In the greatest land rights settlement of the postcolonial era, the Inuit people of the Canadian arctic were granted self-determination over a huge swathe of the frozen north to create their own territory, called Nunavut. The tragic consequences of the Inuits first contact with Europeans still marks the land. Crosses protrude from the ice, and graves of the Sallitmut Inuit who perished from diseases contracted from Scottish whalers. Ever since that inauspicious beginning they’ve been fighting for independence. The irony is, now they’ve finally achieved it, their children are aspiring to the colonialists’ agenda. The elders of the newly chosen government are keen to shake off the alienation they felt in their own land. They’re putting igloo building and hunting back in the curriculum. But many children are no longer interested in trapping foxes or roaming the ice fields. They want to live the Western way and their traditional education is not serving them well. With 60% unemployment, addiction and suicide rates are soaring. The new Western Mining Corps Gold mine only expects to employ 25% Inuit for it’s new installation. Can Nunavut’s 24,000 inhabitants escape the despair, suicide and substance abuse that has characterised their colonial experience? An beautiful film that addresses the very real challenges faced by the Inuits with their chance in a lifetime.

Produced by ABC Australia