Honourable senators, on April 1, 1999, the Northwest Territories was officially divided into two, creating Nunavut. On that day, the Leader of the Government in the Yukon Legislative Assembly, Piers McDonald, said the following:

The name Nunavut means “Our Land” in Inuktitut. The land it refers to takes in one-fifth of Canada’s total land mass. It spans three time zones and stretches from the high Arctic islands in the north to Baffin Island in the east and to the shores of Hudson Bay in the south.

With a total area of two million square kilometers, it is larger than any Canadian province and much larger than many nations.

Nunavut’s geography has helped shaped a common sense of purpose among the Inuit people, and the creation of this new territory is evidence of how much a united community can achieve together.

Honourable senators, on this, the twenty-fifth anniversary of Nunavut, may I remind us of our role in its creation. Nunavut is, as are the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, an act of Parliament. We are represented in the other place and in our chamber by one member each. We in this chamber look forward to the appointment of the next Nunavut senator.

Honourable senators, you have heard me say on several occasions that the Parliament of Canada is uniquely responsible for the territories since they are not entrenched in the Constitution Act. Their small “c” constitutions are acts of Parliament that can be amended through the regular legislative process that includes our chamber, without invoking any amendment formulas.

Our friend and former colleague Dennis Patterson worked tirelessly in his capacity as a member of the Northwest Territories Council to achieve territorial status for Nunavut, and to continue the long and complicated process of devolution. In his inaugural speech in this chamber, 10 years after Nunavut’s creation, he spoke about the need to complete the process for Nunavut to be masters in their own house, to chart their development, their governance — meaningful and local control over their destiny through their duly elected consensual government.

In his speech, Dennis Patterson urged the government of the day to respect the Inuit and their elected government to complete a devolution agreement — as the Yukon had achieved in 2003 and later the Northwest Territories in 2014. He said in part:

The people of Nunavut no longer need the federal government, no matter how well intentioned, to make critical decisions about the management of lands and resources in Nunavut. We deserve the same involvement in developing our significant natural resources as southern Canadians. The Inuit of Nunavut have constitutionally protected rights, through their land claim, to participate in the responsible development of our resources. . . .

I remind honourable senators that the next step in Nunavut’s development and our constitutional work as Canadians will be to address the amendments to the Nunavut Act and further the constitutional development of our country, which will truly give life and meaning to the devolution agreement respecting the wishes of the Inuit of Nunavut.

Thank you. Gùnáłchîsh. Mahsi’cho. Matna.