What is Inuit Nunangat?

Inuit Nunangat is the Inuit homeland in Canada, comprising four distinct land claims regions: the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the western Arctic, the territory of Nunavut in the central and eastern Arctic, Nunavik in northern Quebec, and Nunatsiavut in northern Labrador. The four regions together cover about 35 per cent of Canada's land area, including almost all of the Arctic Archipelago and the mainland Arctic coast. Inuit Nunangat is home to about 65,000 Inuit, of whom the majority live in their home region.

Each region was established by a comprehensive land claim agreement under the federal Comprehensive Land Claims Policy of 1973. The Inuvialuit Final Agreement of June 5, 1984 (effective July 25, 1984) was the first comprehensive Inuit claim, covering the western Arctic from the Mackenzie Delta to Banks and Victoria Islands and including six communities (Inuvik, Tuktoyaktuk, Aklavik, Sachs Harbour, Paulatuk, and Ulukhaktok). The Nunavut Land Claims Agreement of May 25, 1993 (effective July 9, 1993) covered the Inuit of the central and eastern Arctic and led to the creation of the Nunavut Territory on April 1, 1999.

The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement of November 11, 1975 (the first modern Indigenous land claim in Canada) covered Cree and Inuit territory in northern Quebec. The Inuit territory established by the Agreement (Nunavik) covers about 507,000 square kilometres north of the 55th parallel and includes 14 Inuit communities. Nunavik is administered by the Kativik Regional Government, the Makivik Corporation (which manages the Inuit-owned Air Inuit and First Air, merged into Canadian North in 2019), and the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services. Nunatsiavut, established by the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement of January 22, 2005 (effective December 1, 2005), covers about 72,000 square kilometres of northern Labrador and includes five communities. Nunatsiavut is the only Inuit region with a self-government agreement (the Labrador Inuit Constitution).

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), founded in 1971, is the national Inuit organisation representing all four regions. ITK negotiated the federal Inuit Crown Partnership Committee (established 2017) with the federal government and is responsible for shared priorities including housing, education, health, language, and reconciliation. The Inuit languages (Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, Inuinnaqtun, Nunatsiavummiutut) are protected by federal and provincial-territorial language legislation including the Indigenous Languages Act of 2019. The Inuit Nunangat policy of 2022 commits the federal government to applying a distinctions-based approach to Inuit programming.