Nunavut at 15 conference aims to take stock of Nunavut project
An upcoming conference will look at how Nunavut is meeting expectations that were set 15 years ago when the territory was first created and 25 years ago when the land claims was being prepared.
‘We feel that Nunavut is at a pivotal moment,’ says Terry Fenge, an Ottawa-based consultant, who’ll co-chair the conference for the Northern Institute, a private educational and research organization.
The conference — to be held Feb. 4 and 5 at the Southway Hotel in Ottawa — will examine everything from language and culture to economic development and the potential impacts of devolution.
“We are designing this conference to ensure that people are encouraged to say what it is that they think needs to be said, notwithstanding whether things are popular or unpopular,” Fenge says.
“What we want to be able to do is to provide a forum, a partisan-free mutual forum, in which people who know what they are talking about and who have direct experience of what is going on in the North can speak to each other honestly and openly.”
A keynote speaker will be Tom Siddon, who served as minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development when the final negotiations for the establishment of Nunavut were taking place.
Fenge says conference-goers will also discuss the future.
“There’s no doubt the whole question of education and research and capability are major and ongoing concerns. Quite clearly we need to be able to think strategically, think in the longer term, and develop really good minds to come to grips with the problems that we face now.”
Fenge will co-chair the conference with Paul Crowley, the Iqaluit-based lawyer who was recently appointed the director of the World Wildlife Fund’s Canadian Arctic Program.
100 to 150 to attend
Fenge says he expects about 100 to 150 people to attend, as well as media.
However, he notes that there will be strict ground rules for those reporting on the event.
“We will not invite the media to quote any of the speakers. We want to ensure that the speakers feel maximum freedom to say what it is they want to say without fear of being quoted or misquoted.” However, media will be able to ask speakers at the breaks or lunch hour if they are willing to go on record.
Nunavut premier Peter Taptuna, former premier Eva Aariak, Baffinland’s Tom Paddon, Senator Dennis Patterson and Nunavut Languages Commissioner Sandra Inutiq are also among the speakers.
Fenge says organizers plan to post a record and summary of the conference on the the Northern Institute’s website.
However, he also says “our ability to take forward the ideas that are generated at this conference will depend in part on who comes to the conference.”
