As millions of federal dollars flow to groups in Labrador whose claims to Inuit identity are rejected by Indigenous organizations across Canada, one Inuit national leader says the Liberal government is putting Indigenous rights at risk. I am concerned that there may be.
Natan Obed, president of the organization representing about 70,000 Inuit people across Canada, sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau more than a year ago stating that the Nunatukavut Regional Council would not be allowed to join the federation based on “simple voluntary standards.” He said he had expressed concerns about whether he would be able to receive subsidies and fishing quotas. Declaration of Inuit identity. ”
He said he had not received a response.
“This conversation will define the future of Canada,” Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami said in a recent interview. “Unless we go back to the rights-holding First Nations, Inuit and Métis governments and the decisions they make about citizenship…we will continue to do so on the basis of non-Indigenous Canadians who choose to be Indigenous. It just exposes them to a new wave of deprivation that they feel is theirs.”
Nunatukavut Regional Council has received nearly $74 million in federal funding since 2010 for projects related to Indigenous programs and Indigenous identity assertion, according to government data. This funding includes more than $20.4 million in grants and contributions that identify them as “Aboriginal recipients,” as well as “mandated or core Includes $29.2 million in funding.
The latest amount, $161,108, was approved by Environment and Climate Change Canada last month for conservation and endangered species projects through the department’s Aboriginal Endangered Species Fund program.
“Nunatukavut are not Indigenous,” Nunavut NDP MP Lori Idraut wrote on the X social media platform Wednesday in response to a tweet about the funding.
In June, City Council received a “special quota” in Newfoundland and Labrador’s newly reopened northern cod fishery, allowing harvesters a portion of this year’s total catch.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada said in a statement that it has a “well-established relationship” with the council “as an Indigenous organization.” He also said the organization has received funding from various licensing and Indigenous programs in the past.
The Nunatukavut Council says it represents about 6,000 self-proclaimed Inuit people in southern and central Labrador. They are not recognized as Inuit by other federally recognized Inuit groups, including the Nunatsiout government in northern Labrador.
The council previously called itself the Labrador Métis Nation and the Labrador Métis Association.
Until February, the group offered full and non-resident membership, as well as “allied” membership. According to a document that has since been removed from the council’s website, membership in the alliance may be granted to “Indigenous people, typically residents of Labrador, who support Nunatukavut’s objectives but do not qualify for full membership.” That’s what it means.
The document says these members may benefit from “Indigenous representation, affirmative action” and “a range of government-supported services and programs.”
Nunatukavut President Todd Russell said the council offered alliance membership as a show of inclusivity to provide support and services to “non-Inuit” First Nations. He said in an interview that the council removed members when they caused disruption during rights and recognition negotiations with the federal government.
All indigenous groups have such discussions about who belongs and who doesn’t, he said.
It is “insane” to oppose recognizing, funding and allocating resources to Nunatuqavut as an Indigenous group, Russell added.
“We have always been an Indigenous organization and we have always represented Indigenous peoples who have not been able to find representation in other Indigenous groups within Labrador,” he said. “Why do you want to take food out of our people’s mouths? Why do you want to hurt our people and our communities?”
Obed said his organization rejects the idea that a group can claim to be Métis and “reconstitute” itself as an Inuit group. Russell said Obed is not responsible for determining who is and is not Inuit.
“We know who our grandfathers are. We know where we come from,” he said.
The Métis National Council said last year it supported Obed’s efforts to draw attention to Nunatukavut’s “fraudulent claims” about Inuit identity. It also called on the federal government to end support for the group.
Russell said the Métis Council’s position is due to Obed’s continued “political campaigning.”
Nunatukavut Council has long pointed to a 2019 memorandum of understanding it signed with the federal government that says it is an “Indigenous group entitled to Article 35 Indigenous rights.”
A federal court ruled in June that the agreement did not affect legal rights and did not recognize the Nunatukavut Regional Council as an “Indigenous Nation of Canada.”
The Ministry of Crown and Indigenous Affairs said the agreement reflects the government’s intention to “resolve outstanding issues” about the rights Nunatukavut have and who receives them.
Spokesman Pascal LaPlante said in an email that the government has not engaged in “substantive” negotiations with the group over whether it has constitutional rights.
LaPlante said Nunatuqavut receives funding from the province under two programs. One for recognized Indigenous organizations and the other for “non-Indigenous organizations” currently in discussions with the ministry.
Obed worries that the risk-averse federal government doesn’t want to be seen as deciding who is indigenous and who isn’t. In fact, he said it was too comprehensive and there seemed to be no intention to change course.
“This new form of colonization, where non-Indigenous Canadians become Indigenous peoples and derive material benefits from Indigenous peoples, is now the new normal,” Obed said.
He also worries that the current Liberal government will not be able to resolve issues with Inuit “in good faith and expediently” because Russell was a Liberal MP from 2005 to 2011.
Russell dismissed the allegations, saying Obed enjoys a “very good and open relationship” with Ottawa.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2024.
