Canada’s Inuit Begin Vote on Land Claims
Inuit in Canada began voting Tuesday on an agreement that would make them the world’s largest private landowners and pave the way for creation of a vast new native homeland known as Nunavut.
Nearly 10,000 Inuit in 27 far-flung settlements were eligible to vote over three days on the land claims agreement that took 17 years to negotiate with Ottawa. Complete results will not be known until next week.
The agreement gives the Inuit, or Eskimos, clear title to 135,000 square miles of land. It allows them to hunt, fish and trap over nearly 850,000 square miles of tundra and ice stretching from the Manitoba border to the northern tip of Ellesmere Island on the Arctic Ocean.
“I think the Guinness Book of Records will have to be redone. We will be the largest private landowner in the world,” said Inuit leader Jack Kupeuna.
Kupeuna said the Inuit will not find it hard to satisfy a requirement that more than half of the voters in each of three regions cast ballots.
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