Kevin Wilson
Northern News Services

Ottawa (Jan 07/02) - After 30 years of advocacy, the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada gave itself a new name - Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. President Jose Kusugak reflects on the last 30 years, and talks about his hopes for the association's future.

Jose Kusugak reflects on his early years in Ottawa: "There was a real sense of homesickness. We'd spend Christmas, Easter, and every other holiday in Ottawa ... that was very lonely." - Kevin Wilson/NNSL photo

Let's talk about the recent federal budget for a second. Do you think what was announced in the budget was a good start for Inuit and for ITK, or does it look like the next 30 years are off to a slightly rocky road?

Jose Kusugak: Well, looking at the stats from Paul Martin's budget, I'd see we have a lot of work to do. Look at the $680-million program over five years budgeted for affordable housing. They're handing over the money to the provinces and territories for construction as soon as possible, but that's made on a per capita basis. Now, if you look at the provinces per capita, as opposed to Nunavut, there's next to nothing because the numbers paper-wise don't tell the story. As we said in our housing report last month, we have an incredible need for housing. Perhaps they could look at the needs aspect rather than per capita.

Look at the funding for high-speed broadband Internet access. Now it's delayed to 2004. (Industry Minister) Brian Tobin said he would take a billion dollars or so to develop that, and now they've kind of cut that in half and delayed it, and that means we're delayed on things like tele-health, and remote diagnosis, and people have to travel south for that much longer. Tele-education is delayed because of that.... If there's anything positive, it's that we are more focused now. I'm an optimist in many ways.

You wrote an article in the Globe and Mail recently, and referred to Inuit as forgotten people. Do you feel that's a byproduct of being lumped in with First Nations through Indian and Northern Affairs?

JK: It really feels like it, because of the different recognition in the Constitution. From our side, it's very hard to get a handle on things without specific Inuit programs. When you have spent all your life doing fair negotiations to make sure we don't do anything through violence, we're proud. As taxpayers, when that translates into being ignored, it really sends a different message. When we're trying to look at a new beginning, that has an influence on our own discussions here.

You had your 30th anniversary gala recently. That certainly must have been gratifying for you personally, to be able to reflect on the work that you and others before you have done. On a personal level, was it good to sit down with all those people and reflect on what's been accomplished in the last 30 years?

JK: Definitely. I'm a great believer in patting people on the back for the work they have done. I know traditionally, we're kind of supposed to not be patting ourselves on the back, but I really think that without the efforts of people like Tagak Curley, John Amagoalik, the original board, I have a feeling that we would be pretty far back.

You came to Ottawa with that first group of people 30 years ago, correct?

JK: Yes, I was teaching in Rankin Inlet at the time, and the idea was to develop a standardized writing system in the Keewatin. So when the original board of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada went to Rankin Inlet for their board meeting, I approached them to solicit some funds to do that. Since the board was made of people all over the Arctic, different dialects and so on, I showed them the writing system we were contemplating for Keewatin. After my presentation in Rankin, they sent me a one-way ticket to Ottawa saying if I wanted to standardize the writing system for Keewatin, I should do it for all of the Arctic, so that was a real challenge for a 22-year-old. The money for the language work didn't come until three years later, so they asked me if I would work on the introduction of land claims to the Inuit of the Arctic, which would allow me to go to the same communities I would have gone to if I had been working on the language project.

Former ITC president Rhoda Innuksuk said that all of you made sacrifices to work for Inuit. Was there ever a time where you thought to yourself, the heck with it, I want to go back to Rankin, climb on my snow machine, get on the land, or just go home?

JK: Just like in any job, there was no manual for working on land claims, working on constitutional stuff, working on standardized writing. We were young, and the money wasn't very much, but I can't think of an incident where I just thought of packing up and going home.

There was a real sense of homesickness. We'd spend Christmas, Easter and every other holiday alone in Ottawa and that was very lonely. Otherwise, it was busy. After my first six days working for ITC, I ended up in Europe with Tagak Curley, attending a meeting with 70 different countries who deal with petroleum industries. It was great. We were in Paris and La Havre, and it was incredible, and later on we went to Copenhagen three years later. So it was a really exciting time.

You said earlier you were an optimist. Are you optimistic about the next 30 years?

JK: Oh, I think the first 30 years tells us there's no turning back ... I just can't see somebody who is not optimistic as we were in the past 30 years to be able to carry on from here. Anybody who is not optimistic should really consider if they should be in that same position. With the few numbers that we have, we really can't afford not to be optimistic.

In the last 30 years you've been involved with ITK, what has been the proudest moment?

JK: No doubt it was standing there with our prime minister and the governor general, as they were proclaiming the reality of Nunavut. I got feedback a few days after that from a gentleman in Vancouver who said he remembered sitting around his coffee table in Vancouver, and there I was with long hair saying that one day the territories will be split in two and we'll have our own territory. At that time, he thought we were just dreaming, and next thing he knows, we're on the television live from Nunavut. That really touched me. It really brought me back to the early days.

What's your first priority for the next 30 years?

JK: Working as hard as I can on Inuit-specific programs and the idea of having Indian and Northern Affairs to reflect that they serve and are responsible and mandated to serve all aboriginal people ... so we know that Inuit are part of the statistics in Canada, and we know they have specific needs in a certain geographical part of Canada, because we have so much to contribute.