CELPIP Reading Part 3 Practice Test: Nunavut: Canada’s Newest Territory

Paragraph A

On April 1, 1999, the map of Canada changed for the first time in fifty years when Nunavut officially became the country’s third territory. Carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories, it is by far the largest of Canada’s provinces and territories, covering about one-fifth of the country’s land. Yet it has fewer people than any of them, with a population of under 40,000. The great majority of its residents are Inuit, and the territory’s name means “our land” in Inuktitut. Before 1999, these communities had been governed from Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, far to the west.

Paragraph B

The new territory was the result of decades of effort by Inuit leaders, who wanted a government that reflected the people of the eastern Arctic. In 1982, voters across the Northwest Territories approved the idea of dividing the territory, and ten years later a second vote settled where the new boundary would run. In 1993, Inuit representatives and the federal government signed the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, the largest land claim settlement in Canadian history. The talks leading to it had begun in the 1970s. Under it, Inuit gained ownership of a large area of land and a share of the money earned from resource development on public lands, and Ottawa committed to creating the new territory.

Paragraph C

Nunavut’s government works differently from those in most of Canada. Its legislature has no political parties. Members are elected as independents, and after each election they choose the premier and cabinet ministers from among themselves by secret ballot. Elections are held every four years, as in most provinces. The territory has four official languages: Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English and French. The government also aims to be guided by Inuit traditional knowledge, known as Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, which values ideas such as working together for a common purpose and respecting the land. The capital is Iqaluit, on Baffin Island, a city that was called Frobisher Bay until 1987.

Paragraph D

Life in Nunavut’s twenty-five communities involves challenges that most Canadians never face. No road links any of them to the rest of the country or to one another, so people and most goods arrive by air, while heavy supplies such as fuel, building materials and vehicles come by ship during the short summer season. As a result, food and housing cost far more than in southern cities. Many residents still hunt and fish, and country food such as caribou, seal and Arctic char remains an important part of the diet. Nunavut also has the youngest population in Canada, with a median age well below the national figure. Its flag reflects the territory’s identity: an inuksuk, a stone landmark built by Inuit, stands at its centre, beside a blue star representing the North Star.