Court sets aside award ruling against Ottawa in Nunavut lawsuit

IQALUIT, Nunavut – A court has set aside a $15-million award against the federal government for not living up to one of the main promises of the Nunavut land claim — even though Ottawa concedes it’s failing.

The judgment from the Nunavut Court of Appeal is the first in a $1-billion lawsuit against the federal government by the group that oversees the Nunavut land claim.

The group alleges that the treaty that created the eastern Arctic territory has never been properly implemented.

The ruling involves promises that a monitoring agency would be set up to collect data and report on the new territory’s economic and social progress and the state of its environment.

That agency still isn’t fully functioning, 11 years after the deadline and 21 years after the deal was signed.

A judge awarded the land-claim group nearly $15 million in 2012, but the Appeal Court says the promise didn’t necessarily create a specific financial obligation.

It said damages should be determined in the overall trial on the lawsuit, which is slated to be heard next year.