Nunavut's premier says the foreign affairs minister's recent comments about Arctic sovereignty — that the country must "use it or lose it" — ignores the long Inuit presence in the region.

"The Arctic is not a frontier. It is our homeland," Premier Eva Aariak said Thursday.

Aariak also said the minister's recent trip to the North came as news to her. "I was not informed about the fact that he was coming up here," she said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon's two-day trip earlier this week took him to Resolute Bay and the Borden Island Ice Camp, where scientists are conducting the fieldwork necessary to prepare Canada's submission to the United Nation's Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

Canada has until 2013 to present its submission to the UN commission, which will decide Arctic boundaries among countries eager to exploit an area that contains an estimated one-quarter of the Earth's untapped oil and gas wealth.

"We have a choice — use it or lose it," Cannon told reporters. "And I'm proud to say that our government has made the choice to use it."

MLA Ron Elliott also took issue with the minister's statement. He represents Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay in the High Arctic — communities created to stake a claim to the land.

Elliot said the residents are living proof of sovereignty.

"Sometimes people in the communities are offended by the way the government talks about this," he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently took Cannon to task over a meeting he hosted in March to discuss Arctic issues that included boundary disputes and search and rescue capabilities. Canada invited only the United States, Norway, Russia and Denmark.

Iceland, Finland and Sweden were not invited — even though they are members of the Arctic Council, a long-standing group that Canada helped create specifically for such issues. Aboriginal groups who also have a place at the Arctic Council were not invited either.

When the Inuit and the three uninvited countries publicly complained about the snub, Clinton backed them up. "Significant international discussions on Arctic issues should include those who have legitimate interests in the region," she said.

With files from The Canadian Press