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Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart responds to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples with a federal action plan.
JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News
OTTAWA - Canada's new Indian Affairs minister made what Ottawa hopes will be the first halting steps this week toward a new relationship with Canada's aboriginal peoples.
Jane Stewart, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, held an eagle feather in her hand as she asked for forgiveness from aboriginal leaders gathered in Ottawa, promising them action on several longstanding issues.
On Wednesday the Chrétien government finally responded to the report tabled by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) in November 1996.
"The time has come to state formally that the days of paternalism and disrespect are behind us and that we are committed to changing the nature of the relationship between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people in Canada," Stewart told native leaders.
Statement of reconciliation
The highlight of the minister's address was what Ottawa is dubbing a "statement of reconciliation" and was followed by details of a new Aboriginal Action Plan, which will include the the creation of a $350 million "healing fund."
This money will go toward community-based healing programs to deal with the legacy of physical and sexual abuse aborignal Canadians suffered in the residential school system.
Inuit, First Nations and Métis, along with health and social professionals, will decide how to distribute the money.
The statement of reconciliation acknowledges the role Ottawa played in the development and administration of residential schools, such as the Sir Joseph Bernier Federal School in Chesterfield Inlet.
"Particularly to those individuals who experienced the tragedy of sexual and physical abuse at residential schools and have carried this burden believing that in some way they must be responsible, we wish to emphasize that what you experienced was not your fault and should never have happened," the statement reads in part. "To those of you who suffered this tragedy at residential schools, we are deeply sorry."
Marius Tungilik, head of Human Resources for the Nunavut Interim Commission and a former student in Chesterfield Inlet, said he welcomed the apology.
"It's been a long time coming," Tungilik said. "I hope that the people who went to the schools will consider the spirit in which the statement was given."
The apology also acknowledges the contributions that Inuit, First Nations and Métis have made to Canadian society.
It further recognizes past actions by the federal government eroded the political, economic and social systems of aboriginal people.
"The Government of Canada today formally expresses to all aboriginal people in Canada our profound regret for past actions of the federal government," the statement reads.
New action plan
The new Aboriginal Action Plan, called "Gathering Strength," aims to boost political, economic, cultural and social health in native communities.
Aboriginal language programs will benefit from the new plan. More money for social housing is also in store.
"Working with our partners at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, we'll speed up repairs to housing and build new houses according to community needs and priorities," Stewart promised.
Reforms are also in store for the welfare system as money shifts to job creation and economic development.
Not everyone happy
The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), Phil Fontaine, embraced the announcement as the beginning of a new partnership between Ottawa and native peoples.
But other native leaders weren't as convinced.
The Métis, Native Women's Assocation and the Congress for Aboriginal Peoples called the government's apology "weak." They said that the response to the RCAP report was narrow and that there hadn't been enough consultation beforehand.
Okalik Eegeesiak, President of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada ITC), noted there was no mention of Arctic relocations in the statement of reconciliation or any distinction made between Inuit and First Nations people.
"We are unique," Eegeesiak said. "We hope actions will respect this distinctiveness."
Just a beginning
Faced with these criticisms, Minister Stewart later said that the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development would continue to work with Inuit and Métis on resolving specific issues.
This promise satisfied Mary Sillett, past ITC president and the only Inuk commissioner to sit on the Royal Commission.
She said that Ottawa's repsonse to the Commission's report should be lauded as a serious attempt to deal with many of the rreport's recommendations.
"It's a good way to begin a new year," Sillett said.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsNunavut leaders will get their first look at Interim Commissioner Jack Anawak's implementation plan for Nunavut's government next week, and try to find out from Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart if they can afford it or not.
ANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT - Although political leaders say they agree on the Nunavut Implementation Commission's decentralized model for a Nunavut government, Nunavumiut may have to brace themselves for a less expensive kind of government.
The NIC's Footprints model calls for locating Nunavut territorial government offices in eleven Nunavut communities in an effort to spread jobs throughout the unemployment-plagued territory.
It's up to Nunavut's Interim Commissioner, Jack Anawak, to implement that model. That's a taxing job in itself, given the ever-shrinking time frame before division of the Northwest Territories, but it may be down-right impossible without funding.
