Nunavut Tunngavik meets to discuss $255 million settlement

Nunavut Tunngavik's board of directors are meeting in Iqaluit this week, and on the agendaisdiscussing how to spend the $255 million settlement from the federal government they received last spring.

The settlementwhich was reached after Nunavut Tunngavik successfully argued that Inuit education was underfundedand therefore the population underrepresented in the government workforce will be largely used for Inuit training purposes, according to president Cathy Towtongie. The board currently plans to use $175 million for education and training.

"Along with that, we have $80 million we can use," said Towtongie. "There have been discussions on how to proceed with that, whether with Nunavutharvesters' support programs, or daycare centres, but we haven't decided anything yet."

Joe Attagutaaluk, the vice president of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, said that he would like the money to be used to addressissues like suicide prevention and mental health, as well as the territory's housing shortage.

"Qikiqtani Inuit Association has all these pile of issues raised, and we've been at this fore more than three years," he said. "We want help from the feds, and to recognize all these other issues."

About 30 people from Nunavut Tungaavik and the regional Inuit associations are in attendance at the meeting, which wraps up Wednesday.