IQALUIT, Northwest Territories -- Already the hunters are fanning out across the frozen tundra to bag sufficient caribou for a feast the likes of which has never been seen in Canada's Arctic. There will be fireworks, much chest-thumping and grand oratory. There will be drum dancing and traditional throat singing.
Tomorrow, the eastern half of the Northwest Territories splits off to form the new territory of Nunavut -- "Our Land," in the language of the Inuit, or Eskimos, who make up 85 percent of the 27,200 inhabitants of one of the most remote, forbidding and sparsely inhabited regions on Earth.
The creation of the territory marks the beginning of a bold and risky experiment in native self-government, one that has fired the hopes of aboriginal people around the world, from the Maori of New Zealand to the Mohawks of New York.
For Nunavut is not to be just another tribal reserve. It will be both a full-fledged Canadian territory, governed by its own 19-member legislature, as well as North America's first true Inuit homeland.
"People are walking around with big smiles on their faces," said John Amagoalik, an Inuit leader.
But he added: "People are also nervous and maybe even a little frightened of what lies ahead."
With good reason.
Nunavut might be a symbol of hope, but it is also a stronghold of despair. On the instant of its birth, it becomes the poorest territory, by far, in Canada -- a welfare basket case where desperate social conditions are made worse by physical isolation and a brutal climate.
"Nunavut will be a rude awakening for many," said Goo Arlookto, an Inuit leader. "Too many people have convinced themselves that their lives are going to change immediately, as if having a territory to call our own is some miracle that will make groceries cheap and give everyone a job. In reality, this is just the first step of a long, long journey."
The emergence of Nunavut will mark the first significant redrawing of the map of Canada since Newfoundland quit the British Empire 50 years ago this week to become the 10th province.
Celebrations will be held in each of the 28 settlements scattered across a territory stretching nearly 2,000 miles from the Belcher Islands in Hudson Bay to the northern tip of Ellesmere Island, last stop before the North Pole.
