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Deciphering Inuit land claims

It's a battle over the land and its resources. The fight has taken place on the land, in the courts and in the media. When government and native groups signed treaty agreements over a century ago, neither side imagined the repercussions. Canada's native people say treaties have been ignored and their rights from logging trees to fishing eels have been limited. In the 1980s, frustration grew and failed negotiations turned into roadblocks and deadly confrontation.

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The panellists of CBC's Front Page Challenge quickly gauge today's mystery guest -- John Amagoalik, a Northwest Territory "Eskimo" who a few months earlier took his people's land claim to Parliament Hill. Amagoalik, along with a group of Inuit, asked Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and his cabinet to settle their claim before construction starts on the Mackenzie Valley pipeline.

In this CBC Television clip, the panellists attempt to decipher the details of Amagoalik's claim. Gordon Sinclair asks if money is what the Inuit want. Amagoalik says it's just the opposite, and explains that what's important is the "survival of our people as a unique race in Canada."

In 1976, John Amagoalik and lobby group Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (now called Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami) took a land claim known as the Nunavut Proposal to the Canadian government. They asked for treaty recognition and self-government. In 1993, the proposal became a reality when the lnuit land claim was signed by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

The creation of the territory of Nunavut in 1999 was the final step in the process Amagoalik and the Inuit Tapirisat began in 1976.

A 2002 editorial by Mi'kmaq Chief Lloyd Augustine argues that treaties were entered into under duress. He says money was used to draw in native people suffering from poverty and hunger.

Medium: Television
Program: Front Page Challenge
Broadcast Date: Dec. 13, 1976
Guest(s): John Amagoalik, Robert McClure
Host: Fred Davis
Panellist: Pierre Berton, Betty Kennedy, Gordon Sinclair
Duration: 8:40

Last updated: June 12, 2013

Page consulted on December 17, 2014

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