CAMBRIDGE BAY - Robert Maksagak has lived in Cambridge Bay for 22 of his 24 years.

He has his high school diploma, five years of experience in the Lupin gold mine, and certificates in underground blasting and mine rescue.

Harry Maksagak says leaders from all four Inuit regions of Canada should create an employment equity policy applying to all Inuit. - Navalik Tologanak/NNSL photo

But now he's having trouble finding steady work, though he sometimes works as a substitute teacher at the local school and gets some hours at Nunavut Arctic College.

Maksagak is a beneficiary of the Inuvialuit land claim, like his father Harry, and feels it isn't fair he gets passed over for jobs that give preference to Nunavut beneficiaries.

"I handed in my resume (for one job) and they said their first basis is for Nunavut beneficiaries, and that they're given first opportunities to get local jobs here," Robert said.

"It just kind of sucks that I'm a last resort because I'm not a Nunavut beneficiary even though I am native," he said.

Harry Maksagak uses stronger language. He says it's "outright discrimination" and wants representatives from the four Inuit regions of Canada to come to an agreement that would allow Inuit an equal shot at jobs no matter where they are from and where they live.

"If you look at southerners coming up and finding meaningful employment and staying up here because of their love of the land, love of the people and love of the work, we consider them long-term northerners and we don't even bat an eyelash," he said.

But that kind of agreement could require the reopening of land claims with the federal government and therefore lengthy legal proceedings.

Stephen Hendrie, a spokesperson with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) an umbrella group overseeing Inuit issues, said ITK leaves beneficiary status matters up to the individual land claim organizations.

But he said ITK is also pursuing the creation of a roundtable organization that would include Ottawa, the provincial and territorial governments and the regional Inuit organizations to work out agreements of common concern.

A similar arrangement exists among the wider aboriginal community, Hendrie said, but there Inuit are only one voice at the table.

"It's not as efficient (for Inuit) as it could be," he said.

Calls to NTI and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation weren't returned before deadline.

But Cambridge Bay MLA Keith Peterson said in an e-mail that Robert Maksagak's case is the first of its kind he's heard of.

"Most of the concerns here are...related to a lack of understanding of how and where to apply for the jobs that are available in the mines," he wrote.

For his part, Robert Maksagak said he's thinking of changing his benefit status to the Nunavut land claim. He never did it before, he said, because the mines, along with some airlines, don't differentiate between the settlement regions.