ABORIGINAL HISTORY

DOCUMENTS - Acts & Bills - Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act

Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act

 

S.C. 1993, c. 29

Assented to 1993-06-10

An Act respecting an Agreement between the Inuit of the Nunavut Settlement Area and Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada

Preamble

WHEREAS the Inuit of the Nunavut Settlement Area have asserted an aboriginal title to that Area based on their traditional and current use and occupation of the lands, waters and land-fast ice therein in accordance with their own customs and usages;

WHEREAS the Constitution Act, 1982 recognizes and affirms the existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada;

WHEREAS Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada and the Inuit of the Nunavut Settlement Area have negotiated an Agreement based on and reflecting the following objectives:

to provide for certainty and clarity of rights to ownership and use of lands and resources and of rights for Inuit to participate in decision-making concerning the use, management and conservation of land, water and resources, including the offshore,

to provide Inuit with wildlife harvesting rights and rights to participate in decision-making concerning wildlife harvesting,

to provide Inuit with financial compensation and means of participating in economic opportunities,

to encourage self-reliance and the cultural and social well-being of Inuit;

WHEREAS Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada and the Inuit of the Nunavut Settlement Area, through their duly mandated representatives, have entered into the Agreement through which Inuit shall receive defined rights and benefits in exchange for the surrender of certain claims, rights, title and interests, based on their assertion of an aboriginal title;

WHEREAS the Agreement provides that it will be a land claims agreement within the meaning of section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982;

WHEREAS the Inuit of the Nunavut Settlement Area have ratified the Agreement in accordance with the provisions of the Agreement;

AND WHEREAS the ratification by Her Majesty under Article 36 of the Agreement requires the enactment by Parliament of a statute ratifying the Agreement;

NOW, THEREFORE, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: