Inuit-led Land Use Planning is Good for Nunavut and Canada.
Building Healthier Communities
Protecting and Sustaining the Environment
Encouraging Sustainable Economic Development
Encouraging Conservation Planning
“Once finalized, The Nunavut Land Use Plan will help fulfill the terms and promises of the Nunavut Agreement and set our Territory on a course for the future. It will be the largest land use plan on the planet, and we should be proud of that. Once adopted, it will provide certainty over protecting our land, air, and waters, and for how we can develop our Territory to benefit all of the people of Nunavut. The plan can show Nunavummiut and others how to live on the land and also with the land for shared opportunity and prosperity”
Paul Quassa, Former Premier, Npc Commission Chair, Negotiator Of The Nunavut Agreement, Current Senior Advisor To The Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation.
For Today.
For The Future.
“A functioning Nunavut Land Use Plan is critical to protecting the habitat of the animals that we, Inuit, have relied upon for thousands of years.”
Hilu Tagoona, Baker Lake
Get To Know the Plan
- The NLUP has been in development since 2007 and is a requirement of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (NLCA) originally signed in 1993, which grants Inuit in this region rights to manage land and sea in the largest territory of the Canadian Arctic.
- The NLCA provides for Inuit co-management through institutions of public government such as the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, the Nunavut Impact Review Board, the
Nunavut Water Board, and the Nunavut Planning Commission.
- Once approved and Implemented the NLUP will be the largest regional land use plan in the World and will provide protection for animals that Inuit depend on while providing certainty for investment from industry.
- The current draft NLUP has been developed over 13 years of engagement with Inuit communities organizations and stakeholders.
- For the NLUP to be implemented, the Government of Canada, the Government of Nunavut, and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. must all approve of and sign the plan.
“Canada, as one of the few remaining large countries that has relatively intact landscapes and seascapes, has a responsibility to steward our wild spaces.”
Monte Hummel, O.C., President Emeritus, WWF-Canada
What People Are Saying
The release of the largest land use plan in the World is something to be proud of. It shows that northerners can teach much of the world about relationships with nature and can use the Land Use Plan to support and benefit local communities and manage globally impactful biodiversity that will be good for the entire world”.
Steven Nitah
Former Chief of Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation,President/CEO of Densoline Corporation,
Chief Negotiator for LKDFN on the establishment of Thaidene Nene National Park and Reserve
“We should all be grateful for the leadership that Inuit have shown, from the community level right on up, as mandated by the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement. They have demonstrated what can be achieved when people are regarded as fully part of their environment, not apart from it, and the rest of the world has much to learn from this example.”
Monte Hummel, O.C.
President Emeritus,WWF-Canada
“The NLUP has the potential to conserve one of the most important Arctic wildlife species, namely migratory barren-ground caribou, especially by protecting critical habitat such as calving grounds. We have made the mistake of not doing this sufficiently elsewhere in Canada, for example for boreal caribou, but we still have the chance to do it right in Nunavut.”
Justina Ray
President and Senior Scientist,Wildlife Conservation Society Canada
Community Voices
Interventions during community and stakeholder consultations, and written submission to the 2016 Draft NLUP
This is a beneficial process. This has to be established under the Land Claim. We will not be satisfied with every detail, but we will be able to work together using the Land Use Plan. It will impact us how we are progressing and how we are to protect our land…. Let us put it together collaboratively.”
James Eetoolook,
NTI Vice President, Closing Remarks, Qiqiktani Regional Public Hearing, March 2017
16-166E-2017-07-14 – NPC Qikiqtani Regional Public Hearing Transcript.pdf page 422
“The mining companies – We don’t want to say no, but we also want to be consulted in view that [the wildlife] may be disturbed too much,
because this has a lot of caribou. Again, it has a lot of mineral potential… If they want to do the exploration, we want to have a constant voice. We just don’t want to be yes-men.”
Abraham Qammaniq
Hall Beach HTO and QIA Lands Dept
16-166E-2017-07-14 – NPC Qikiqtani Regional Public Hearing Transcript.pdf page 164
“Without protection of these… areas, the Nunavut Land Use Plan will fail in its goal to protect and promote the well-being of all of Nunavut’s residents as a primary purpose of land use planning under Article 11 of the Nunavut Agreement”
Qikiqtaaluk
Wildlife Board Written Submission, November 2018
16-215E-2018-11-26-QWB and HTOs Submission – WS 33 – Community Area of Interest – Multiple Values Area Hall Beach.pdf page 1
Get Involved
The Friends of Land Use Planning is a collection of individuals who support Indigenous-led land use planning across large landscapes in Canada.
media@northernplanning.ca
Regional Public Hearings
Public hearing and consultations run from September 12 to November 19, 2022:
Sept 12 – 15 Luke Novoligak Community Hall, Cambridge NU
Sept 19 – 23 Singiituq Complex, Rankin Inlet NU
Sept 26 – 27 Royal Canadian Legion, Thompson, MB
Oct 24 – 27 Community Hall, Pond Inlet, NU
Nov 14 – 19 Cadet Hall, Iqaluit, NU