Historic Ruling from the Nunavut Court of Justice Upholding Inuit Rights

This was the summary judgment case mentioned yesterday:

Story here

Coming home from hunting

Sarah Arragutainaq

Sanikiluaq,Nunavut

History was made yesterday when Justice Earl Johnson of the Nunavut Court of Justice issued his ruling in favour of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. on the failure of the Government of Canada to create a Nunavut General Monitoring Plan as required by the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.

This is the fourth legal motion NTI has won in relation to the lawsuit filed in 2006 against the Government of Canada, on behalf of the Crown. Justice Johnson granted NTI’s motion for summary judgment on one part of NTI’s lawsuit and ordered the Government to pay $14.8 million in damages.

“NTI is very happy with the decision. The amount of damages, $14.8 million, clearly illustrates to all Canadians and the federal government that ignoring duties and obligations under the NLCA is a very poor choice,” said Acting President James Eetoolook.

The decision involves only one part of the lawsuit. Other parts of the lawsuit, including government’s breaches on Inuit employment (Article 23) and government contracting (Article 24), are continuing to move forward.