Nunavut

The first didactic and enthusiastic wave of media reporting about the formation of Nunavut is over.Often encountering northern affairs or even Canada for the first time in 1999, reporters had to explain to their international readers (and many Canadians) what Nunavut was, who the Inuit were, and what the Arctic was like (no roads!).Generally, observers were also engaged by the celebration in Nunavut and in Canada that attended the creation of the new territory.Given the early enthusiasm, in Nunavut and abroad, we are at risk now of entering a period of disenchantment.Communities and regions are manoeuvring for benefits, elected politicians are behaving as politicians everywhere do, social problems remain, the public service is struggling and leaking staff: Nunavut seems to be faltering.Not even two years after the creation of Nunavut, it is much too soon for such a conclusion.We have come, though, to a time when celebration should be replaced by careful public research and debate.Rather than disenchantment, what is needed is deep, clear, sound, and accessible contemporary political and economic analysis.Fortunately, such work has begun to appear

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