THE INUIT of the Arctic Regions Of Canada, Greenland, Russia & Alaska

In the 1960s, the Canadian government funded the establishment of secular, government-operated
high schools in the Northwest Territories (including what is now Nunavut) and Inuit areas in Quebec
and Labrador along with the residential school system. The Inuit population was not large enough to support a full high school in every community, so this meant only a few schools were built, and stu-
dents from across the territories were boarded there. These schools, in Aklavik, Iqaluit, Yellowknife, Inuvik and Kuujjuaq, brought together young Inuit from across the Arctic in one place for the first
time, and exposed them to the rhetoric of civil and human rights that prevailed in Canada in the
1960s.

This was a real wake-up call for Inuit, and it stimulated the emergence of a new generation of
young Inuit activists in the late 1960s who came forward and pushed for respect for the Inuit and
their territories.

The Inuit began to emerge as a political force in the late 1960s and early 1970s, shortly after the
first graduates returned home. They formed new politically active associations in the early 1970s, starting with the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami in 1971, and more region specific organizations shortly afterwards, including the Northern Quebec Inuit Association (Makivik Corporation) and the Labrador
Inuit Association.

These activist movements began to change the direction of Inuit society in 1975 with the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. This comprehensive land claims settlement for Quebec Inuit, along with a large cash settlement and substantial administrative autonomy in the new region of Nunavik,
set the precedent for the settlements to follow. The Labrador Inuit submitted their land claim in 1977, although they had to wait until 2005 to have a signed land settlement establishing Nunatsiavut.

In 1982, the Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut (TFN) was incorporated, in order to take over negotiations for land claims on behalf of the Northwest Territories Inuit from the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which became a joint association of the Inuit of Quebec, Labrador and the Northwest Territories.