The Agreement in Principle was initialled by the 3 party negotiators on August 9, 2007 which is another step in the approval process. The fact that the AIP is now initialled helps the leaders move forward to the signing of the ageement.
Following the Katimajiit Forum in Kuujjuaq, we can now say that the Agreement in Principle is well on its way to being formally signed by all parties in the very near future.
Premier Charest has publicly announced during the press conference that his government is in full support and that it is only a matter of time before the Nunavik Regional Government is fully approved. The only delay now is in seeing the AIP being approved at the Federal level.
"The reason for the delay is not in the content but in the process." the Premier mentioned.
The new Minister of Indian Affairs Chuck Strahl indicated that his government is also in full support and looks forward to seeing the creation of the new public regional government for Nunavik.
Once this AIP is signed, the next step will be to negotiate a Final Agreement which will be legally binding and will include a detailed Implementation Plan. The Final Agreement will have to be ratified by the Nunavik population, the Quebec Government and the Federal Government. Following approval, the implementation process will start to amalgamate the 3 institutions which will form the Nunavik Regional Government.
A big part of the implementation will include amendments to certain sections of the JBNQA pertaining to the Kativik School Board, Kativik Regional Government and the Nunavik Health and Social Services. New legislation will have to be approved by the Quebec Government to replace these sections to create the Nunavik Regional Government.
Much work is ahead of us, and being optimistic we hope to see the actual amalgamation and creation of the Nunavik Government by the year 2011.
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Here, you will find the most up to date information (news articles). There are also sections providing historical background, documents about the negotiation, photos, video clips and a glossary of important words.
The Nunavik negotiating team
