[meteorite-list] Pingualuit Crater Is Centerpiece Of New Canadian Park

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:29:51 2004
Message-ID: <200309051631.JAA18397_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavik/30905_01.html

Charest announces creation of Pingualuit Park

Opens door to a relationship of trust between Quebec and the Inuit

ISABELLE DUBOIS
Nunatsiaq News (Canada)
September 5, 2003

Quebec's new premier delivered the Nunavik's first provincial
park during his visit to the region last week.

Jean Charest officially announced the
creation of Pingualuit Park on Aug. 28 during
a ceremony in Makivik Corp.'s head office in
Kuujjuaq.

Pingualuit Crater is the centerpiece of the
new park. The crater is a perfectly circular
lake that was formed by a meteorite more
than 1.3 million years ago. It is more than
three kilometres wide and 267 metres deep,
and is renown for the purity of its water.

"The creation of the new park is an
expression of our government's intent to
preserve spaces and ecosystems for future
generations," Charest said as Makivik
President Pita Aatami, Pierre Corbeil,
minister for forests, wildlife and parks, and
Benoît Pelletier, minister for
aboriginal affairs, looked on.

Last Friday's signing honoured a provision of the 2002 Sanarrutik economic
agreement between Nunavik and Quebec. The agreement promised a budget
of $5.7 million for start-up and $3.9 million for operating costs over the next
five years.

It was also the culmination of more than 30 years of anticipation for Nunavik,
which has been pressing for regional park development since the James Bay
and Northern Quebec Agreement was signed in 1975.

Yet Pingualuit Park is significant, not only because it is the first provincial
park in the region, but also because it will be Quebec's first park managed by
a local population.

The new park, which is expected to be operational by the end of this year, will
be run by Inuit through the Kativik Regional Government. This means local
Inuit will keep all traditional harvesting rights within the park.

"The fact that the new park will be managed by the Inuit themselves,
certainly bears witness to the faith that Quebec has in them," said Marc
Alain, the political attaché to Minister Corbeil.

"Characterized by trust, this new relation between the government and the
Inuit, leading to a delegation of responsibilities, can also lead to a certain
autonomy," added Minister Pelletier's political attaché, Louis-Félix Binette.

Charest said he hopes the new park will serve as a model for the
development of other parks in the region. Four other park projects are
currently under study in Nunavik and he believes the creation of more parks
could encourage eco- and adventure tourism in Arctic Quebec.

The park announcement was only one stop in Charest's first tour of Nunavik
as premier. During his visit, Charest returned to the community of
Kangiqsualujjuaq, which he first visited as leader of the opposition after the
New Year's Eve avalanche of 1999.

The premier said he was impressed to see how the community had coped
since the tragedy. Community members, who were touched by Charest's
presence at the funeral, were grateful for his return.

"The premier's visit is important to us," said Kangiqsualujjuaq mayor Bobby
Baron. "It is the only way that he can see how we live."

Charest also spent some time at the Nunavik Research Centre in Kuujjuaq.

A closed meeting followed his visit to the centre, where government officials
and Inuit leaders discussed many other issues related to the North.

Following the meeting, Aatami thanked the premier and his delegation for
accepting his invitation.

"We are, hopefully, starting a beautiful relationship," he said. "We have
accomplished some positive things in the past with the government of
Quebec, and we hope we can do more."

Charest spent some time during his tour reassuring Inuit about his
government's policy of cutting spending.

"Of course there will be reductions in government spending but these will be
mainly at the administration level," he said.

By cutting the fat from Quebec's bureaucracy, the new premier hopes to
better serve the province's residents by reducing taxes and emphasizing
issues such as the health care and education.

Although Charest did not make any concrete promises, he pledged to listen
closely to aboriginal concerns about housing, insurance and local government.

For his part, Pelletier announced an $850,000 grant to the KRG for a variety
of community development projects that will be funded through the
Secrétariat aux Affaires Autochtones' aboriginal development fund.

Minister Corbeil presented $1.6 million to the KRG through the support
program for Inuit beneficiaries of the James Bay and Northern Quebec
Agreement, for hunting, fishing and trapping activities.
Received on Fri 05 Sep 2003 12:31:57 PM PDT