QIA is strengthening the Inuit economy and improving the well-being
of Inuit within Fisheries Reconciliation Agreements
Iqaluit, Nunavut, October 17, 2023 – The Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA) is challenging the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in court for a recent decision to transfer valuable Nunavut adjacent water licences to non-Inuit southern interests. The challenge argues economic loss incurred to Inuit , including significant direct and indirect benefits for Inuit that have not been realized since the creation of the territory in 1999.
The QIA supports economic development as an important way to affirm and enact Inuit jurisdiction and authority while building an Inuit economy. The QIA identified Nunavut Fisheries as holding many potential opportunities in helping create such an economy. As a key component of our recent Qikiqtani-Project Finance for Permanence Agreement in Principle, QIA is working to reinforce Qikiqtani Inuit control and care of the land and water, including those waters in the offshore and adjacent to the Qikiqtani region.
The QIA is attempting to work with the federal government to address this chronic unresolved issue through a fisheries reconciliation approach to quota distribution. Increasing Inuit participation in fisheries is therefore a tangible way that QIA can advance economic development while minimizing the need to further expand non-renewable resource extraction activities.
For more information on our work to advance reconciliation, please refer to our website blog, Strengthening the Inuit Economy, linked here
https://www.qia.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/231010-qia-fisheriesreconcilliationjudicial-review.pdf
For more information, please contact:
Karen Flaherty
Director, Strategic Communications
Qikiqtani Inuit Association
(P) 867.975.8398 or toll-free 1.800.667.2742
