The Office of Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation is responsible for negotiations among Indigenous Governments and Organizations towards land claims, self-government and other associated agreements. The Office is responsible for ensuring the implementation and management of these agreements.
Nunatsiavut Government
The Province finalized the Labrador Inuit Lands Claims Agreement (“LILCA”) with Canada and the Nunatsiavut Government in 2005. LILCA was signed by all three parties on January 22, 2005, with an Effective Date of December 1, 2005. The Agreement is a modern-day treaty between the Inuit of Labrador, the Province and Canada, and is Constitutionally-protected under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982.
There are approximately 7,000 Beneficiaries of LILCA residing in the Inuit Communities of Nain, Hopedale, Postville, Makkovik, Rigolet, as well as in Upper Lake Melville, other parts of Labrador, the Island portion of the province, and throughout Canada. Since the Effective Date, Provincial departments and agencies have worked actively with Nunatsiavut Government elected representatives and officials to implement the treaty. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador continues to work closely with the Nunatsiavut Government on the implementation of LILCA and consults the Nunatsiavut Government on all major government initiatives within the Labrador Inuit Settlement Area.
On May 28, 2010, amendments to the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement Act came into force. These amendments incorporate an Overlap Agreement reached in November 2005 between the Labrador Inuit and Nunavik (Quebec) Inuit that resolved their overlapping land claims in northern Labrador and offshore areas adjacent to northern Labrador and northern Quebec.
The Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement
- Backgrounder
- Highlights
- Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement
- Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement Map (256 KB)
- Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement (Amendment) No.1 (25.1 MB)
- Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement (Amendment) No.2 (3.0 MB)
- Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement (Amendment) No. 3 (15 MB)
- Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement Implementation Plan
Nunavik Inuit
The Overlap Agreement between the Inuit of Labrador and the Inuit of Quebec was incorporated into the Nunavik Inuit Land Claims Agreement in 2008. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is not a party to either the Overlap Agreement or the Nunavik Inuit Land Claims Agreement.
- Nunavik Inuit Land Claims Agreement (4.8 MB)
Subsidiary Agreements
- Labrador Inuit Framework Taxation Agreement (2 MB)
- Nunatsiavut Government Provincial Tax Revenue Sharing Agreement (4.4 MB)
- Labrador Inuit Tax Agreement (14.1 MB)
- Nunatsiavut Government Own Source Revenue Capacity Agreement (9.5 MB)
- Nunatsiavut Government Fiscal Financing Agreement (11.9 MB)
News Releases
- News Release – January 22, 2005 Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement signed
- News Release – November 24, 2005 A new era for the Labrador Inuit
Innu Nation of Labrador
Land claim negotiations are still underway with the Innu Nation. There are approximately 1,700 Innu in Sheshatshiu and 900 Mushuau Innu in Natuashish. Prior to the 1960s, they lived a nomadic existence following caribou in the interior of the Québec-Labrador Peninsula. The two (2) communities are distinct from each other, their residents were formerly known as Montagnais and Naskapi, respectively, but they share a political organization, the Innu Nation, which represents them in land claims and other negotiations.
The Innu Nation land claim, accepted by the federal government for negotiation in 1978, covers approximately 70% of Labrador. A framework agreement, signed by Canada, NL and the Innu Nation in 1996, sets out the ground rules for negotiations.
The Tshash Petapen Agreement (jash pey-taah-ben) which translates as the New Dawn Agreement, was signed on September 26, 2008. It is a bilateral agreement between the Innu Nation of Labrador and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. It resolved key issues relating to matters between the province and the Innu Nation surrounding the Innu Land Claims Agreement, the Lower Churchill Impacts and Benefits Agreement (IBA) and Innu redress for the Upper Churchill hydroelectric development. The New Dawn Agreement formed the basis for ongoing negotiation for all three agreements.
The New Dawn Agreement represented a significant step in the tripartite land claim negotiation process towards an Agreement-in-Principle as it brought closure to several significant bilateral issues between the Province and the Innu Nation.
The tripartite AIP, the Lower Churchill IBA and the Upper Churchill redress agreement were signed at Natuashish on November 18, 2011. Negotiations among Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador and Innu Nation towards a final land claims and self-government agreement are ongoing.
- Innu Land Claims Framework Agreement
- Voisey’s Bay Memorandum of Agreement (Innu Nation) (90 KB)
- New Dawn Agreement / Tshash Petapen Agreement (531 KB)
- New Dawn Agreement / Tshash Petapen Agreement Map (2.65 MB)
- Labrador Innu Land Claims Agreement-in-Principle (11.5 MB)
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader software can be used for viewing PDF documents. Download Acrobat® Reader for free.