Ottawa increases funding for Nunavut groups after lawsuit settlement

OTTAWA – Ottawa has dramatically increased funding to six Nunavut groups responsible for the implementation of the territory’s land claim.

The multimillion-dollar announcement follows an out-of-court settlement between Ottawa and an Inuit land-claims organization.

Dollar figures weren’t available from the federal government, but the funding increases average more than 45 per cent and appear to represent about $3 million in new money.

Earlier this month, the federal government announced a tentative agreement in a billion-dollar lawsuit that had been brought by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

The land-claim group alleged that Ottawa had never lived up to its promises to fund a wide variety of activities guaranteed in the 1993 land claim, including wildlife management and development planning.

Details of the tentative agreement have not yet been released.