"All the federal government has said up to now is they agree in principle," says Goo Arlooktoo, the minister responsible for Nunavut transition planning.
Will Ottawa commit the money?
Whether or not the federal government is ready to commit the needed millions is a question expected to be answered by Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart at next week's Nunavut leadership summit in Iqaluit.
"What I'll be looking for from Ms. Stewart is a certainty of funding," Arlooktoo said.
Arlooktoo and three Nunavut caucus MLAs will meet with Stewart and Nunavut Tunngavik President Jose Kusugak next Tuesday and Wednesday.
Decentralization and financing discussions will focus around a work plan that Anawak will present. That document will detail his schedule for setting up the Nunavut government.
Changes to the plan?
"It's the first time the parties will see Mr Anawak's plan," Arlooktoo said. "It's long overdue. As with any plan, there'll likely be changes," he added.
Nunavut's MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell is expecting some frank discussion on that plan, which she says should pacify Anawak's critics.
"I think we'll see some concrete things come out that will hopefully put to rest all the rumors that have been flying around for a while," she said. "I think it will be good to get some positive, concrete action plan that people can look at. Hopefully that will calm a few skeptics out there."
Arlooktoo said that along with that plan, he'll looking for assurances from the interim commissioner that "action is taking place" within his office.
But how leaders react to that document and what they have to say to each other won't be for the public to hear.
Behind close doors
The politicians who will gather to make fundamental decisions about the future of Nunavut will do so behind closed doors, shielded from the critical eye of the public.
That's because they've decided to hold in-camera, non-public meetings, making this the first Nunavut leaders' meeting to bar the public.
"I think it's a chance for us to really hash out some different information we get from different sources," Nancy Karetak-Lindell said.
"The fact that it won't be public will give us the chance to get more work done," she added. "There are times you need to have some frank discussion and learn to work together and have a united front."
Arlooktoo says he's hopeful that out of those discussions, Stewart will commit the necessary funding for the NIC's decentralized model of government, but an air of uncertainty in his voice belies any confidence he may have that the Footprints 2 model is affordable.
A transition action plan tabled in the legislative assembly last October by GNWT Finance Minister John Todd detailed an estimated $135 million in extra funding needed in one-time costs associated with division.
Karetak-Lindell said she hasn't spoken to Stewart about the upcoming meeting and doesn't know what she's bringing to the table in terms of financing.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsA hand-picked committee of eight Baffin residents will help the Baffin health board choose between Ottawa and Montreal.
ANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT - A group of eight Baffin residents will review southern medical services in Montreal and Ottawa and recommend which service the Baffin health board should accept for the future.
Members of the Baffin Regional Health and Social Services Board are expected to make a decision on the future of southern medical services when they meet in Iqaluit January 26.
Board members decided last September to sever its 30-year tie with the Montreal-McGill program and contract specialists services from the Ottawa Heart Institute.
The move came in response to criticisms former health board chair Ann Hanson said she was hearing about the Montreal service. An evaluation of that service last May revealed 14 strengths with the McGill contract compared to an overwhelming 50 obstacles.
At the time the administration also suggested the board could save about $450,000 in the move.
The board was heavily criticized for its decision and Health Minister Kelvin Ng ordered it to provide a cost analysis of the move. Since that decision, both the chair and chief executive officer have been replaced.
Patients travelling to both cities
Currently Baffin patients are travelling to both cities to access medical services.
Interim chair Dennis Patterson, who was appointed in October after Hanson resigned, announced the appointment this week of a review committee made up of eight Baffin residents.
That committee will review and compare services provided by the McGill-Baffin program and the Ottawa Heart Institute.
"We can't go on forever with two services," Patterson said about the need to make a quick choice.
Proposals from each provider
The Montreal and Ottawa health organizations will each submit proposals next week.
They were asked to detail how each would provide specialist services, hospital inpatient care with social work assistance, patient travel, meals and accommodation.
They were also asked to describe how each would implement a telehealth system in the region. The Ottawa Heart Institute has been providing this service in Kimmirut and Pond Inlet for more than a year. A strategy to recruit doctors and nurses to the area will also be included in the proposals.
