NUNAVUT
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) is in good financial shape and plans to pay off its debt by 2017, delegates were told at the Inuit beneficiary organization's 2015 annual general meeting held Oct. 20 to 22 in Apex outside Iqaluit.

President Cathy Towtongie's top news for 2015 is the financial audit.

"We had an excellent audit report," Towtongie told Nunavut News/North.

"When I first sat as president in 2010, we had 33 pages of notes from the auditors. This year, we had one line. Organizations have to be financially stable and the auditors informed us that if we control our spending, it's possible that in two years, NTI will be out of deficit."

Towtongie is talking about debt dating back to NTI's start-up in 1993. That debt, owed to the Nunavut Trust, was supposed to be paid off by 2007.

When Towtongie took over the presidency in 2010, she said, NTI still owed close to $100 million. That debt is now down to $32 million, and with a new financial policy in place ramping up repayment, the debt should be cleared by 2017.

"That's why I'm excited," said Towtongie. "Because once we pay off the loan we can do more programs."

Towtongie noted several resolutions that came out of the annual general meeting:

- that the Government of Canada launch a public inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada and that Inuit need to be involved to guide and inform the process.

- that the Government of Canada and the Government of Nunavut fully involve and closely consult with Inuit on the formulation and development of any plan, strategy, policy, legislation and regulations regarding the use of and resource development in the waters of the Northwest Passage.

- that the governments of Canada and Nunavut work with Inuit organizations to provide funding and programs to support the establishment of an Inuit youth cultural exchange program.

"A youth made a presentation, James Takkiruq from Gjoa Haven, that there are always cultural exchanges with the south but he would like to see cross-cultural exchange across Nunavut with the different regions so they could learn from each other," Towtongie said.

The resolution states that because Inuit youth form a large proportion of the population in Nunavut, and due to the geography of Nunavut, Inuit youth are spread out amongst isolated communities, programs need to be in place to formulate and enhance a unified Nunavut identity.

There are also detailed resolutions related to Inuit employment and training, NTI funding initiatives for elders and youth programs, cultural and language programs, school breakfast programs and a Nunavut Harvesters Support Program and, finally, poverty reduction.

A full list of resolutions stemming from the annual general meeting is available on the NTI website or through the NTI office.