Philippe Morin
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 12, 2007

INUVIK - It's about time. This is what Inuvialuit Regional Corporation chair Nellie Cournoyea is saying, after a recent report by Canada's Auditor General.

Nellie Cournoyea: Confident the Auditor General's comments will give more power to Inuvialuit organizations

The report offers a scathing critique of the federal government's negotiations with Inuvialuit organizations since the 1984 Inuvialuit Final Agreement was signed.

Speaking on Nov. 8, Cournoyea said the report supported many arguments which have been made by the IRC in the past quarter-century.

"In regards to government, it's more clear what the roles and responsibilities are. For many years, they advocated they didn't have a responsibility, and this makes it clear they do," she said.

Cournoyea said she'd personally met Auditor General Sheila Fraser at an official function a few years back, and had also recently met federal Minster of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Chuck Strahl at a recent meeting in Yellowknife.

She said she is confident the Auditor General's comments will give more power to Inuvialuit organizations when they lobby the federal government to carry out its responsibilities under the Final Agreement.

The Inuvialuit Final Agreement, signed in 1984, assigns limited self-government rights to Inuvialuit people throughout their traditionally used land across the northwestern NWT and Yukon.

Auditor Sheila Fraser released the report on Oct. 30.

It raises several points about the Final Agreement, and a lack of proper recognition by the department of Indian and Northern Affairs. (INAC)

The report also states that different aboriginal groups have raised similar concerns in recent years.