Former Iqaluit Mayor Joe Kunuk will chair the committee, which also includes representatives from Nunavut Arctic College, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, the GNWT health department and the Baffin Divisional Board of Education.
The committee will meet the week of January 19.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsDWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT - the Nunasi Corporation has ushered in the new year on a positive note by striking a landmark debt-refinancing deal with a major chartered bank.
The agreement between Nunasi Corp. and the Royal Bank, signed Dec. 23 after several months of negotiation, lifts many of the borrowing restrictions under which the Inuit-development corporation has been operating for the last five years.
The agreement transfers $2.7 million in remaining debt from Nunavut Trust to the Royal Bank and extends additional lines of credit to both Nunasi and its subsidiary, Nunasi Projects, CEO Fred Hunt said.
"The confidence that the Royal Bank has shown in our ability to handle that credit facility is very encouraging," Hunt said. "That allows us to really grow."
The Nunavut Trust, which manages cash assets paid to Inuit beneficiaries under the terms of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, helped Nunasi restructure its debt in the early 1990s.
The problems date to the late 1980s, when the company was operating at a loss and unable to meet its loan repayment obligations with the CIBC.
In a restructuring plan negotiated with the bank and the Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut - Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.'s predecessor - the line of credit with the CIBC was frozen and Nunasi Corp. was forced to sell off many of its assets, operating from that day forward on its own cash flow.
By 1988, however, the outstanding debt had ballooned to more than $10 million, thanks to hefty interest rates.
Just prior to settlement of the Nunavut land claim in 1993, the CIBC agreed to reduce the debt to $6.5 million, half of which Nunasi Corp. paid directly to the bank itself.
The other $3.25 million was supplied by Nunavut Trust in the form of a loan at "higher than conventional lending rates" Hunt recalls.
Though happy to accept the loan from the Trust under the circumstances, Hunt said the company began to feel constrained by conditions attached to the loan agreement, in particular, one which capped its debt-to-equity ratio.
"This meant that Nunasi always had to maintain more in equity than it did in debt on its balance sheet," Hunt said. "That was very restrictive because it prevented us from borrowing money or entering into mortgages on real estate deals."
The Trust had grown uncomfortable with the arrangement, too, Hunt noted, since the slightest deviation from the conditions of the loan required Nunasi to appear before trustees to request a waiver.
Last March they gave their blessing to the search for an alternate solution, and Hunt resumed talks with the banks.
The refinancing agreement finally settled on last month with the Royal Bank re-establishes Nunasi's credibility with private creditors and paves the way for expanded growth in the new year, Hunt noted.
Later this month, Nunasi Corporation directors plan to tour Nunavut communities in person to describe in more detail the company's operations to Inuit beneficiaries, who are Nunasi's shareholders. At that time, Hunt said, the corporation will outline its corporate strategy for the coming months.
Nunasi earned revenues last year worth more than $80 million off its investments in 26 northern enterprises.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsThe group responsible for all those anti-sealing television commercials says their not opposed to "subsistence" hunting by Inuit.
DWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT - A spokesman for the animal rights group seeking to end Canada's commercial seal hunt claims that Inuit are not the target of his group's most recent anti-sealing campaign.
Rick Smith, the manager of the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Canada, tried to distance his organization from criticisms leveled at the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada by author Farley Mowat.
In comments published this week in News North, Mowat slammed the national Inuit organization for not publicly opposing the East Coast seal fishery.
"There is a big difference between Inuit using sealskin in the North or locally trading seal skin in the North, and on the other hand Newfoundlanders - or Inuit, for that matter - selling thousands of dollars' worth penises to China for the aphrodisiac market," Smith said.
During the commercial seal hunt off the coast of Newfoundland in late 1996, the IFAW videotaped hunters routinely violating Canadian marine mammal regulations by using prohibited weapons such as boat hooks and gaffs to bludgeon their quarry, and by failing to ensure the animals were dead before skinning, bleeding or hooking them.
Hunters were also shown killing male seals for their genitals only, leaving injured seals to suffer and killing pregnant seals - all violations of the marine mammal regulations.
