Bernard Valcourt, the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, said that when the government of the day did not renew a 10-year implementation treaty for the land agreement that came into force in 2003, “they gave up the ball.” On 5 March 2015, shortly before the trial, which was scheduled for 15 to 20 weeks from 9 March 2015, an interim agreement was reached and signed by officials representing the parties concerned. The agreement was approved by Cathy Towtongie, President of the NTI, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs Bernard Valcourt and Premier of Nunavut, Honorary President Peter Taptuna, at a signing ceremony held in Iqaluit on May 4, 2015. The federal government will spend $255.5 million to compensate Nunavut Inuit in an out-of-court transaction that resolves a 9-year, $1 billion lawsuit filed by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. in December 2006. There were several key elements of the regime, including new commitments to implement job training, a new analysis of the Inuit workforce, a new dispute resolution process, and government procurement policy for Nunavut. “NTI hopes that this settlement agreement will open a new chapter in our relationship with the Government of Canada and the GN and that Inuit will be able to continue to build on the promises contained in the NLCA,” said Cathy Towtongie, President of NTI, on May 4 at a settlement agreement signing ceremony in Iqaluit. While Canada did not allow any liability for the judicial process, the transaction agreement is, from a practical point of view, an acknowledgement that federal implementation efforts have been less than was necessary to stop the intent of the NCA. But the transaction agreement is much more than a “Pay and Walk away” agreement. The transaction agreement is a common route for the successful implementation of Sections 23 and 24 and allows Canada, as such, to initiate a major reallocation to the NLCA and the Nunavut region. The out-of-court agreement brings to an end a long dispute that continues in the early 2000s and which also leads a long and costly trial that was scheduled to begin last March in the Nunavut Court.
