And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: "KOLA International Campaign Office" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: NUNAVUT - The Land Date: Sat, 06 Mar 99 21:10:08 PST Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; X-MAPIextension=".TXT" >From CBC News Online http://newradio.cbc.ca/nunavut/land.html NUNAVUT The Land The sixtieth parallel was chosen as the southern boundary of the old Northwest Territories because politicians in 1905 didn't believe agriculture was viable beyond that latitude. While the Mackenzie Valley does have rich soils capable of feeding large populations, those agrarian-minded politicians were generally correct. Most of the chilly, arid 3.3 million square kilometres that make up the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are either barren rock and gravel or are so thinly soiled that only the most hardy of native plants survive. Terrible for crops, indeed. But great for wild food on the hoof. Between them, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut share the biggest herds of free roaming mammals on Earth. More than a million caribou feed on the willows, grasses, mosses and lichens that thrive in this otherwise inhospitable landscape. The northern range of their migration is mostly in Nunavut, where they calve each year. The southern range is in amongst the black spruces and jack pines that predominate in the boreal forests south of the treeline. The flesh, the viscera and the fat of the caribou possess literally all the nutritional requirements necessary for healthy human growth. What's left over can be fashioned into everything from clothes, to thread, to mattresses and blankets, foot gear, tents, insulating material. So it's not surprising that the caribou was the central economic staple of most Dene and Inuit living in the mainland interior of this cold Arctic region. It's equally sensible that those Inuit living on the even more barren shores of Canada's rich polar seas would develop a similar reliance on the seal, whale and walrus. This life and death dependency on roving animals profoundly shaped the societies of the Dene and the Inuit, virtually binding their souls to the caribou and sea mammals that sustained them. In the same manner that animals are one with their environment, by extension so were the Dene, the Inuvialiut, Inuit, and to a lesser extent, the Metis of the Northwest Territories. There are aboriginal people alive today who were part of that natural cycle. Their children and grandchildren carry their stories and share their age-old values. And even though their descendants no longer hunt to survive, they still possess a passion for the land, the sea and the animals. That passion shows up in many ways, not the least of which is their concern for the environment today. The Northwest Territories and Nunavut contain a vast mineral storehouse which includes diamonds, gold, zinc, lead, oil and natural gas. The aboriginal people's stewardship of their fragile environment is being regularly tested by the external pressures to exploit this industrial wealth. Northern aboriginal groups do not oppose development of the region's non-renewable resources. With the death of the fur trade, they realize that other economic sectors must be developed. Otherwise there will be little meaningful employment for the burgeoning numbers of aboriginal young people emerging from northern schools. In this, the aboriginal people of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories face a delicate balancing act. It's a cultural imperative that they protect the land and the animals which they consider sacred. It's an economic imperative that they allow the land to be scarred by mines and the sea bottoms to be disrupted by seismic testing. In the recent past, they were neither consulted on resource development proposals nor allowed to share in the benefits when the projects went ahead. But ironically, they were allowed to bear the cost, through social disruption and loss of traditional land. Having learned through experience, they don't intend for it to be repeated. The Dene, the Inuvialuit, the Metis and the Inuit argue that they have the biggest vested interest in mega-projects being developed responsibly. That in turn makes them best qualified to judge how those mega-projects should proceed, if at all. It's a degree of control that they don't yet fully possess. But they see Nunavut in the east, and aboriginal self-government in the west as important steps in their struggle to again become masters of their own land, shapers of their own destiny. ---end article--- <+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+> In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. <+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+> If ever you wish to be removed from this mailing list, just send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with *unsub* in the text or subject body. <+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+> http://users.skynet.be/kola/index.htm http://kola-hq.hypermart.net <+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+>=<+> "Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice Everywhere" FREE LEONARD PELTIER!!! NO TELESCOPES ON MT. 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