The IFAW subsequently used the video footage to bolster their ongoing international campaign against Canada's commercial seal hunt. The campaign has included graphic television and print-media advertisements depicting acts of cruelty inflicted on seals during the 1996 hunt.
Subsistence versus commercial hunting
There is concern among Inuit hunters that because many people don't make the distinction between aboriginal and commercial hunting, the campaign will affect their own markets for seal fur.
Smith says the IFAW and animal activists do make such distinctions, largely on the basis of harvesting methods and cultural differences, but also between what can reasonably be considered subsistence hunting and hunting that is clearly profit-motivated.
In the case of aboriginal communities, Smith acknowledged, making the latter distinction is no easy task.
"It's sometimes difficult to draw a line, but we're committed to trying to draw a line fairly," said Smith, who has been invited to explain IFAW's position at the next meeting of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference in Nuuk, Greenland.
"Local trading or local commerce in sealskin products, under some circumstances, we would not oppose. It's really this large-scale international trade in seal products that we find problematic.
"The reason we find it problematic is that history is very clear, showing that when you open up large-scale international markets for animal products, you aggravate animal welfare problems and you inevitably deplete animal populations."
Common ground with Inuit?
The animal rights group, which has been leading the campaign against Canada's commercial seal hunt for nearly three decades, would welcome the opportunity to explore common ground with the Inuit, Smith added.
The animals rights group maintains that hunting any species of wild animal for profit is biologically unsustainable in the long run. The IFAW argues, furthermore, that cruelty to animals is inevitable when the main object of the hunt is to maximize profits.
"It's impossible when you're killing animals that fast to make sure that every animal is killed properly," Smith says. "It's also impossible to regulate that sort of large-scale hunting."
Canada's commercial seal hunt, which is based in Newfoundland and the Magdalene Islands, is thought to be the largest hunt for marine mammals in the world.
According to official Department of Fisheries and Oceans figures, the number of harp seals harvested during last year's hunt was just under 260,000. An additional 8,000 hooded seals were reported taken.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsA Kangiqsualujjuaq man is trying to organize a protest against proposed social housing rent increases in Nunavik.
JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News
MONTREAL - A Kangiqsualujjuaq resident wants his fellow Nunavimmiut to launch a protest against planned rent hikes for social housing units in Nunavik.
"We're not dogs," says Jean-Guy St. Aubin, a 23-year resident of Kangiqsualujjuaq. "Just because we live in the North, it doesn't mean that they can doing anything they want."
Under the new scale proposed by Quebec's social housing body, the Société d'Habitation du Québec (SHQ), workers in Nunavik will have to pay more rent after July 1, 1998 - up to 25 per cent of their income.
St. Aubin says that so far, there hasn't been enough public consultation about these changes.
Nunavik-wide petition
That's why he drew up a petition that he's sent to all Nunavik communities.
In Kangiqsualujjuaq alone, St. Aubin collected 150 signatures. He says people keep telling him they don't know how they'll cover food and higher rent payments.
"People are afraid," St. Aubin said.
The petition's text says workers in Nunavik already pay out a big chunk of their salaries in taxes, and to cover the cost of northern living.
If rents for the working poor are raised, St. Aubin's petition says, social conditions will deteriorate. Young people won't want to get jobs, but will stay on social assistance.
"If working can't provide better means of living, then what is the use of working?" it reads.
The petition paints a depressing picture of Nunavik after the SHQ hikes rents for local workers.
The new policy will turn the region into a welfare state, says the petition, and its towns into slums.
"Shacks will be going up all over the place without hygiene facilities, and it will be like it was 30 years ago," the petition reads.
Petitions off to KRG and SHQ
St. Aubin plans to send Kangiqsualujjuaq's petition to the Kativik Regional Government and to the SHQ's president, André Marcil.
And he's encouraging other communities to do the same thing.
"At least the population should have a word to say," St. Aubin says.
He says he understands why the government wants to save money, but he says there must be better, and less drastic, ways to cut corners.
"The Quebec government needs to understand," he says. "I'd like someone from the SHQ to live up here for a couple of years."
