National Education Resource: Staking The Claim: Dreams, Democracy & Canadian Inuit

Staking The Claim is the story of the people and events that led Inuit on a quest for self-determination. In the early 1970s, a group of young Inuit activists from across the Arctic came together with a critical need to discuss how to secure certainty and control for their people in an intense climate of assimilation and resource exploitation. Theirs is a story of aboriginal Canadians seeking to chart their own course and define a new relationship with their country. It is also a story of a democratic nation with the political will to negotiate new approaches to governance. Along the way, socio-political structures and territorial divisions in our country were permanently altered. In short, this story is a significant part of recent Canadian history. Yet it is also a story largely inaccessible to Canadians northerners and southerners alike.

"The story of what Inuit accomplished in one generation will inspire youth for generations to come. And Staking The Claim tells that story better than anything we've seen." - Murray Angus, Coordinator/Founder, Nunavut Sivuniksavut.

Co-creator/Director Kath Clarida Fry and Co-creator/Producer Marianne Demmer of EnTheos Films remark: Our hope is all Canadian students will have an opportunity to learn how Inuit changed the face of our nation. Its a remarkable story; one that all Canadians should learn and celebrate.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Inuit
• Land Claims
• Canada
• Aboriginal
• Nunavut
• leaders
• negotiators
• Nunavik
• Inuvialuit
• Nunatsiavut
• youth
• democracy
• government
• democratic
• pluralistic
• actvists
• change