Nunavut - Атлас этнических региональных автономий - Сеть по исследованию идентичности

Description of the autonomy

One of the three territories of Canada. It is located in the north of the country. The largest in terms of area, the most sparsely populated and the newest in terms of the creation time of Canadian regions. Its territory lies entirely in the arctic and subarctic climatic zones. It was created in 1999 as a result of the separation of Canada from the Northwest Territories on the basis of ethnicity.

Economically, the region is rather poor and subsidized (federal subsidies account for up to 90% of the regional budget). There are great difficulties in the economic development of the territory, due to the lack of maritime infrastructure and extreme climatic conditions. It is important that as a result of the adoption of the "Nunavut Act", Nunavut owns the lands of the region, the right to use subsoil resources, as well as revenues from mining.

The titular ethnic group is the Inuit people, which make up about 70% of the population. Inuit belong to the indigenous peoples of Canada and differ from Anglo-Canadians and Franco-Canadians in language, religion, and traditions. The Inuit speak the Inuit languages of the Eskimo-Aleut language family, while the official English and French languages in Canada belong to the Indo-European language family. Religiously, Inuit retains traditional beliefs, although Christianization has a certain weight.

The ethnolinguistic situation in the region is characterized by support for the functioning and development of the Inuit language. The task that the region sees for itself is to introduce a bilingual model of education, in which one language should be English or French, and the second language is the Inuit language.

The modern ethnopolitical situation in the region is characterized by relative stability and the absence of pronounced conflicts. This might be due to the high degree of autonomy of the territory. Despite the fact that the territories in Canada are considered to be administrative units with a reduced status (in comparison with the provinces), Nunavut stands out among them an increased degree of delegated authority. In addition, the Canadian government pays much attention to the economic development of the region.

Autonomy's characteristics

Year of the creation of the autonomy:

Geographic

Where is the autonomy situated:
Autonomy area: km²
Share of the autonomy in the area of the country: %
Autonomy population:the latest census thousands of people
Share of the autonomy in the population of the country: %

Country's characteristics

Level of economic development of the country:GDP per capita in 2015 in current price in $ in $
Political regime in the country:It is based on the Freedom House Index, 2015. All countries of the world are located on a scale from 1 (most free) to 7 (least free). Countries whose ratings fall between 1.0 and 2.5 are “Free”, between 3.0 and 5.0 are "Partly Free," and those between 5.5 and 7.0 are "Not Free."

Economic

Share of the autonomy in the economy of the country:GRP of the autonomy divided to GDP of the country (%) %
Level of economic development of the autonomy:relative to the country (%): GRP per capita of the autonomy divided to GDP per capita of the country %

Ethnic

Share of the dominant in the country ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the dominant in the country ethnic group divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Share of the titular ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Ethnic peculiarity:It indicates a key characteristic of autonomy's ethnic identity - language or religion or both
Diversity of ethnic composition:The presence of other (in addition to the titular group in the autonomy and the dominant group in the country) significant ethnic groups in the population of the autonomy

Political

Degree of self-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_selfrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of self-rule: institutional depth; policy scope; fiscal autonomy; borrowing autonomy; and the extent to which a region has an independent legislature and executive. The index takes value from 0 to 18
Degree of shared-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_sharedrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of shared-rule: participation of a region in national law-making; intergovernmental meetings; the distribution of national tax revenues; borrowing; and constitutional change. The index takes value from 0 to 12
The presence of the "kin-state":"Kin-state" is a state whose main population shares the ethnic characteristics of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy
Linguistic preferences:It indicates how the language of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy is learned in secondary schools in the autonomy
Ethnic conflicts:It indicates whether the serious conflicts between the autonomy and the central government as well as between ethnic groups within the authority take place in 2001-2015. The level of conflict is determined on the basis of the annual reports of Conflict Barometer