In the book Victims of Progress (John Bodley) describe the emergence of the Inuit-governed Canadian territory of Nunavat.

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Emergence of Nunavut
John Bodley, in his book, Victims of Progress, presents a seemingly gloomy picture of small-scale indigenous communities across the world. Through his description, the indigenous societies have been put forward forth as mostly passive victims incapable of their defense, except for a few armed resistance instances spread across time. Although many observers may have ‘predicted’ the extinction of these groups of peoples, recent technological advancements in information and communication technology has eased their political mobilization and organization, and their self-defense scale is inevitably higher, capturing the “attention of governments and international organizations” in their pursuit of social justice and human rights (Bodley 185). Self-determination politically allows these people to fully control their societies, cultures, territories and natural resources in them, i.e. they become wholly cultural, economic, and political entities. The creation of the Inuit-governed Nunavut territory in Canada in 1999 is one such unique territorial identity that arose from perhaps one of the most comprehensive agreements in recent history. Under hard bargaining by the indigenous people following a 1993 Inuit land claims comprehensive settlement plan, a majority of the demands made by the people were met. This paper discusses the emergence of this territory, clearly defining what it is and how it came to existence, articulating the challenges it faced the struggle and how it managed to overcome them.

It describes the reflection of this fight for recognition to the vision Bodley holds concerning indigenous societies and their culture, the territory’s status, and any possible challenges that face it.
The negotiation process for the creation of Nunavut started in 1976 following the presentation of a proposal for its establishment by Canada’s Inuit Tapirisat. The territory’s name means ‘our land’ in the indigenous language, and consisted of about 2 million square kilometers of land which had not been surrendered via treaty following consistent dominant occupation by the Inuit. They demanded about 650,000 square kilometers of the land as well as exclusive fishing and hunting rights (Bodley 191). Being the majority peoples in the territory, their proposal indicated that they ought to have control over the regional government and regulate any possible development of resources in the region. The control and total ownership would ascertain their primary goal of achieving self-sufficiency.
The Inuit Committee on National Issues wrote a letter in 1982 addressed to all Canadian provincial prime ministers, clearly articulating what they stood for regarding the constitutional guarantees they needed, as the least of their demands in having their fundamental rights respected and setting in motion the process of creating Nunavut. Among the principles they wanted to be protected was to have the indigenous aboriginal people recognized collectively as uniquely distinct individuals in the country because of the traditional occupation of the lands for as long as it could be traced, and this included protecting their history, lifestyle, and cultures (Bodley 192). They also wanted their political rights recognized within all the self-governing organizations within the entire Canadian territorial jurisdiction. Additionally, they wanted their economic rights and access to their waters, lands, resources, and accruing benefits from their use be recognized as a foundation for their self-sufficiency as well as developing the indigenous communities and their families, resulting in the protection of their traditional livelihoods (Bodley 192).
The people were united in their mission, such that in 1982 they overwhelmingly voted in a referendum favoring the establishment of Nunavut as a separate Inuit political entity in its territory. Not so much time after that, the federal government of Canada and the Nunavut Constitutional Forum resolved to establish Nunavut. Aware of the challenges that could arise if the entity was widely seen as a racial or ethnical division, the people made the focus and resolved that the group was just based on the geographical stature of the individual who was permanent residents in a natural region practicing self-sufficiency through a reliance on the available renewable resources. The proponents for Nunavut’s self-governance undertook their proposals in detailed design, presented in a 1983 constitutional conference where they laid the emphasis that Nunavut was to be simply a self-governing territory within the Canada federal system. The precise Nunavut boundaries were agreed upon in 1988, and official recognition for the area was made in 1999 April. During this time, the territory had twenty-six thousand inhabitants, a majority of them (85%) being Inuit, occupying about 1,993,530 km2 of land, receiving a Canadian $840 million across fourteen years, mineral rights to a total acreage of 35,250 square kilometres, and a express rights to 352,104 km2 of land (Bodley 192).
The indigenous society as proposed by John Bodley is reflected in Nunavut, in that the people can control all their internal affairs, including the socio-cultural, economic, and political environment. Presently, Nunavut is a small independent territory under Canada with a government, full complementary state institutions, and an assembly for the representation of three regional communities. The region also has a representative in the Canadian legislature. All the land and natural resources owned by the territory are managed by the Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., which also advances the well-being of the indigenous people in conformity with the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act (Bodley 192). The institution also keeps a record of all Inuit-owned business entities that operate within the territory as well as yearly producing the “State of Inuit Culture and Society report” (Bodley 193). Additionally, the indigenous people of Nunavut have been able to implement their measures for the protection of human rights and providing for restitution of past injustices which they may be still experiencing (Bodley 188). The 1999 agreement further provided for the definition of the Inuit regarding their geographical location, giving them the ability to define who an Inuk person is clearly, and a specification that individual Inuit institution will have to establish the Inuit enrollment list for implementation of the agreement.
The experience of the Inuk people in their twenty-three-year struggle for recognition as a different territory among the indigenous communities is a good example that can be emulated by other model groups in achieving their autonomy. This is to create a sustainable society founded on social and cultural principles that have achieved success in a ‘tribal world’ (Bodley 192). The people adopted formal structures in their negotiation process with the federal government of Canada, clearly articulating what they wanted in their official engagements. They clearly identified principles upon which they based their demands, and there were less of direct negative confrontations with the government. They developed their institutional framework for the administration of the order, protection of human rights, and addressing past injustices. The Nunavut Economic Development Strategy was unveiled in 2003 by the Sivummut Economic Development Strategy Group (SEDS) (Bodley 193). The aim was the development of a high quality of life that is sustainable without a compromise on the distinct values, culture, and connections that are the backbone of the Inuit society. The movement was able to amass multiple groups, not just from one tribal group, but a conglomeration of about twenty-eight communities in addition to the majority Inuit community. The economic and political development of the Nunavut region is the dramatic transformation of society when all the actors, the people, and their leaders are willing to take on a challenge, conquer it, and transform it into an opportunity.
Works Cited
Bodley, John H. Victims Of Progress. 5th ed., Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2008.