About $800 million was invested in oil and gas exploration in the North American Arctic during the 1960s-80s. However, the question of who owned that land and its resources created a great deal of uncertainty in the oil industry that persists even today. As more exploration gets under way in arctic areas, it is more important than ever to settle that question. Negotiations with a number of native groups have been settled or are under way.
Although Canada's federal government manages Canadian oil and gas development north of 60° N latitude, land claims by native peoples, the Inuit of the Northwest Territories, Alaska, Labrador, and Quebec, have been in negotiation since the 1960s.
In July 1993, a $1.1 billion agreement, the Nunavut Land Claims Settlement, was effected whereby the Inuit would receive a share of Canadian government royalties from oil, gas, and mineral development on Crown lands that the Inuit also claim. In addition, the Inuit were successful in negotiating a treaty for a new territory that came into effect Apr. 1, 1999.
The US government and the state of Alaska also have negotiated settlements with the Inuit and other native peoples, and additional agreements are still oc- curring (see related articles on pp. 64 and 67).
A new territory
The Territory of Nunavut, formerly the eastern and northernmost sections of the Northwest Territories, is Canada's newest and largest territory, comprising 20% of Canada's land mass (see map, p. 64).
Nunavut was created as an official "homeland" for the Inuit, who make up nearly 85% of the territory's population. For the Inuit, the road to Nuna- vut has been long. Its creation followed nearly 25 years of negotiations between native leaders and the Canadian government for "our land," which is what Nunavut means in Inuktitu, the Inuit language.
A bit of history
In prehistoric times, this area teemed with tropical plants, and dino- saurs roamed the land until something slammed into the Earth, tilting it on its axis and turning that part of the world into a frozen wasteland (Scientists once found the remains of a frozen dinosaur in Alaska, a petunia-like flower still perfectly preserved in its mouth).
Today arctic climate prevails in Nunavut. Nearly 60% of the territory lies above the Arctic Circle. Temperatures in the summers average 45° F., with freezing in July and August, and in winters can drop to -40° F. Permafrost prevails in most of the territory, but some plants and wildlife have adapted to the cold. The areas above the tree line are covered with tundra vegetation, including a form of lichen dating to prehistoric times that can grow even in the northernmost polar desert where nothing else can survive. Precipitation is often less than 4 in./year and falls in the summer, usually as snow.
Tundra vegetation provides a source of food for hebivores such as caribou, musk-ox, arctic hares, and ground squirrels. Carnivores such as grizzly bears, arctic foxes, and wolves, in turn, feed on the herbivores, and at the top of the food chain, man feeds on all of them.
A hardy people
The Inuit have lived in the eastern and central Arctic-Siberia, Alaska, and Canada-for more than 5,000 years. Their marine hunting, Paleo-Eskimo ancestors migrated from Asia across the Bering Strait when it was a solid land and ice bridge.
Skilled in hunting, trapping, and fishing, the Inuit followed seals and whales along the coastlines, adapting to the waters, terrain, climate, and natural resources of the area.
Later, Europeans came, first Vikings from their colonies in Greenland and then the British, seeking a northwest passage to Asia, who claimed the land. Whaling ships appeared in the 17th century, and by the 19th century were establishing winter camps in the territory with the aid of the Inuit, who instructed them in the finer points of surviving in such a hostile environment.
Today, most of the population of Nunavut, currently about 27,600, still lives in coastal areas. A high birth rate and low death rate make the Inuit one of the fastest-growing populations in Canada, and 56% of the population was under the age of 25 in 1996.
Nevertheless, the population is tremendously small for the vast land they occupy-808,185 sq miles-making it one of the most sparsely populated lands in the world.
And as the land claims get settled, the Inuit continue to show their re- sourcefulness and their accommodating ways in sharing the resources of this vast new homeland.
