2011-2012 to 2014-2015 Implementation Report of the Nunavik Inuit Land Claims Agreement

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada

• Participated in the NILCA Implementation Committee to ensure proper and timely implementation of the NILCA;
• Funded and assisted in resolving funding and related matters for the IPGs;
• Participated jointly with other signatories in the implementation of the overlap arrangements contained in Articles 27, 28 and 29 of the NILCA;
• Monitored members’ appointments to the IPGs as well as members’ appointments to the Implementation Committee;
• Worked closely with their partners to collect nominations and processes all Ministerial appointments to the IPGs. Six appointments were made to the IPGs between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2015;
• Through the Nunavut Contaminated Sites Program, worked on remediating the Cape Dorset 2 site, located on Nottingham Island. Community consultations were held in Salluit and Ivujivik in January 2013 presenting the draft Remedial Action Plan, in order to seek input from residents on the plan.

Parks Canada

Torngat Mountains National Park of Canada

• Parks Canada is beginning a new management planning process with a final management plan due in December 2016. As part of this process, Parks Canada will be collaborating with the Cooperative Management Board (CMB) for Torngat Mountains National Park (TMNP) and will seek the views of Makivik. There will be a general consultation process that will solicit views from the public and key stakeholders.
• Due to a fire in the Pavilion for the Parc National Kuururjuaq in 2014, Parks Canada has secured interim office space in the Community Centre through a lease arrangement with the Northern Village of Kangiqsualujjuaq.
• Parks Canada continues to base its operations in the summer out of the Torngat Mountains Base Camp and Research Station located at Saglek outside the park but adjacent to the southern boundary.
• In addition, Parks Canada contracted 9 Nunavik Inuit cultural performers who also enriched the general visitor experience and in 2011 and 2014 provided special experiences and programming for the Students on Ice which was hosted by Parks Canada in the Torngat Mountains National Park. These elders and cultural performers worked with the Kangidluasuk Student Program which hosts Inuit youth from Nunavik and Nunatsiavut at Base Camp for 2-3 weeks. Seventeen Nunavik Inuit youth have participated in this program during this time. The connection between Inuit elders and youth in the Torngat Mountains has been showcased through poetry in 2 books: A Gift of Words (2013) and Their Working Hands, Their Golden Words – Inuit Elders to Inuit Youth (2014).
• Providing opportunities for polar bear safety training workshops in Kangiqsualujjuaq to help Nunavik Inuit qualify for employment as bear guards in the park.
• Collaborating with Nunavik Parks on ways to cooperate on communication and emergency response and to promote the Torngat Mountains National Park and the Parc National Kuururjuaq as one destination.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

• Community consultations to obtain detailed samples from Quaqtaq and Ivujivik community hunts (July) and inform on research activities and to outline research results (February 2012).
• Advice provided to Wildlife Board on acceptable harvest levels of beluga in the NMR.
• Tissue sampling program (collect skin sample and tooth from harvested beluga whales and other mammals) from all Nunavik communities supported.
• Genetic analyses of the samples obtained from Nunavik hunter tissue sampling program were analysed at the DFO genetics laboratory.
• Large programs that explored the ecology of beluga, and bowhead whales from the perspective of traditional knowledge were completed in 2013, and a study partially supported by the Nunavik Marine Region Wildlife Board (NMRWB) that examined walrus ecology from the perspective of Inuit Traditional Ecological Knowledge was initiated in 2013/2014 and completed in 2015.
• Deployment and recovery of hydrophones to monitor ship noise and marine mammal vocalizations in Hudson Strait. Presentation of results to National Marine Mammal Peer Review meeting.
• Presented several research results to partner entities.

Environment Canada

During the reporting period, Environment Canada (EC) worked closely with NILCA’s IPGs on the implementation of the wildlife management regime and the impact review process for proposed development projects in the Nunavik Marine Region as specified under the Agreement.

EC has collaborated actively in the work of the (NMRWB) by making EC’s expertise available to the NMRWB and by providing technical support for questions related to migratory birds and species at risk.

More specifically, EC worked with the NMRWB on:

• The development of the Peregrine Falcon Management Plan and the Recovery Strategy for the Red Knot;
• The presentation to the NMRWB of avifauna monitoring in the Nunavik marine and coastal region;
• The preparation of the implementation of the 2nd Quebec Breeding Bird Atlas in Nunavik.

EC also kept the NMRWB informed of its decisions and activities concerning Polar Bear management in Canada and in the NMR concerning, in particular:

• The development of the Polar Bear Management Plan;
• The implementation of Total Allowable Take by Inuit in the NMR, and;
• Polar Bear population management in Canada and internationally.

Since 2014, EC is also involved in the formulation of the Land Use Plan at the invitation of the Nunavik Marine Region Planning Commission.

Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs

EIA holds the transboundary claims files and works to coordinate and monitor implementation of the NILCA by government departments.

• Costs related to implementation management include ongoing membership on the Implementation Committee and related activities.

Department of Environment

Protected Areas:

Article 11 of the NILCA assigns the Department of Environment the responsibility for the establishment of a Protected Area Impact and Benefit Agreement and joint management committee for territorial parks and other areas of particular significance for ecological, cultural, archaeological, research or similar reasons under shared jurisdiction or solely under the jurisdiction of the territorial government.

• No Protected Areas are currently planned for the NMR Settlement Area; therefore no activities have been undertaken during the reporting period.

Land and Resources:

With the jurisdictional responsibility to protect the land and people of the territory, the GN has a very real and tangible interest in the outcome of Land Use Planning (Article 6) and the Development Impact (Article 7) process.

• The GN Department of the Environment makes appointments for the GN representative to the NMRPC and the NMRIRB (Nunavik Marine Region Impact Review Board) ongoing, including involvement in the chair appointment process for each IPGs.
• The GN Minister and GN departments will be involved in the development of, review and implementation and monitoring of future land use plan.
• The GN Minister and GN departments are also involved in screening, reviewing, monitoring, decisions and amendments of development project proposals.
• The GN will also work with its partners to develop a general environmental monitoring plan for the NMR.

Wildlife Management Division:

Under the NILCA, the responsibility for management of terrestrial species is shared between the GN Department of Environment, the NMRWB, and the Local Nunavimmi Umajutvijiit Katajuaqatigininga (LNUKs)/ Regional Nunavimmi Umajutvijiit Katajuaqatigininga (RNUKs). These organizations work collectively and independently on their respective responsibilities as outlined in the NILCA. In the GN, responsibility for wildlife management initiatives falls to the Wildlife Division of the Department of Environment. This division participates in the decision process by bringing the Department’s management recommendations forward to the NMRWB. The division is responsible for licensing, information collection (harvesting, sampling, etc.), enforcement of wildlife legislation and wildlife monitoring. The GN Department of Environment may also seek advice from the NMRWB on wildlife management issues. The GN Environment Minister can refer matters to the NMRWB where appropriate.

• The Wildlife Division has increased contact, most recently on legislation and regulations, and will be building on that relationship.
• The Department of the Environment makes appointments for the GN representative to the NMRWB ongoing, including jointly appointing the chair.

Department of Justice

Legal obligations include land titles registration, surveys and the potential for dispute resolution costs.

• The Legal and Constitutional Law Division provided legal advice to other GN departments about their NILCA obligations during the period in question.
• The Legislative Drafting Division assisted government departments and agencies in developing regulations and legislation that are consistent with the NILCA.
• The Land Titles Office administers the Land Titles Act (Nunavut) and provides guaranteed titles under a modern legal regime.
• Pursuant to Article 20 of NILCA, the GN and Makivik Corporation share title in all archaeological specimens discovered in the Nunavik Marine Region after July 2008. The GN retains title in all specimens recovered prior to July 2008. In 2014, the Avataq Cultural Institute, which has been designated by Makivik as its repository for archaeological specimens, requested that all specimens from the Nunavik Marine Region be transferred to it. The Department of Justice assisted the GN in entering into an amended agreement with Avataq respecting this transfer.

Department of Culture and Heritage

• The Department of Culture and Heritage worked with the Inuit of Nunavik to implement Article 20 (Archaeology) and 21 (Ethnographic Resources and Archival Records), including the drafting of a Place Names Policy.

Nunavik Marine Region Wildlife Board

The NMRWB is an Institution of Public Government created under Chapter 5 of the NILCA.

During the reporting period, the NMRWB has undertaken several activities related to its mandate. Such activities have included:

