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Time - Man of the Year
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1992-09-10
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THE WEEK, Page 21WORLDIt's Cold, But It's Ours
A plebiscite points toward a homeland for Canada's Eskimos
by 1999
About 15,000 voters in Canada's sparsely settled Northwest
Territories made it to the polls last week and narrowly approved
a plan to split the vast region in two. Once a chain of legal
steps is completed, the new 772,000-sq.-mi. territory, to be
called Nunavut, will become a national home for the Eskimo --
or Inuit -- of the country's eastern Arctic. It will encompass
a huge area of mainland and islands stretching from Manitoba
almost to the North Pole that is thought to be rich in oil and
minerals.
Though the plebiscite was not formally binding on the
Canadian government, Ottawa is going ahead with its plans to set
up a local administration and hand over political control of
the area by 1999. In November the residents, 85% of whom are
Inuit, will be asked to vote again on a complicated land
settlement. The deal will offer the Inuit outright ownership of
135,000 sq. mi. and a cash payment of $1 billion over 14 years.
If it is accepted, a crash program will begin training the Inuit
to take over administration of the Nunavut territorial
government.
Even then Nunavut ("our land") will not come into existence
until the whole package is submitted to Parliament for
ratification.