The federal government has terminated the NunatuKavut Community Council’s Recognition of Indigenous Rights and Self-Determination table, a decision that the Nunatsiavut Government says brings long-needed clarity when it comes to Inuit identity. The information meanwhile comes as a shock to NCC.
The NunatuKavut Community Council or NCC has long been trying to attain formal recognition as southern Inuit.
That’s a notion that’s been rejected by the Innu Nation, the Nunatsiavut Government and the Inuit Tapariit Kanatami.
The Nunatsiavut Government says Inuit identity “is not something that can be self-determined,” but is “grounded in….culture and history.”
Nunatsiavut President Johannes Lampe says concluding the table is “an important step toward” ensuring Inuit rights are “protected, respected and upheld.”
NCC ‘shocked’ that information on decision was shared
The NCC meanwhile says it was “shocked” to learn that confidential information about the department’s decision was released to another Indigenous group.
NCC says it had “no time to adequately review the letter and understand its implications.” It claims that “demonstrates the degree of complicity between the Government or Canada and other Indigenous groups in Labrador” around their negotiations.
