Rankin Inlet (June 04/03) - Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) has visited three of seven Kivalliq communities to gauge the needs and wants of Nunavut Land Claims beneficiaries.

NTI has visited Repulse Bay, Chesterfield Inlet and Coral Harbour.

The tour is part of a Nunavut wide trip that has taken NTI through the Kitikmeot and most of the way through the Baffin regions already.

The remainder of the communities will be visited in the fall.

"One of our agendas is to visit communities and determine how they want us to do business, what new ideas they might have and find out from the beneficiaries what can be done by us to do business better," said Paul Kaludjak, vice-president of finance.

During the tour, that has taken NTI to all but 10 of Nunavut's 26 communities, Kaludjak said they have received a lot of feed back.

"The biggest thing we have heard has been economic development in the local communities, which is difficult because of access," said Kaludjak.

But, one of the most pressing issues in Kaludjak's mind are growing social pressures in the smaller communities.

NTI has found cost of living, a housing crisis and a concern of the degradation of Inuit culture to be of paramount concern in most communities.

"Inuit culture is drastically changing the elders want it reinforced through language, culture and tradition," said Kaludjak.

Cultural erosion, Kaludjak said, is also the root of many social issues.

"There are a lot of cultural impacts. There is a lack of youth finishing school and are stuck in the middle. There is a large population wondering where to go," he said.

That frustration has led to violence, substance abuse and suicide, issues that seem to plague Northern communities.

Unfortunately, Kaludjak said, although the most abundant, they are also the hardest issues for NTI to tackle.

"We are limited on social programming for the fact that social issues are left with the governments to administer," he said.

Following the tour, NTI will compile the information into a report that will allow them to enhance their level of service. It will also give them a better weapon against the territorial and federal levels of government when trying to lobby for additional services and programming, according to Kaludjak.

Overall he said the tour has been a good exercise and the feedback on how the beneficiaries feel NTI is doing on their behalf has been good.

"It hasn't been that terrible. They (beneficiaries) are pretty comfortable with us. Many were concerned about past leaders' conduct, but we assured them we've changed that," said Kaludjak.

A report on the tour should be ready in mid-fall.