It’s no exaggeration to say that at
63, Nellie is one of the most powerful women in Canada. She’s
the CEO of a corporation worth more than $300 million dollars
and co-chairs a new coalition that now owns a major share
in a $4 billion dollar pipeline. An amazing accomplishment
for a woman whose highschool education came by way of correspondence
courses mailed to her family’s trap-line, near the shores
of the Arctic Ocean.
Her resume includes being the first Native Woman ever elected
Premier in Canada. She’s also been a broadcaster, a
land claims negotiator and a tireless fighter for aboriginal
self- determination.
In 1995 Nellie announced she was stepping down as premier
and moving on to take over the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.
The organization oversees the lands and financial compensation
resulting from the 1984 land claim settlement she helped negotiate.
Under her leadership, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation
has grown stronger, making varied investments in oil and gas,
airlines, and transportation companies. She is now in her
fifth term as IRC’s leader and the driving force behind
the deal that sees aboriginal people in the north becoming
full partners in one of Canada’s biggest natural gas
pipeline deals.
Nellie Cournoyea is at the forefront of the revolution that’s
taking place in the far north today. It’s a revolution
that’s happening not in community rallies or town hall
meetings, but in corporate boardrooms and private oil company
jets.
Original Air Date - January 27, 2004
Links
CBC
Archives: Northwest Territories, Voting in Canada's North
Aboriginal
Pipeline Group
Inuvialuit
Regional Corporation
Inuit
Tapiriit Kanatami (bio of Nellie)
The
2001 Donald Gow Lecture (The Challenge of Natural Gas Development
in Canada's North by Nellie Cournoyea) (pdf. file)
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