Cabinet shuffle poses challenges for advancing Inuit priorities, ITK president says
CBC
The Trudeau government's summer cabinet shakeup has created challenges when trying to advance Inuit political priorities in Ottawa, says Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) President Natan Obed.
It's a concern made more pressing as the Liberals approach their ninth year in power, he said.
"The completion of work takes a hit when you have such massive shuffles," said Obed, head of the national representative organization for Inuit in Canada.
Obed spoke with CBC Indigenous at the ITK office in Ottawa following a Monday meeting of the Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee, a forum established in 2017 for Inuit and federal leaders to discuss topics of mutual concern.
The issues discussed at the meeting were varied and complex, ranging from housing and legislation to land claims implementation, missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, health, education and more.
While Obed billed the gathering as moderately productive and marked by frank, tough conversations, he expressed some exasperation with the speedbumps that accompany such a large shift in personnel.
The shakeup, intended to convey a shift in governmental priorities, meant that only two of the nine cabinet ministers at the meeting were still in their old jobs: Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal and Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu.
That puts Inuit leaders in the position of having to teach the government about its own policies and priorities, said Obed, describing it