A group with contested Inuit identity has received $74 million from the federal government since 2010

Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, an organization that represents about 70,000 Inuit across Canada, said he wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau more than a year ago to express his concerns (new window) regarding the NunatuKavut Community Council’s ability to receive federal grants and allocations relating to fishing.

These are grants based on a simple self-declaration of Inuit identityhe argues.

Mr. Obed adds that he has not received a response from Ottawa. Having this conversation is a defining part of Canada’s futurespecified the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami during a recent interview.

Otherwise, we are headed for another wave of dispossession where non-Indigenous Canadians choose to be Indigenous in order to take what they feel is theirs.

The disputed organization targeted, the NunatuKavut Community Council, has received nearly $74 million in federal funding since 2010, particularly for Indigenous programs or projects related to their claims to an Indigenous identity, according to government data.

Controversial subsidies

The latest amount – $161,108 – was approved last month by Environment and Climate Change Canada for a project on conservation and species at risk. This amount came from the department’s Aboriginal Fund for Species at Risk program.

NunatuKavut is not indigenouswrote Nunavut NDP MP Lori Idlout on Wednesday on the X platform in response to a previous message on funding.

In June, the Council received a special allowance for the recently reopened northern cod fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador, allowing its fishermen to receive a portion of the year’s total catch.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada said in a statement that it maintains a well established relationship with the NunatuKavut Community Council as an indigenous organization. He also said the group had historically received various licenses and funding from Indigenous programs.

The Council was previously called the Labrador Métis Nation and the Labrador Métis Association.

Until February, the group offered memberships alliance in addition to its regular memberships and those for its non-residents.

According to a document that has since been removed from the Council’s website, ally membership could be granted to an Indigenous person, resident of Labrador, who supports the objectives of NunatuKavut, but who does not meet the conditions for full membership [de l’organisation].

These members can benefit from indigenous representation, from different measures and of government-sponsored services and programsindicates the document.

NunatuKavut defends

NunatuKavut President Todd Russell said the Council proposed this type of membership as a gesture of inclusion towards Indigenous people He did not hint to provide them with support and services. When this type of membership became a source of confusion during negotiations over rights and recognition with the federal government, the council got rid of it, he said in an interview.

All indigenous groups have such discussions about who belongs and who does not, he said. It’s the madness to oppose the recognition, funding and allocation of resources to NunatuKavut as an Indigenous group, Mr. Russell added.

We have always been an Aboriginal organization and we have always represented Aboriginal people who otherwise would not have found representation in other Aboriginal groups in Labradorhe indicated.

From Métis to Inuit

Inuit leader Natan Obed retorts that his organization rejects the idea that a group can claim to be Métis and then reconstitute oneself as an Inuit group.

Mr. Russell said Mr. Obed is not responsible for determining who is or is not Inuit. We know who our grandfathers are. We know where we come fromhe declared.

The Métis National Council said last year it supported Natan Obed’s efforts (new window) to draw attention to what he called the fraudulent claims of NunatuKavut regarding his Inuit identity. He also called on the federal government to end its support for the group.

However, according to Todd Russell, the Métis National Council took this position because of a political campaign sustained led by Mr. Obed.

The NunatuKavut Council has long put forward a memorandum of understanding dated 2019 that it signed with the federal government, according to which the group is a Indigenous collective capable of holding Aboriginal rights under section 35.

In June, the Federal Court rejected the challenge (new window) aimed at invalidating the federal recognition of the Nunatukavut group. The Court concluded that the memorandum of understanding constitutes only an expression of goodwill and political commitment; it does not create, modify, recognize or deny any legal or constitutional obligation or right with respect to either party.

For its part, the Ministry of Crown-Indigenous Relations stressed that the agreement reflects the government’s intention to resolve outstanding questions regarding the rights that NunatuKavut may hold and who may benefit from them.

The government has not started negotiations substantial with the group to find out whether it should have rights under the Constitution, spokesperson Pascal Laplante said in an email.

Mr. Laplante specified that NunatuKavut receives funding from the ministry under two programs: one for recognized indigenous organizations and one for non-indigenous organizations currently in discussions with the ministry.

Another form of colonialism

Mr. Obed fears that a risk-averse federal government does not want to be seen as judging who is Indigenous and who is not. Instead, he said, he has been too inclusive and appears unwilling to make things right.

This new form of colonization, in which non-Indigenous Canadians become Indigenous and then materially benefit from Indigenous peoples, is now a new and normalized thing.

He also fears that the current Liberal government cannot resolve the problem with the Inuit in good faith and quicklysince Mr. Russell was a Liberal MP from 2005 to 2011.

Todd Russell rejected the allegation, saying Natan Obed was maintaining a very good relationship with Ottawa.