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On April 1, 1999, Nunavut separated from the Northwest Territories to become the newest Canadian territory. The creation of Nunavut was the outcome of the largest aboriginal land claims agreement between the Canadian government and the native Inuit people. Nunavut means “our land” in Inuktitut, the Inuit language.
It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, which provided this territory to the Inuit for independent government. Nunavut comprises a major portion of Northern Canada and most of the Arctic Archipelago.
When did the Inuit settle in Nunavut Canada?
Permanent settlement into communities was for many Inuit a phenomenon of the fifties and sixties. One of the biggest challenges facing the leaders of Nunavut will be to find a way out of the economic dependence that has become the most debilitating legacy of colonial relations.
Why did the Inuit want a new territory?
About 80 per cent of voters in the eastern side supported the idea.Supporters believed a new territory would allow Inuit to have more control over their own lives and land. After a decade of discussions, the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement was reached in 1992.
How did the whaling trade affect the Inuit?
Although nineteenth-century whaling had some local impact, for the most part Inuit economic life remained in its indigenous pattern until the fox and seal fur trades of our own century. Hence there were Inuit Canadians who as late as the 1950s had little or no exposure to outsiders.
When did Canada split up the Northwest Territories?
The Canadian government made Inuit wards of the state in the 1940s and moved Inuit into more centralized villages in the 1950s. Between 1959 and 1963, the territorial council discussed dividing the Northwest Territories (NWT) into eastern and western halves so that the more populous western half could economically develop at a quicker pace.