• The NMRWB held its first public hearing regarding establishing a Total Allowable Take (TAT) and Non-Quota Limitations (NQL) for Southern Hudson Bay polar bear within the Nunavik Marine Region (NMR) (held February 2014);
• NMRWB staff held workshops in each Nunavik community with relevant organizations and individuals (LNUKs and key hunters) regarding beluga management. Based on these consultations and the best available information from Nunavik Inuit knowledge and scientific studies, the NMRWB decided on a new beluga management system, including TAT for Eastern Hudson Bay beluga and NQLs, which was accepted by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Minister in the summer of 2014;
• In collaboration with researchers from Trent University, the NMRWB is conducting a Nunavik Inuit Knowledge of polar bears study to inform the Board’s public hearings regarding polar bears;
• The NMRWB established a TAT, and NQLs, and approved a management plan for 2013-16, for narwhal in the NMR. In 2014 Makivik and DFO proposed a flex-quota system for narwhal, which was approved by the NMRWB;
• Following a request from the RNUK to hunt bowhead whales in the NMR, in 2014 the NMRWB established a TAT for bowhead whales that was accepted and implemented by the DFO Minister;
• The NMRWB approved access to the NMR for wildlife research projects, primarily for migratory bird studies on the offshore islands, as well as beluga, fish and shrimp surveys;
• The NMRWB collaborated with the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board to establish a Total Allowable Take / Total Allowable Harvest for the two species of shrimp fished in the NMR and Nunavut Settlement Area;
• The NMRWB approved research funding for projects proposed in the NMR that best reflect the board’s mandate. Between 2011-2015, the board supported eight projects. Research funded included; surveys for ringed seal and SHB polar bear, research on polar bear predation of Common eiders and Inuit knowledge of walrus, monitoring of invasive species, survey of subsistence harvest of migratory birds, Inuit participation in the Quebec Breeding Bird Atlas, and community based monitoring of the sea ice, wildlife entrapments and oceanography. Two of these projects did not proceed as anticipated - the polar bear survey and survey of Inuit subsistence harvesting of migratory birds - and therefore did not end up expending the allocated funding;
• Completed the first website of the NMRWB, in the summer of 2012 and currently working an improved version for launch in 2016.

Nunavik Marine Region Planning Commission

The NMRPC is an Institution of Public Government created under Chapter 6 of the NILCA.

During the reporting period, the NMRPC has undertaken several activities related to its mandate. Such activities have included:

• Discussed and mandated a chairperson to finalize the arrangements for the production of a website for the NMRPC. The website is to include resolutions of meetings, public notices and decisions, among including a series of maps related to the Nunavik Marine Region. The website went live in early 2013;
• A Data Gap Analysis of current information available for the Nunavik Marine Region (NMR). The analysis led to the proposal of the Nunavik-wide Use and Occupancy Mapping exercise;
• The Nunavik-wide Use and Occupancy Mapping Exercise was undertaken in five Phases:
  • Phase I oversaw the development of the communications strategy and the completion of research design, methodology testing and two single-community pilot map surveys (Tasiujaq and Aupaluk);
  • Phase II oversaw the completion of the interview sessions on the Ungava Coast (Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kuujjuaq, Kangirsuk, Quaqtaq, Kangiqsujuaq, and Salluit);
  • Phase III oversaw the completion of the Verification Tour for the Ungava Coast which included returning to the communities of Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kuujjuaq, Tasiujaq, Aupaluk, Quaqtaq, Kangirsuk, Kangiqsujuaq, and Salluit with completed map biographies to hand-back and verify the data-collection for each community;
  • Phase IV oversaw the completion of the interview sessions on the Hudson Coast as well as Montreal residents from Nunavik. The communities interviewed included Ivujivik, Akulivik, Umiujaq, Puvirnituq, Inukjuak, Kuujjuaraapik and Chisasibi;
  • Phase V is the Verification and Hand-back Tour for the Hudson Coast (Ivujivik, Akulivik, Umiujaq, Puvirnituq, Inukjuak, Kuujjuaraapik, Chisasibi) and is currently scheduled for completion in March 2016;
  • Important additional funding was granted during the reporting period to assist in completion of the project.
• A Data Compilation Initiative to give an overview of the available datasets for the land-use activities of the NMRPC was undertaken and completed. It will form the basis of the Land-Use Plan currently in development for the NMR;
• The preliminary stages of the Marine Protected Areas Project were undertaken.
• The preliminary stages of the development of engagement procedures for Overlap Agreements with Adjacent Jurisdictions;
• The Land-Use Plan for the NMR is currently in its formulation stages.

Nunavik Marine Region Impact Review Board

The NMRIRB is an Institution of Public Government created under Chapter 7 of the NILCA.

During the reporting period, the NMRIRB has undertaken several activities related to its mandate. Such activities have included:

• Discussed and mandated a chairperson to finalize the arrangements for the production of a website for the NMRIRB. The website is to include resolutions of meetings, public notices and decisions, among including a series of maps related to the Nunavik Marine Region. The website went live in early 2013;
• The development of the internal Impact Review Process with clear-cut timelines and coordination procedures for cross-jurisdictional activities;
• The Screening and Review of multiple projects and activities that have had the potential to impact the NMR. These include projects and activities such as:
  • The Baffinland Mary River Iron Mine Project;
  • The Canadian Royalties Nunavik Nickel Project;
  • The Oceanic Iron Ore Hopes Advance Bay Project;
  • The Arctic Fiber Submarine Cable Project;
  • Research and exploration activities as well as tourist ventures.
• The development of coordination strategies with the RNUKs and LNUKs with regard to project monitoring in the NMR;
• The creation of a Cumulative Impacts Assessment Tool for interactive engagement with regard to potential and current development projects in the NMR. Additional funding was granted to help complete this project.