Back to TopPrompted by a recent report by the World Wildlife Fund, Nunavut's tourism organization may soon develop a new set of rules and standards for tour operators.
DWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT - Visitors and tour operators in the Arctic must take part in future conservation efforts if Arctic tourism is to develop as a sustainable industry, a leading environmental organization says.
Better planning, greater emphasis on education and an abiding respect for local people will help preserve intact the Arctic's pristine environment - the polar region's principal attraction - according to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature.
The environmental group believes everyone can benefit from careful management of the Arctic tour industry's growth, including Nunavut, where plans to develop and establish a set of community standards may begin early this year.
A set of WWF guidelines describing ecologically responsible tourism in the Arctic was recently mailed to tour operators and government officials.
Principles for Arctic tourism and codes of conduct for Arctic tourists and tour operators were developed by the WWF in consultation with representatives from industry, conservation groups, researchers and aboriginal communities.
Visitors are urged to plan their trips north carefully, choosing reputable conservation-minded tour operators, limiting their use of motorized transportation and minimizing waste.
Co-ordinate with communities
Tour operators are urged to co-ordinate their tours with local communities and ensure that their clients obey conservation laws.
"They're not just wildlife conservation guidelines, they're more eco-systemic guidelines, specifically for these two groups - tour operators and the actual tourists," Peter Ewins, director of WWF's endangered species program in Canada said.
The principles and codes of conduct for tourists and tour operators also appear in the latest issue of the WWF's Arctic Bulletin, a publication of the enviornmental group's Arctic program.
Interest in the Arctic as a tourist destination has grown steadily in recent years, its impact and opportunities perhaps felt most dramatically in communities visited by cruise ship operators.
Missed opportunities
Accounts of missed opportunities and bungled encounters with tourists inevitably find their way to Cheri Kemp-Kinnear, the executive director of Nunavut Tourism, and a participant in several international conferences that culminated in the WWF guidelines for Arctic tourists and tour operators.
It was the arrival of cruise ships in the Arctic a decade or so ago and the hard lessons learned from ship-based tourism since then, she says, that inspired much of the guidelines' substance.
In Grise Fiord, for example, which has a total population of less than 200 residents, the sudden arrival of 100 ocean-liner passengers without advance warning has been extremely disruptive in the past.
Planning, communication needed
On the other hand, given proper planning and prior communication with affected communities, such visits can be rewarding for residents and tourists alike.
"Now we have to get communities involved," said Kemp-Kinnear, who, along with her counterparts from Greenland, has insisted that a set of community-based tourism standards be developed to complement the WWF's principles and codes of conduct.
While the WWF guidelines encourage tour operators and tourists to distribute the economic benefits of Arctic tourism by supporting local businesses and buying locally made products whenever possible, residents must also be prepared to adapt, Kemp-Kinnear says.
"If they want to benefit they have to provide some services. When a cruise ship arrives, for instance, they have to have arts and crafts for sale. They can't all leave for holiday."
It's also possible that the tourism guidelines will eventually form the basis of an international treaty, such as the one that regulates the activities of tour operators in the Antarctic.
And though its hoped that the principles and codes of conduct will contribute to the planning and development of Arctic tourism, the guidelines are no substitute for creative marketing.
"They're not definitive anwers as to what's going to make Nunavut, for example, more attractive and more functional as a major tourist destination," the WWF's Ewins said.
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT - Here are highlights of the World Wildlife Fund's code of conduct for Arctic tour operators:
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Back to Nunatsiaq News
Separation from family and community isn't such a bad thing for Inuit offenders at Waseskun House in Montreal.
JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News
MONTREAL - Every one knows that are far too many aboriginal men - including many Inuit - doing time in Canadian prisons, but a Montreal halfway house wants to change this situation.
Waseskun House is the only community residential center for native men in Quebec.
It's also the only one in Quebec that offers an intensive treatment program to help offenders regain balance in their lives and stay out of jail.
Since 1988, over 400 First Nations and Inuit men have passed through Waseskun House.
One-third from Nunavik
Any aboriginal inmate from Quebec who is serving time at federal or provincial jails can ask to complete his sentence at Waseskun House.
