Nunavut
Nunavut, “our land” in Inuktitut, was split from the Northwest Territories on 1 April 1999 so that the Inuit, most of the people who live there, would run their own territory. It came out of the largest land claim in Canadian history, and its assembly has no political parties.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 9 October 2026Suggest a correction
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A territory for the Inuit
People have lived in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago for more than 4,000 years, and the Inuit of Nunavut descend from the Thule culture, which reached the area about 1,000 years ago.[2] Until 1999 their land was the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.[1]
In the late 1960s and early 1970s Inuit across the Arctic began organising for land claims and a say in government. Their first proposal, in 1976, asked for a land claim and a new territory in which Inuit, by their numbers alone, would have political control.[1] Inuit and the federal government clashed for years over whether the claim should include splitting the Northwest Territories; Ottawa accepted the idea of Nunavut in the end, but negotiated the territory separately from the land claim.[1]
In 1982 the whole Northwest Territories voted 56% for dividing it, and 80% in the eastern Arctic, where most Inuit lived. A second vote in 1992 approved the line between the two halves.[1]
The land claim
The Nunavut Land Claims Agreement was signed in September 1992 and approved in a vote that October by 84.7%, on a record turnout.[1] Under it, Inuit gave up Aboriginal title to their traditional lands in exchange for the rights and benefits set out in the agreement.[3]
Inuit got the right to hunt, fish and trap across the territory, and they chose 318,084 km² of land to own at the surface and another 37,883 km² to own with the minerals beneath. Ottawa agreed to pay Inuit organisations $1.17 billion over 14 years.[1]
Parliament passed the act ratifying the agreement and the Nunavut Act, which created the territory, on 10 June 1993. The land claim act came into force on 9 July, now Nunavut Day.[1] It was the first big change to Canada’s map since Newfoundland joined in 1949.[1]
Government without parties
Nunavut elected its first legislative assembly on 15 February 1999, and the members chose Paul Okalik as premier. The territory formally separated from the Northwest Territories on 1 April 1999.[1]
Candidates run as individuals, not for parties. After an election the members choose the speaker, premier and cabinet among themselves by secret ballot, a system known as consensus government.[1] Inuktitut is the government’s working language, alongside English and French.[2]
Nunavut’s government runs the territory day to day, but the federal government keeps the final responsibility, and Crown land and its resources have stayed in federal hands.[2][1] A devolution agreement signed on 18 January 2024 hands that land and its resources to Nunavut’s government by 1 April 2027.[4]
Timeline
1976
The first proposal
Inuit ask for a land claim and a territory of their own.[1]
1982
Division vote
56% of Northwest Territories voters back splitting it.[1]
1992
The line and the claim
Voters approve the boundary, then the land claim agreement, 84.7% in favour.[1]
199310 June 1993
The Nunavut Act
Parliament creates the territory and ratifies the land claim.[1]
199915 February 1999
First election
The first assembly chooses Paul Okalik as premier.[1]
19991 April 1999
Nunavut is born
It separates from the Northwest Territories.[1]
202418 January 2024
Devolution deal
Ottawa agrees to hand over Crown land and resources by 1 April 2027.[4]
More autonomous regions
Sources
- [1]Nunavut · The Canadian Encyclopedia (Peter Kikkert) · 31 January 2023
- [2]Nunavut · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- [3]About NTI · Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated
- [4]Nunavut devolution · Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
- [5]Nunavut (relation 390840) · OpenStreetMap contributors
Outline, clipped to the coastline the site draws.
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.