US embassy cable - 04QUEBEC43

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 QUEBEC 000043 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CAN 
DEPT PASS INTERIOR FOR BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, SENV, EMIN, CA 
SUBJECT: PAUL OGALIK REELECTED AS PREMIER OF NUNAVUT 
 
REF: 03 QUEBEC 163 
 
 
1.  (U)  March 5, sitting Premier Paul Okalik received the 
consensus to continue as Premier of Nunavut over contender Tagak 
Curley, the MLA from Rankin Inlet.  Ogalik brings his strengths 
of experience (he has had 5 years as Premier) and education, 
which includes a law degree, to the job.   Now that Ogalik is 
back at the helm, he has to face many fiscal and social 
challenges. 
 
2.  (U)  Jobs, housing, education and health are the 
bread-and-butter issues of most elections in Canada; however, in 
the eastern Arctic, these concerns are in the context of a 
debate over modernizing and retaining traditional Inuit 
practices.   The non-partisan system established in Nunavut in 
1999 allows candidates to run on their own platforms, without 
political party guidelines.  In the February 16 general 
election, 82 candidates ran for the 19 seats in the legislature. 
 Fundamentalist Christian beliefs versus secularism were a force 
in the territorial election and played into the contest for 
Premier.  "Third party" groups worked to support candidates, 
most notably Nunavut's labor movement and the rapidly growing 
fundamentalist Christian movement.  The former pressed for 
social justice and human rights; the latter, a loosely organized 
network of churches and bible study groups over the territory, 
have pressed for traditional Inuit cultural values. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Ogalik is a confident, articulate, liberal modernist, 
intent on moving Nunavut in the secular Canadian mainstream.  He 
has created awareness of Nunavut nationally, successfully 
negotiating with the Prime Minister on issues such as increased 
health benefits for the territory, and participating at 
Premiers' conferences.   He ably represents Nunavut in 
international fora, and has visited aboriginal communities from 
Alaska to Australia.  That he wanted to continue as Premier is 
evidence that he has a high tolerance for dealing with difficult 
financial responsibilities and pressing social problems that 
resist easy solutions.  He moves easily between Inuit and 
non-Inuit culture.  He is bilingual in English and spent several 
weeks in Quebec last year doing French immersion.  That having 
been said, he comes across as a person well integrated into 
Inuit culture - simple and straightforward.  He can be found 
standing in line at Inuit traditional feasts and walks around 
Iqaluit without a bodyguard or a retinue. 
 
4.  (SBU)  On the other hand, these strengths of flexibility and 
cross cultural ease can be perceived as liabilities by the more 
traditional Inuit, who are concerned about the erosion of Inuit 
culture and language, and specifically "modernist" thinking, 
e.g.  the Human Rights Bill, passed in the fall of 2003, 
includes protections for gays.  Curley, while the loser in the 
race for Premier, had considerable support in the community, and 
acknowledged he was reentering politics to protest the 
territory's human rights legislation.  Traditionalists also 
worry that Ogalik has not done enough on economic development 
and employment for Inuit. 
 
5.  (U)  Diamond mine development, a source of future revenue, 
remains a distant promise, although three new mines in the 
Kivalliq and Kitikmeot regions may start producing within the 
life of the new Nunavut government.   For now, Nunavut remains 
almost entirely dependent on transfer payments from Ottawa to 
support its administration and services for the 27,000 
Nunavummiut.  The Conference Board of Canada estimated in a 
study released in early February that with the current annual 
capital budget of $75 million, Nunavut "will incur an 
infrastructure investment shortfall of $40-50 million annually 
for the next five years."  The absence of roads, ports and other 
facilities is already causing developmental distortions, the 
study says.  "The lack of infrastructure has led to a 
concentration of exploration activities on or near coastal 
waters, while inland resources are left stranded."  The study 
also painted a grim picture of increased strains on the Eastern 
Arctic society as younger Inuit reach working age to be faced 
with no jobs, increasing housing shortages and criminality. 
"Nunavut is the only jurisdiction in Canada to have a higher 
rate of violent crimes than property crimes: overcrowding no 
doubt adds to the problems" the study concludes. 
 
6.  (SBU)  To improve the territory's fiscal situation, Ogalik 
will certainly be working to capitalize on better relations with 
a federal government that may be more responsive to the needs of 
the Arctic territory.  Conversations with him in Iqaluit last 
year and more recently with his staff reenforce his conviction 
that Nunavut must eventually gain control over non-renewable 
resources and get a share of resource revenues through what is 
now called a "devolution" agreement, i.e. the transfer of 
responsibility for mining, oil and gas exploration and 
development from Ottawa to Nunavut.  Such a deal would see the 
GN getting a share of renewable resource royalties.  Another 
priority is a larger share of fishing quota in waters adjacent 
to Nunavut.  More costly, and probably even more remote, would 
be an economic development agreement between Ottawa and Nunavut. 
 Nunavut's Sivummut Economic Development Group presented Ottawa 
with a proposal last December to create a new 5-year, $66 
million Economic Development Agreement.  So far, however, there 
has been little or no response from the federal government. 
 
7.  (SBU)  On more day-to-day issues, Premier Ogalik will be 
facing social challenges such as reducing suicide rates and 
instituting new programs for inmates to reduce violent crime. 
He will oversee implementation of the Wildlife Act that assists 
the management of wildlife issues with elders, as well as the 
controversial Human Rights Act. 
As a top priority, he needs to increase the proportion of Inuit 
working in the Nunavut Government, which means preparing more 
young Inuit in post secondary education.  In Nunavut, government 
jobs are the main source of work, but currently less than half 
of these are filled by Inuit.   Climate change, that is already 
affecting the North-West Passage and hunting conditions are 
other concerns.  These will be among the issues that we will 
raise when the Ambassador visits Nunavut in April of this year. 
 
 
 
KEOGH