Essential Inuit issues not prioritized by feds: ITK President | Power Play with Mike Le Couteur

well as I mentioned in that interview indigenous First Nations and Inuit people have been questioning whether or not they are a priority for this government anymore many had expected a lot more from the Liberals that swept into Power saying that the most important relationship in this country is the one with indigenous First Nations and Inuit people so is that still true joining me now in studio is Inu tapar katami president naten OED thank you so much for being with us I appreciate that be here I to ask you first your reaction to that interview there and when the minister says that the pace of progress is frustrating do you think that that helps at all or do you think that that actually is a hindrance because you’d like to see more progress yeah I appreciate the empathy that the minister is showing but I also believe that governments have to be governments you know on our side we represent the rights of inate uh we come to the table trying to Build a Better Canada uh and build a better future for for our people and the vast amount of the power still lies within the federal government or provinces and territories so when ministers um get frustrated with us sometimes it feels like well then who do you turn to we would like for the federal government to show leadership and know that it is the one that must lead and uh if it’s frustrated perhaps frustrated within its own departments and within within its own political process the minister was saying that’s going to take Generations how do you square that with how the Liberals came into Power uh and saying that they were going to take these issues very seriously back in 2025 20 2015 excuse me yeah no I I think it’s correct for some of our broader systemic challenges that we face in society and to do undo 150 years of colonization it may in some instances take uh Generations there are very specific things that we had hoped for in specific timelines that are more easily achievable and I would I would hope that we can just get to work on such as the government of Canada uh standing side by side with Inu and saying we will eliminate TB together in Inu nut by 2030 we announced this in 2018 uh we had a good first few years we had pre-budget submissions this year of 131 million um over the next five years the government of Canada didn’t provide any funding so I don’t know how we get to the elimination of TB which is 300 times the rate for all other Canadians um in inat through zero investments in a critical time within um the ambition that we all share together of 2030 what’s the explanation for not funding that at all uh there really isn’t one I there’s an empathy from ministers who are responsible there’s pledge that there were treasury board submissions uh ultimately within uh the budgetary processes everyone points the finger at Minister Freeland and the Prime Minister uh as to being um you know the all powerful entities that say yes or no even if departments would like to work with us but that still doesn’t solve the problem in your community I mean that that TB is still an issue yeah and it was the first time that the government of Canada has ever pledged to um reduce a socioeconomic indicator to the national average or lower for our people so for us it is a transformative relationship that we’re looking for and this particular issue was one that was a benchmark a um a perfect um celebration point of what government and in could do together but unfortunately it just hasn’t um been a priority for the government the way that it has been for Inu in the past you’ve said that you’ve seen incredible in advancements in this relationship with the government but at the same time you’ve also said we’re stuck in incremental positive change what do you mean by that well the time that in leadership spends with the Prime Minister and with the prime minister’s cabinet is unprecedented uh in the past we were lucky to get one meeting with the inac minister a year and perhaps every 3 to four years uh maybe have a 30-minute meeting with a prime minister now we have structured um uh meetings through the crown partnership committee we are uh named explicitly in federal budgets and then I have a relationship as du leadership with many of the federal cabinet so the relationship is better uh we have legislation that shows that we can co-develop legislation like the unop act so there are bits and pieces that are moving but then there are essential issues like um official language status of enut in our homeland that remain almost completely out of reach and with no clear reasoning um for the discrepancy between what undrip says and the undrip ACT says versus the government’s unwillingness to consider inut as an official language for a jurisdiction like Nunu we’ve got about a year left until there’s an election a lot of people are predicting potentially a change in government are you hoping in this next year there will be a ramp up of things getting done by this liberal government and are you at all concerned about what could be coming in 2025 if there is a change in government well I get worried every time there’s an election every time there’s whether even a party gets reelected and maybe it’s a minority government versus a majority government perhaps new mandate letters are written there’s always the fear that reconciliation and the work specifically with inid is going to diminish um I would say in the next year you look at the polls and I believe it’s uh between 20 and 22% down the liberal party is now what do they have to lose so uh if you have an agenda and you believe in it let’s get to work and do as much work as we possibly can that is co-developed that is in the spirit of reconciliation that does change Canada for the better uh because that’s you know ultimately that’s the window that we have that we know that we have and I don’t understand if they’re going to be timid in the next year about just doing the things that we all said that we would do together and get it done once and for all absolutely okay appreciate the time today and you know what t kenami president Natan OED thank you so much for being with us really appreciate it

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed says while relations with the feds are growing, essential issues are not being prioritized

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