‘No Arctic sovereignty without Inuit security,’ Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president says

For Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Jeremy Tunraluk, Arctic sovereignty and security can only happen if Nunavut communities are supported and Inuit culture can thrive.

“Our message is clear: there can be no Arctic sovereignty without Inuit security,” Tunraluk said Thursday in a keynote speech opening the Nunavut Arctic Sovereignty and Security Summit in Iqaluit.

The conference, held at the Aqsarniit hotel, is bringing together hundreds of government, military and business leaders for a series of talks covering security, infrastructure and Inuit leadership.

Tunraluk tied security and sovereignty to the well-being of Inuit communities.

“If our communities lack roads, runways, clean water or reliable communications, they are not secure,” he said.

“If homes are overcrowded and crumbling, if food is to be flown in from the south while [our] hunters are disempowered by policy, climate change and shipping impacts, then sovereignty just becomes a word.”

Canada, he said, needs to invest in community infrastructure, including “nation-building” projects for which he and Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok have joined forces in calling for them to be built.

In particular, Tunraluk said the Grays Bay road and port — a proposed 230-kilometre all-season road and deepsea port that would link Nunavut to the south — would help Canada assert its sovereignty over the Northwest Passage.

But he emphasized that Inuit consultation is “not enough.”

“We must lead,” he said.

Tunraluk looked at the past, specifically the High Arctic relocations of the 1950s, when Inuit were not included in major decisions on sovereignty.

Those days are over, he said.

“There can be no Arctic policy without Nunavut Inuit at the centre,” he said.

“Let this be a gathering of action, not only for words. Let us commit to building homes, commit to protecting our language, stewarding our waters, and empowering our youth for Inuit by Inuit, in Nunavut for all time.”

Tunraluk included many other calls to action, including language preservation. He called Inuktut not just a language, but a worldview.

His speech was met with a standing ovation by the delegates in the room.

It was also followed by panel discussion, which echoed and added on to what he said.

Larry Audlaluk of Grise Fiord was relocated to the High Arctic in 1953 when he was about three years old. He talked about his family’s relocation from Inukjuak, in Nunavik, and how today his community struggles with a lack of infrastructure investments and expensive goods.

“I am happy that we survived, but it was very, very costly, and living in the High Arctic, we still are struggling with [the] high cost of living,” he said.

Jennifer Kilabuk of Iqaluit, who spoke alongside Audlaluk as a youth panelist, shared a similar call for better investment in communities.

“What can Canada do to support Inuit security and sovereignty?” Kilabuk said

“You can invest in essential infrastructure, housing, airports, ports, clean energy, reliable communications. You can fund innovative programs, land camps, youth initiatives, guardianship, language and culture, and healing. You could include Inuit in all decisions about climate, development and defence.”

She concluded, “Canada cannot claim Arctic sovereignty while ignoring the needs of Inuit here.”

The summit continues Thursday and Friday with panels and speeches from business leaders and politicians, including Akeeagok, Sen. Nancy Karetak-Lindell and former prime minister Stephen Harper.