[Indigsol] Fwd: NEWS: Media Release from Inuit leader - Canadians in the South help us improve the Arctic!

Tue Sep 23 01:07:57 PDT 2008

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sheila Muxlow <smuxlow at canadians.org>
Date: 2008/9/23
Subject: NEWS: Media Release from Inuit leader - Canadians in the South help
us improve the Arctic!
To:

Media Release from Inuit leader

 "We want Canadians in the south to understand our issues and take them up
with their local candidates.  We are asking Canadians throughout this
wonderful country to help us Inuit in our efforts to improve the Arctic, our
communities and society and hence make this a better Canada."

 - Mary Simon

______________________________

[forwarded by ArcticNews - arcticnews at jackhicks.com]

Inuit Send 12 Questions to Party Leaders Seeking Clear Positions Regarding
Canada's Biggest Region – The Arctic

Media release

Inuit Tapirisat Kanatami

September 11, 2008

OTTAWA -- National Inuit leader Mary Simon sent an "Open Letter" to the five
party leaders today in the fifth day of the election campaign seeking their
parties' positions on 12 Questions of national importance to Inuit.

"We have reviewed a number of questions that are important to Inuit and are
current in our nation's political dialogue," says Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
President Mary Simon. "We are asking for responses to the 12 Questions from
the national party leaders by October first, and intend to post the
responses on our web site [http://www.itk.ca/], with the public and the
media."

Mary Simon picks up on her Cross Canada speaking tour with stops at the
Vancouver Board of Trade on September 23, The Canadian Club of Victoria on

September 24, and the University of British Columbia on September 25th.

"I will be talking about these 12 Questions during the next leg of my
speaking tour," said Mary Simon. "I believe an election campaign is the
right time to engage with Canadians on the issues we feel are critical to
Inuit and important to Canadians as well. Elections are not won or lost in
the Arctic, yet the Arctic is now crucial to the Canadian agenda. We want
Canadians in the south to understand our issues and take them up with their
local candidates. We are asking Canadians throughout this wonderful country
to help us Inuit in our efforts to improve the Arctic, our communities and
society and hence make this a better Canada."

Here are the 12 Questions:

1. Does your Party agree that following the historic June 11th, 2008 Apology
by the Prime Minister to Aboriginal Peoples in Canada that the next
Government should embark on a bold new path in partnership with Inuit to
close gaps in housing, health, economic development, and education needs by
2015?

2. Does your Party support expanding the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
by adding an Inuk Commissioner to recognize the many Inuit who were impacted
by the dark period in Canada of Aboriginal Residential Schools, and would
your Party further support the inclusion of Inuit (for example in Labrador)
who attended residential or day schools who were subject to abuse but have
been excluded from the Indian Residential School Settlement?

3. Would a government formed by your party call a meeting of First Ministers
and national Aboriginal Leaders, within one year of its election, to agree
on clear targets and commitments sufficient to overcome gaps between
Aboriginal and other Canadians in basic measures of social and economic well
being?

4. Does your party support the reform of federal policy in relation to the
implementation of modern land claims agreements along the lines recommended
in the May 2008 report of the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal
Peoples?

5. Does your party support the development of a new Arctic Strategy to guide
federal policy for the Canadian and international Arctic, and agree that
such a policy must extend to all of the lands and marine areas of the Inuit
Homeland in Canada (including Arctic portions of Quebec and Newfoundland and
Labrador), and to engage Inuit as co-partners in the development of such a
strategy?

6. Does your Party agree that asserting Canadian Arctic Sovereignty must by
design include a human dimension that ensures a healthy, well educated
economically viable Inuit majority population in the Arctic?

7. Does your party agree that any new federal policy aimed at combating
carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases must contain a set of adaptation
and adjustments factors for Inuit communities sufficient to ensure that
implementation of the policy would not have a net negative effect on
regional economies in the Arctic?

8. Does your party support the Government of Canada endorsing the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the UN
General Assembly in September 2007 and endorsed in a resolution of the House
of Commons during the last Parliament?

9. Does your party support additional federal funding to allow for the
construction and operation of Mental Health Centre's for the treatment of
alcohol and drug abuse and other mental health issues for Inuit in the
Arctic?

10. Does your party support the renewal, and expansion of the following
federal initiatives vital to Inuit in the Arctic: a) Food Mail, and b)
Strategic Investments in Northern Economic Development Programs?

11. Does your party support the appointment of an Ombudsperson for
Aboriginal Children?

12. Does your party support the goal of making the Inuit language the
primary working language in the Arctic, and support providing federal
funding support for the Inuit language at a level at least as generous as
provided francophone and anglophone minorities in the Arctic?

-30-

Information:

Stephen Hendrie

Senior Communications Officer

Cell: 613.277.3178

hendrie at itk.ca

http://www.itk.ca

 ---

September 11, 2008

Dear Federal Party Leaders,

As President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and national leader for Inuit in
Canada I am writing to seek clarification from the federal political
parties, during this election campaign, with respect to a number of issues
important to Canadian Inuit and the four Arctic regions (the Nunatsiavut
region of Labrador, Nunavut, the Nunavik region of Quebec, the Inuvialuit
region of the Northwest Territories) that form the Inuit homeland in Canada.
Specifically, I am seeking a response from all parties to the questions that
are set out in the annex to this letter.

Your responses to these questions will no doubt assist all Canadians in
evaluating the policies put forward by federal parties, and by candidates on
behalf of parties, during this election. Inuit are the large majority of
eligible voters in one federal riding and a significant minority in a number
of others. In addition, the views of Inuit, as the majority people of the
Canadian Arctic, have an importance that transcends our numbers both at home
and in the eyes of the international community.

It is our intention to publicize the responses for the benefit of the Inuit
public and the wider Canadian public. In order to facilitate our doing so,
and to ensure that the views of your party are fairly presented alongside
those of others, I would seek your responses no later than October 1st. I
would also request that responses be kept as succinct as possible.

In order to facilitate our communications in relation to this request, I
would encourage you to identify someone from your office or party as a
principal contact point.

Yours sincerely,

Mary Simon,

President

-- 
"In life we meet extraordinary people who follow us wherever we may go" -
Trisha Nagpal
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