Last week in an Iqaluit courtroom, Justice Beverly Browne ruled that beneficiaries of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement don't have to register their firearms by the Jan. 1, 2003 deadline.

Nunavut Tunngavik first vice-president James Eetoolook grinned when he heard the news.

"I'm delighted," said Eetoolook. "When they called me this morning, I smiled."

"Whoever goes out hunting Jan. 1 won't have to worry about breaking the law."

Browne's unexpected order came as result of the ongoing legal battle between NTI and the federal government over the new gun laws. When the case comes before the court again in the new year, NTI's legal counsel hopes to postpone any registration deadline until their lawsuit to stop the gun laws entirely proceeds.

Filed in 2000, the NTI lawsuit is to prove the Firearms Act violates Canadian law as already set out in the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. It is hoped that those proceedings will go to court by the middle of 2003.

Feds make it difficult

Though he registered his own firearms some time ago, Eetoolook knows well the intense difficulty some Inuit experience in trying to abide by the rules of the Firearms Act. Information is not available in Inuktitut, many Inuit do not have access to computers and cannot download the appropriate forms and the forms are not available in most communities.

Furthermore, the Canadian Firearms Centre closed the Nunavut Area Office in Iqaluit in February and services have still not resumed.

"Inuit have received no help from the federal government at all," said Eetoolook.

"Even though it's temporary, I'm still happy. Inuit have more time to register their firearms. This is the achievement we were looking for."