World IN BRIEF : CANADA : Inuit Endorse Pact for Vast Homeland

The Inuit of Canada have approved a historic land claims agreement that will make them the world’s largest private landlords. A native political group said that 69% of the 8,000 Inuit, or Eskimos, who voted last week supported the agreement that took 17 years to negotiate with Ottawa. The agreement gives the natives clear title to 850,000 square miles, an area five times the size of California, in northwestern Canada. Ratification by the Parliament in Ottawa is needed before the new territory comes into existence in 1999.