National Aboriginal Day became a special occasion for the first graduates of a new law school program in Nunavut.

Their graduation ceremony in Iqaluit on Tuesday was attended by Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik and Governor General Adrienne Clarkson.

In total there were 11 graduates. If they eventually pass their bar exams, Canada's newest territory will have 12 Inuit lawyers, including the premier.

The first graduates of the Akitsiraq Law School.

"This is a quantum change and a huge step toward righting the awful imbalance of Inuit involvement in the legal system of Nunavut," Clarkson told the assembly.

The Akitsiraq Law School was a partnership between the University of Victoria and Nunavut Arctic College. Law professors from across the country flew to Iqaluit to teach courses.

For many students, going to a law school outside Nunavut was just out of the question. "I would have had to enrol my children in different schools because they are all at different levels. And having to go through that would have been totally impossible for me," said Aaju Peters, who has five children.

Siobhan Arnatsiaq-Murphy says leaving Nunavut would mean leaving behind her culture and language. "The North doesn't always have to go to the South and operate on southern standards. Southern standards can come to the North and be alive here and be enriched by us," she said.

The students are starting jobs across the country, including one graduate who got a job as a clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Akitsiraq was intended as a one-time program, but there have been discussions about offering it again.