Nunavut

The idea to split the Northwest Territories into two territories was first introduced as a bill in the House of Commons way back in 1963, but never made it past the first reading.

In 1977, the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC), formed to negotiate a land claims agreement with the federal government, formally proposed the creation of a Nunavut Territory.

The people in Nunavut wanted their own government, one that was closer to the people and more culturally-based, one that included the use of Inuktitut as its working language.

On April 14, 1982, 56% of voters in the Northwest Territories voted, in a boundary plebiscite (referendum), in favour of creating Nunavut. In November of that year, the Canadian government announced that it would be so.

The Territory of Nunavut (“our land” in Inuktitut) was born on April 1, 1999. The map of Canada was redrawn for the first time since 1949 when Newfoundland had joined Confederation.

This report looks back to the the 1982 Nunavut Referendum.