NunatuKavut community council accused of not being an Inuit organization, as identity tensions escalate
CBC
Tensions around who is Inuit in Labrador —and what benefits they're entitled to from the federal government — have escalated to national levels and the office of the prime minister.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which represents Inuit in Canada, sent a letter Oct. 7 to Justin Trudeau, rejecting the NunatuKavut community council's stance as a separate Inuit organization. In it, ITK calls for the federal government to exclude the NCC from any federal Inuit programs, policies, and benefits.
It is "alarming that NCC has gained eligibility for federal programs and initiatives based on its assertion that it is an Inuit organization," states ITK's letter, signed by president Natan Obed and released publicly Tuesday.
The letter says it's both "perplexing and alarming" that the federal government is talking to NCC with the potential for it to receive rights and territory "on the basis of assertions that appear unfounded."
The NCC and Ottawa signed a memorandum of understanding in 2019, to discuss a range of items from health care to a land claims agreement. The NCC says it represents about 6,000 Inuit and people of Inuit descent in southern and central Labrador; it was known as the Labrador Métis Council until 2010, when it changed its name to reflect its members' heritage.
That memorandum sparked backlash from the Innu Nation, which represents Innu in Labrador, and Nunatsiavut, covering Inuit in northern Labrador — one of Canada's four Inuit regions collectively known as Inuit Nunangat. In September both groups rejected NCC's land claim, although the Nunatsiavut government said NCC may have some Indigenous members.
ITK's letter follows Nunatsiavut's lead, saying "an Inuit territory outside of the four regions that constitute Inuit Nunangat does not exist."
Intelligence regarding foreign interference sometimes didn't make it to the prime minister's desk in 2021 because Canada's spy agency and the prime minister's national security adviser didn't always see eye to eye on the nature of the threat, according to a recent report from one of Canada's intelligence watchdogs.