Nunavut Devolution

Canada’s Northern Strategy sets working with Northern partners to advance practical, innovative and efficient governance models and the devolution of land and resource management as key to building the future of the North. Devolution in Nunavut is an essential step to reaching these goals.

The Lands and Resources Devolution Negotiation Protocol was signed in 2008 by the Government of Canada, the Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated and will guide future negotiations toward a devolution agreement in Nunavut.

In May 2012, a Chief Federal Negotiator for Nunavut Devolution was appointed and his work has focused on meeting with the Government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated as well as other territorial stakeholders to identify the next steps required to advance negotiations and to examine how land and resource management capacity can be improved in Nunavut.

Since the 1970s, the federal government has gradually transferred responsibility for health, education, social services, housing, airports and language to the Government of Nunavut. Recent steps on devolution in Nunavut have focused on the transfer of responsibility for land and resource management.

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