Today is Nunavut Day, a holiday celebrating the creation of Nunavut as a self-governing territory of Canada’s Inuit people.
The day, July 9, marks the passage of the 1993 Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and the Nunavut Act by Canada’s Parliament.
The agreement, brokered between Inuit leaders and Canada, is the largest indigenous land claims agreement in history.
How did it all start? In 1973, the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada began talks to create a self-governing Inuit territory.
In 1982, a referendum was held in the Northwest Territories on the creation of Nunavut; 56 percent voted in favor of it.
The referendum’s results jump-started negotiations between the Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut and the federal government.
In 1992, the TFN and federal government finalized an agreement, which was ratified by 69 percent of Nunavut voters.
On May 25, 1993, Canadian PM Brian Mulroney and TFN President Paul Quassa signed the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.
Canada’s Parliament would later pass the agreement that summer.
On April 1, 1999, Nunavut was formally established as a distinct, self-governing territory from the Northwest Territories.
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