NunatuKavut members refute Inuit identity questions

The head of the NunatuKavut Community Council, as well as one of its members, are firing back against recent assertions questioning the organization's Indigeneity — questions that reached the office of the prime minister.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which represents 65,000 Inuit in Canada, called NCC's legitimacy into question in an Oct. 7 letter to Justin Trudeau. President Natan Obed wrote that an Inuit territory outside of the already established boundaries "does not exist," and called the federal government's dealings with NCC "alarming and disturbing."

NCC is in the midst of negotiations with the federal government over self-determination, and has been since the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding in 2019.

NCC says it represents 6,000 Inuit in southern and central Labrador. That area is just south of ITK representation, which ends with Nunatsiavut, the Inuit territory encompassing Labrador's north coast.

Todd Russell, the president of the NCC, released a written response to Obed on Oct. 25, calling Obed's letter "a dark stain on the reputation and good work that ITK has been doing."

Russell wrote that he invited Obed on two occasions — the most recent being in May 2021 — to visit NCC lands and learn of the local history and culture. Rather than responding, Russell said, Obed instead wrote the letter to Trudeau, "where you chose to try to inform opinions about us, without us."

Obed's letter is not the first instance of Indigenous resistance to NCC's existence. Both the Innu Nation and the Nunatsiavut government have applied to federal court to block NCC's memorandum of understanding.

Russell's letter detailed a history where Inuit travelled freely across Labrador, into Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula and Quebec's North Shore. To divide Labrador into 'north' and 'south' doesn't reflect the lived reality, he said.

"While some of our experiences of colonialism may differ from other Inuit groups, we remain a distinct people in the same territory that our ancestors have occupied," said Russell, adding that traditional activities including living according to the seasons are still widely practiced today.

Obed told CBC News that both oral tradition and academic research uphold ITK's assertions about NCC. Russell said that information is "based on biased, patriarchal and Euro-centric views of our history."

Another NunatuKavut member, herself an academic, also believes there are flaws in what Obed cited.

Debbie Martin said some literature comes from non-Indigenous researchers in decades past who "had a particular reason" for not including some Indigenous voices. There are also NCC members' own oral histories to consider, she said.

"To suggest that unilaterally we don't exist is false. It's incorrect," Martin, a professor at Dalhousie University, told CBC Radio's Labrador Morning.

"And the fact that the president of ITK is saying that our claims are fraudulent is really concerning, because it demonstrates that he's relying on research that is outdated and has been since debunked."