Iqaluit (Jul 03/06) - Thirteen years after the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement was settled, the structure is in place to improve the lives of Inuit. It's now a matter of getting the results.

Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated released its second report on the state of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Wednesday at a meeting of the Land Claims Agreement Coalition in Ottawa.

"The bad news is the status quo," NTI president Paul Kaludjak said. "(The report) spells out that Inuit benefits from jobs arising from the creation of our government are still lacking."

The 300-page report, written by auditing company PriceWaterhouseCooper, focuses on Nunavut's development between 1999 and 2004.

Major stumbling blocks are delays in impact benefit agreements from the creation of new national parks. It also says the federal government isn't living up to its obligations under article 24 of the land claim, which calls for preferred access for Inuit businesses to government contracts within Nunavut.

Kaludjak said many federal departments simply don't observe article 24.

"When the federal government signed (the land claims agreement) they signed it on behalf of all departments," he said. "There are certain things you have to do when you cross into Nunavut."

This has NTI looking for a more reliable way to resolve disputes with the federal government. Now, a dispute can only go to arbitration if all three parties agree. Kadlujak wants to see a board with members from the federal government, the territorial government and NTI to review disputes and make a judgement.

But Kadlujak also said the appointment of Thomas Berger to author a report on outstanding problems with the Nunavut land claim was a success because all three parties agreed Berger was the man for the job. That report focused heavily on problems with Nunavut's education system and Inuit participation in the workforce.

PriceWaterhouseCooper is working on a separate study on that article of the land claim, saying it is too big to be included in this one.

No one from the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs was available to comment.