Media Centre

NTI Concludes Annual General Meeting

For Immediate Release

(October 28, 2024 – Iqaluit, Nunavut) The Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held in Iqaluit, Nunavut last week. The NTI membership discussed important issues to Nunavut Inuit, and passed a number of resolutions, in the areas of Inuit Employment, Housing and Infrastructure, and Inuktut programming and services.

Resource Revenue Policy

Of the many resolutions passed at this year’s AGM, NTI membership approved updates to the Resource Revenue Policy and Nunavut Inuit Resource Revenue Trust Deed. The endowment fund is nearing the original target of $110 million. The updated policy allows NTI and the Regional Inuit Associations (RIAs) to develop programs for Inuit with a predictable annual distribution of at least $10 million from the investment income. The updated policy allows for the distributions to be spent on economic development projects and investments that would benefit the current generation. NTI and the RIAs also committed to spending half of the previous fiscal distributions annually and to improve communication to ensure Nunavut Inuit are informed of economic benefits  resulting from mining.

Housing and Infrastructure

Members passed a resolution calling on the Governments of Nunavut and Canada to address the housing crisis, including homelessness, hidden homelessness, unsafe and inadequate conditions of houses, and lack of sufficient housing available with adequate and immediate investments.

Earlier this week, the NTI board of directors passed a resolution to invest  $10 million into the Sakku Innovative Building Solution’s (SIBS) modular home factory in Arviat and $2 million into the Inuit Nunangat University.

Members also passed a resolution urging the Government of Nunavut (GN) to establish dedicated medical boarding homes in Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay, to ensure medical patients are adequately accommodated when travelling through regional hubs and have flight disruptions or cancellations. Medical boarding homes would alleviate unnecessary additional stress on medical travellers and save government costs on medical travel in the long-term.

Inuktut Programming and Services

NTI membership passed two (2) resolutions addressing their concerns around Inuktut language loss in Nunavut, including a lack of both public services and media availability in Inuktut.

The Inuit Languages Protection Act (ILPA) was created to ensure government and organizations providing programs and services to the public are made available in Inuktut. The Government of Nunavut and private sector fail to comply with ILPA creating barriers for Inuit to access services and contributing, in part, to the declining rates of Inuktut across the territory. NTI calls upon the GN to comply with ILPA and allocate adequate resources towards Inuktut initiatives to protect and promote Inuktut.

In addition, a resolution was passed calling upon the Government of Canada to allocate more resources dedicated for Inuktut media, to enable all Inuit-led producers to develop more hours and options for Inuktut media and television programs; and to amend the Broadcasting Act and regulations to enable Indigenous-led producers to charge subscription fees under a lower threshold, and to otherwise strengthen Indigenous Languages across Canada.

Inuit Employment

NTI membership recognizes that in Nunavut, Inuit employees who are working within government are not being accorded comparable employment rights and benefits, including access to staff housing in sufficient numbers; that not enough Inuit are in management position, and Inuit employment statistics in governments remain unacceptably low. To date, the Governments of Nunavut and Canada have failed to create and implement adequate Inuit Employment Plans (IEPs). Reports commissioned by NTI show that Inuit would have earned more than $200 Million on additional wages and other benefits each year had the governments properly implemented Article 23 of the Nunavut Agreement.

NTI members passed a resolution calling upon governments to fully implement Article 23 of the Nunavut Agreement and to take a collaborative approach with NTI in order to achieve pre-employment training plans that will meet the needs of Inuit and that will bring the existing Inuit labour force into government employment.

Finance

NTI presented the Audited Financial Statements for 2023-2024 at the AGM with an unqualified  opinion from the auditor. The Financial Statements were redesigned over the past year to provide more financial transparency to the financial processes and standing of NTI.

 While NTI was disappointed by the deficit adjustment from the Nunavut Trust funding of $28.2 Million in the current year, spending on Inuit-specific programming remained at $157 Million during the year. Short Term and Other Investments provided significant investment income, providing increased resources for housing and infrastructure projects for NTI and the RIAs for the upcoming year. NTI administered 58 separate projects in 2023-24 a 276% increase from 5 years ago.
 

The next AGM is scheduled for October 21-23, 2025 in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut.

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Contact:
Delilah Ross
Acting Director of Communications
Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated

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