The center accepts up to 20 men at a time for its five month-long therapy program, and a third of its residents usually come from Nunavik.
Based on past experience, staffers at Waseskun House say eight out of 109 men who finished therapy won't end up in jail again.
Intensive therapy takes time
From 8 am to 8 pm every day, residents at Waseskun House participate in sessions dealing with subjects such as sexuality, life skills or grieving.
Most arrive there with problems related to alcohol or drug abuse, often connected to feelings of loss, shame or low self-esteem.
Therapy, based on the circular, drum-like symbol of the "medicine wheel," tries to every aspect of an inmate's past life.
A regular community healing circle is one place where memories and feelings surface.
"The circle has no time limit, and has been known to run any time between three and five hours," says counselor Nicki Garfatt. "It ends when everyone is satisfied that a conclusion and resolution has been reached. Closure is by consensus."
Anger and stress management is also an important part of the therapy.
"We don't suppress it," says program coordinator Bevan Skerratt. "We go to the roots."
But some who arrive at Waseskun House leave during the four week-long orientation period.
Alcohol and drugs are readily available in all jails - but at Waseskun House they're strictly forbidden.
And, although residents are free to go out into Montreal in the evening, they must observe a curfew and good behaviour.
Program challenges Inuit
Communication during these intense therapy sessions can sometimes be difficult for Inuit, because there are no regular Inuit staff members on hand to help translate.
But those Inuit at Waseskun House said they're comfortable with the program.
"You can find people to talk to here," said one resident from Puvirnituq.
This young man admitted that the first time he tried to follow the Waseskun House therapy program, he couldn't adapt.
But his time, he said he's thrown himself into the experience and wasn't even counting the time.
But Inuit residents miss traditional foods and their families.
And they sometimes have a hard time making those back home in Nunavik understand what life at the center is like. Women are jealous, while family members ask, "When are you coming back from your holiday in Montreal?."
Separation from community an advantage
Skerratt says the fact that Waseskun House is removed from Inuit communities may actually be an advantage.
That's because therapy tries to rebuild the relationship between offenders, their victims and their communities. Sometimes this goal is easier to achieve when there is space between those involved.
Nation-wide aboriginal network
Internet users may also plug directly into Waseskun House. The center is putting the finishing touches on a new interactive website (http://www.waseskun.net).
This site contains information about community corrections, aboriginal justice, prevention healing. It's part of the Waseskun Network, a nation-wide aboriginal computer network.
They'll soon be creating chat and conference forums for aboriginal caregivers and front-line social service workers across Canada.
The project was one of seven to get money from Canarie Inc., a federally-funded non-profit corporation set up to stimulate telecommunications development.
It's part of Waseskun House's long-term goal to serve as a healing and professional development center for all native community members and front-line workers in Quebec.
A Waseskun House near every community?
Waseskun House would also like to move out of the city. Plans are being made to buy property in the country.
For the past four years, the center has held camp sessions outside Montreal during the summer.
Inuit residents say that they enjoy the swimming and paddleboating, but one camper says he's not sure he liked the environment.
"I am not used to trees," he said. "It was like being in jail. To me the trees represent walls."
But three health workers from Aupaluk also attended last summer's camp were impressed what they saw during their stay.
"In our society, it's hard to find such a place," said nurse Robert Lemay. "In an ideal society, there would be good to have one near every community."
Back to TopLittle Girl
Little girl, why are you following me? Don't you know I don't want your hurt, fear, guilt, and shame?
Go away little girl! I am too busy, so go away and don't bother me with your problems; they're not mine.
Little girl, how come you are still following me? I don't want you, I don't need you, I don't love you and I am ashamed of you. So, please go away.
Little girl, how come you're follow me with tears in your eyes? Don't you know I've always been a adult and never a little girl. I understand why you keep following me around, when I don't want to face you or want you.
Little girl, why are you crying? Is it because people hurt you and stole your childhood? Or is because you were always a mother to your brothers when you just wanted to be a little girl?
Little girl, how come you keep coming to me for love and understanding? Don't you know I still don't understand myself? So don't come to me for love and understanding.
