{"id":234603,"date":"2025-10-23T14:31:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T14:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/234603\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T14:31:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T14:31:22","slug":"makivvik-president-looks-back-on-50-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/234603\/","title":{"rendered":"Makivvik president looks back on 50 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nunavik Inuit organization plans \u2018commemoration\u2019 of JBQNA signing anniversary, rather than celebration<\/p>\n

When the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement negotiations were underway 50 years ago, Pita Aatami was a teenager. Or as he described himself, \u201ca very curious young boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

At that age, Aatami was too young to be involved in the negotiations themselves. However, he followed and listened, wanting to know what Inuit were about to get themselves into.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to the town hall meetings they had when they were updating the community,\u201d Aatami said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not part of it, but I heard like, \u2018What\u2019s that going to bring us?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Aatami is president of Makivvik \u2013 the organization established in 1978 following the JBNQA\u2019s signing to be the rights-holding voice for Nunavik Inuit.<\/p>\n

The organization\u2019s corporate roles include receiving, administering, distributing and investing the compensation money\u00a0payable to Nunavik Inuit, as provided for in the JBNQA.<\/p>\n

Aatami\u2019s time with Makivvik dates back to 1987. Since then, he has held several leadership positions within the organization and its subsidiary businesses. His first stint as president was from 1998 to 2012, followed by his re-election in 2021.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Looking back on the signing of the JBNQA, Aatami said the negotiators at the time were \u201cforced\u201d into \u201can agreement that they didn\u2019t agree with.\u201d<\/p>\n

He mentioned mining claims as land that was \u201cstolen\u201d as a part of the agreement.<\/p>\n

However, with the $90 million Makivvik received as part of the agreement, the organization has been able to grow that money by investing, creating businesses, and returning it to the communities through infrastructure and services.<\/p>\n

\u201cMakivvik itself has contributed close to a billion dollars in different infrastructure over the years without any government assistance in a lot of cases,\u201d Aatami said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though they only got $90 million, they were able to grow their money, they invested wisely and created companies like Air Inuit.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also stated, \u201cWe just didn\u2019t wait for handouts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Aatami credits Makivvik for building arenas, recreation centres and local FM radio stations in communities as part of that nearly $1 billion contribution to Nunavik.<\/p>\n

Makivvik\u2019s subsidiary businesses have been success stories, Aatami said, with companies such as Air Inuit and Kautaq Construction creating many jobs, including Inuit pilots.<\/p>\n

As the representative for Nunavik Inuit, Makivvik has a seat at the national level of the Inuit-Crown Partnership and as a board member of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.<\/p>\n

With those positions, as well as working with Quebec, Makivvik is able to advocate for federal and provincial funding for projects in Nunavik, as well as take action on issues such as the housing shortage and the cost of living in the North.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want Quebec and Canada to contribute to these kinds of things\u2026 If you\u2019re doing that in southern Canada, why isn\u2019t that being done in our part of the world?\u201d Aatami said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re taxpayers. Why don\u2019t we get the same treatment? In a lot of cases, we don\u2019t have the facilities like you might have in southern Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lot is on the agenda for the future of Makivvik. Most notably, the organization is negotiating a new self-determination agreement with the provincial government.<\/p>\n

On November 11, Makivvik plans to recognize the date that marks 50 years since the JBNQA was signed.<\/p>\n

However, it won\u2019t be a date of celebration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be more like a commemoration in my opinion, because for me it\u2019s not something that I want to be proud of,\u201d Aatami said.<\/p>\n

Three communities \u2013 Puvirnituq, Ivujivik, and Salluit \u2013 were not in favour of the JBNQA, and those who opposed it were left feeling \u201churt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have signed that agreement. That\u2019s my own opinion, but understanding our negotiators who signed that agreement, it\u2019s like they were forced,\u201d Aatami said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to acknowledge these people who worked for us to get the best they could for Nunavik Inuit, even though they didn\u2019t have the knowledge like we have today.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article is part of Nunatsiaq News\u2019 commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement in 1975.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nunavik Inuit organization plans \u2018commemoration\u2019 of JBQNA signing anniversary, rather than celebration When the James Bay and Northern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-234603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}