NUNAVUT IMPLEMENTATION TRAINING COMMITTEE TO CLOSE DOORS

The Nunavut Implementation Training Committee (NITC), one of the first organizations created in 1993 following the ratification of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (NLCA), will be closing its doors and shutting down its operations next year.

“Despite the fact that we have the support of NTI, the Regional Inuit Associations, and the NLCA implementation organizations, the federal government has failed to respond to our request for renewed funding,” said NITC Chairperson Peter Kritaqliluk. "We've been trying to work with them for three years now without any success. We no longer have any other choice."

This fiscal year will mark NITC's final year of program delivery and scholarship funding. Operations will cease in fiscal year 2012-13, effectively eliminating the only source of training funds for NLCA implementation organizations.


NITC was established under the NLCA to support training within the complex network of implementation organizations in Nunavut. The organization is also mandated to assist the territorial and federal governments in implementing Inuit employment plans, and to help the planning and delivery of training. Inuit employment was one of the key benefits anticipated under the Agreement; to date, however, both federal and territorial governments have fallen far short of their targets. “Training remains a critical piece of the overall plan to achieving the Nunavut we all hope for,” said Kritaqliluk.

Since 1994 NITC has also administered the popular Nunavut Beneficiaries Scholarship, a program of grants intended to assist Inuit youth and adults in achieving post secondary degrees. At its peak, the Scholarship provided $250,000 per year to students. "That's one of our proudest achievements", said NITC CEO Dorothy Merritt. "We've helped hundreds of Inuit youth take that first, tough step into university, and we've seen some go on to achieve Masters degrees. Ours was the only scholarship targeted specifically at helping Inuit in Nunavut at that level. But now that our funding has run out, this will be its last year."

NITC began its operations in 1993 with an initial contribution of $13M to develop and implement a training plan, with the expectation that renewed funding would be negotiated along with funding for other implementation organizations. But negotiations on renewed funding for implementation have been stalled for years by ongoing litigation between NTI and the federal government. While some other Inuit organizations have received interim support or actual funding increases, the government has refused to renew funding for NITC.

"We've met with the federal and territorial committee that oversees implementation, we've requested support from our Member of Parliament and from the Minister of Indian Affairs, but there doesn’t seem to be any interest within the government. We've gotten strong support from all of our clients - they’re wondering how they’re supposed to train their boards, their managers, their staff. ," says Merritt. "Nunavut needs trained and educated Inuit more than anything else - certainly more than military bases or ports. And NITC has proven it can do the job."

NITC's operations have been evaluated by independent consultants every five years; all three evaluations carried out to date have commended the organization for the quality of its management, its training support, and its response to client needs. The most recent evaluation, published in 2009, concluded that NITC’s programs "…continue to meet client needs, and are widely utilized by most eligible organizations"; that NITC-funded training "had a number of positive, measurable results", including "development of training infrastructure and capacity within client groups, and an increase in the number of Inuit in management and senior policy positions within its client organizations". NITC was cited for its "flexibility, response to client needs, clarity of mandate, consistent internal policies and procedures, efficient program and financial administration, and a continuing focus on building the capacity of client groups", and praised as "well-managed, efficient, and effective in its operations."

"We know we've been doing our job, and we know we've been doing it well," said NITC Chairperson Peter Kritiklerk. "And we know that the need for training and education in Nunavut has never been greater. The government has told us that the north is a priority for them. That may be. But clearly training for Inuit is not."