Little girl, come here! I now understand why you keep following me around. You are the little girl within me that wanted love and understanding. I don't know why the things happen that way they did, I only know it was not your fault, because you were innocent and fragile, just like any other kid.
Little girl, I need you in my heart to help me understand and teach people that it was wrong for you to be treated that way.
Little girl, I don't know what's ahead, but with your help we will make it through life which will be painful, joyful, hard and sometimes easy.
Little girl, I forgive you, I am proud of you and I love you for who you are and I am happy for you.
Joanna L. Kunnuk
Iqaluit
What's the big secret?
Next week, the usual gang of Nunavut politicians will congregate inside Iqaluit's parish hall for the latest in a long series of Nunavut leadership summits, the first of which was held six years ago in Iqaluit.
This time, Nunavut leaders will have achieved yet another historic first, another landmark on the high road to Nunavut. For the first time, they'll have held their first official closed-door meeting. For the first time, they'll have met to talk about your future - without inviting you to hear what they have to say.
On Monday evening - January 12 - employees at Interim Commissioner Jack Anawak's office will hold what they're calling a "public forum," to give leaders a chance to "meet the community."
But the real meeting will start Tuesday, January 13 and continue the following day. And you're not invited.
Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart, who's put a lot of energy into making herself look earnest and concerned and well-informed about Nunavut, plans to show up. By her side she'll have Nunatsiaq MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell.
Whiloe she's there, Stewart will get a chance to listen to her best-known Nunavut employee, Interim Commissioner Jack Anawak. Anawak will likely come to the table to report on the work he and his staff have done so far, in the form of a "Nunavut government implementation plan."
Without a doubt, this will the meeting's biggest agenda item.
NTI President Jose Kusugak and NWT Deputy Premier Goo Arlooktoo will represent the other two parties to the Nunavut Accord, along with three other members of the NWT legislative assembly's Nunavut caucus and three other members of NTI's executive.
NIC Chief Commissioner John Amagoalik will chair the gathering. Two other NIC commissioners - from the Kitikmeot and Keewatin regions respectively - will also sit as participants.
Last month, Arlooktoo tried to explain why he and his bashful buddies don't want you to hear what they plan to talk about: "If every single word is being recorded, I know it's difficult for some to say what's really on their minds."
Perhaps he was referring to the soul-searing trauma that most politicians must endure when they inadvertently catch themselves telling the truth in public.
But perhaps there are other reasons for the secrecy. One reason may be is that Jane Stewart plans to deliver some unwelcome financial news. Another is that the interim commissioner's plan, developed by former Ottawa bureaucrat Bruce Rawson, may differ radically from everyone else's plans.
If that's the case, Nunavut leaders may have to negotiate a new plan. And if Stewart can't make the necessary financial commitments, it may turn out to be a cheaper plan.
Since last October, the GNWT has been lobbying Ottawa for more money to pay division related transition costs that don't appear to be covered by the $150 million that Ottawa promised in 1996.
In a document they call a "transition action plan," Yellowknife officials calculate that Ottawa may need to fork out as much as $135.8 million in extra transitional money. If not, "the orderly creation of two new governments could be in jeopardy," the report says.
If Stewart plans to tell Nunavut leaders - and the GNWT - that she's unwilling to ask the federal cabinet for more transitional money, there may turn out to be many public positions on which Nunavut leaders may find themselves "going back."
Who knows? That may mean big adjustments to the NIC's decentralized model of government, a re-scheduling of the Nunavut time line and many other changes.
That may mean a different Nunavut than we thought were getting a couple of years ago.
But get a chance to find out what Stewart plans to tell Nunavut leaders, and how our leaders choose to react to her.
Nor will you be able to properly assess the positions of several elected officials who are coming up for election in just over a year. That includes NTI President Jose Kusugak, whoses term expires in March next year, and, of course all the Nunavut MLAs who plan to be there.
We can only hope that when they emerge to announce the outcome of the meeting, Nunavut's leaders will choose not to lie or obscure the truth. If it's bad news, they must give it to us straight.
Any public official who's too insecure to do that in public should get out of public life. JB
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Last updated January 9, 1998
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