somewhere, there is
hunger and drought.
Here, five weeks from
now
There will be Hockey
Night in Canada
Thank God for our
peace.
THIS CORNER QUOTES
"I only say of her that in a dark time she is a burning and shining light; in a cruel time, a living embodiment of Christ's gospel of love; in a godless time, the Word Dwelling among us, full of grace and truth,"
Malcolm Muggeridge on Mother Teresa
Back to TopAn open letter to the people of the Baffin region:
From the medical and surgical specialists of the Mcgill-Baffin program:
For 31 years, McGill University medical specialists have been providers of highly experienced care for the people of the Baffin region. Specialists have visited Iqaluit and settlements on a regular basis seeing and treating patients and when necessary transferring them to Montreal hospitals.
Those patients have ranged from very sick infants requiring neonatal intensive care, to older patients with complicated medical and surgical problems. The quality of care provided to the people of the Baffin region has been the best available.
On September 1, 1997 we received a letter sent on behalf of the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Board advising us that our specialist physician contract would not be renewed and would terminate on September 30, 1997.
We were also informed that your Board had decided to enter into a contract with the Ottawa Heart Institute to develop specialist services for you. Needless to say we were all very disturbed and upset by this sudden unilateral move.
We are and remain very concerned over your welfare during this period of transition since continuity of your medical care is essential.
We would like to assure our Baffin patients that we will still be available to provide any care you might need after September 30, 1997, and will always maintain professional contact when requested.
Dr. Vincent Arlet, Pediatric Orthopedics
Dr. Andrew Hreno, Surgery
Dr. James D. Baxter, Otolaryngology
Dr. John Little, Ophthalmology
Dr. Thierry E. Benaroch, Pediatric Orthopedics
Dr. John Oliver, Urology
Dr. Samuel Benaroya, Internal Medicine
Dr. Gary Pekeles, Pediatrics
Dr. Kenneth Bentley, Dentistry
Dr. Gordon Roberts, Dentistry
Dr. Leora Berkson, Rheumatology
Dr. Barry Silver, Opthalmology
Dr. John Burgess, Cardiology
Dr. Wayne Carey, Dermatology
Dr. Michael Churchill-Smith, Emergency Transport
Dr. Larry Coughlin, Orthopedics
Dr. Jean de Saint-Victor, Gynecology& Obstetrics
Dr. Michael Flounders, Ophthalmology
Dr. Daniel Gendron, Neurology
Dr. Michael Paul Gosselin, Ophthalmology
Dr. John Hinchey, Surgery
Dr. Marc Paquet, Pediatric Cardiology
Dr. Melvin D. Scholoss, Otolaryngology
Dr. Gordon V. Waters, Pediatric Neurology
Dr. Richard Menzies, Respirology
To whom it may concern:
We, the patients and escorts in Baffin House, strongly object to the proposed transfer of medical specialist services from Montreal to Ottawa.
We believe it is in the best interests of the patients' health and welfare that they continue to be treated in Montreal. The people who started the process of the transfer to Ottawa have not studied the case and are not thinking of patients' well-being.
We don't think those who are proposing the transfer even know how well patients and escorts are currently taken care of here at Baffin House, and by doctors in Montreal.
We feel we have the best doctors here in Montreal. They have been caring for Inuit for a long time. If the transfer goes ahead, you don't know how devastating this will be for Inuit and the doctors who care for them.
Please let the people of Nunavut have a full say before you go ahead with your final decision.
Thank you.
Rhoda Qanatsiaq, Igloolik
Tiraq Ottokie, Cape Dorset
Nala Michael, Kimmirut
Annie Michael, Kimmirut
Joachim Alaralak, Igloolik
Moshie Gendron, Iqaluit
Johnny Piallaq, Hall Beach
Annie Natsiapik, Iqaluit
Reepa Qiyuapik, Iqaluit
Elisapee Kasarnak, Iqaluit
Elisapee Doucet, Iqaluit
Ooloosie Tikivik, Kimmirut
Reconciling the irreconcilable?
Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard may believe, no doubt, that his visit this week to Quebec's Inuit region will create the kind of goodwill that his separatist government has been hungering for in aboriginal Quebec.
Since 1995, when 95 per cent of Cree and Inuit voters said no to Quebec independence, Bouchard's government has laboured mightily in an attempt to show that Quebeckers whose descendants didn't arrive on leaky boats from Normandy also have a place in the hearts of his government.
That likely explains the $1 million his government is throwing at the Nunavik mining industry, and the $200,000 they've dumped into a Nunavik tourism association.
Residents of cash-poor, welfare-dependent regions like Nunavik will always smile and coo for any government leader who arrives on their land with an open check book. But if Bouchard and his separatist allies believe that this generosity will win the allegiance of Nunavik's aboriginal residents, he's kidding himself.
Time after time after time, Quebec's aboriginal residents have insisted that they and their lands would stay in Canada if other Quebec residents decide to separate.
If a majority of Quebeckers decide to leave Canada, the only logical and fair response to this position is an ugly one: the partitioning of Quebec.
"Partition" is an ugly word with an ugly history. The use of partition to reconcile the irreconcilable ethnic and religious conflicts of the 20th century provides us with a history that is soaked in the blood of the innocent. Mindless unending wars in places like Ireland, Palestine, Bosnia and Cyprus are just a few examples of the ugliness with which the partitioning of nation states is commonly associated.
Sadly, Quebec sovereigntists are still in state of denial about the likely partioning of an independent Quebec despite the fact that recent polls have shown even a majority of Québecois would support the idea if Quebec were to become independent.
But the partioning of Quebec is not only a logical and fair response to the aspirations of Quebec's aboriginal people. It's also the only logical and fair response to the aspirations of Quebec sovereigntists.
However, Bouchard and his allies don't want to admit to the people of Québec that only a geographically and culturally diminished nation and perhaps a more violent one would emerge after Canada keeps what is Canada's. If Bouchard were to honestly admit that, Quebeckers would never vote for sovereignty.
It's no wonder then that Bouchard this week urged Nunavik leaders not to talk about the real issues that divide his government and the Inuit leadership sovereignty, and the partioning of Quebec's aboriginal regions from an independent Quebec.
But Quebec's aboriginal people aren't fooled by Bouchard's sunny ways.
Quebec's natural resources minister, Guy Chevrette, has recently endorsed a plan to establish what would be a predominately francophone community on Cree lands in Radisson, Quebec. A Cree assembly has already denounced the plan, as they've denounced a previous plan to rename 101 lakes in the rerion with French names.
Nunavik's Inuit, who have just agreed to revive self-government talks with Bouchard's government, won't be fooled either. They know that money and smiles can't reconcile the irreconcilable. JB
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Last updated
September 12, 1997
E-mail comments to: nunat@nunanet.com