Consensus government in Canada Consensus government in Canada Consensus government is a form of consensus democracy government in Canada used in two of Canada's three federal territories (Northwest Territories and Nunavut) as well as in Nunatsiavut, an autonomous area in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The population of these jurisdictions are majority Indigenous peoples. The system developed in the Northwest Territories beginning during the 1970s, and was adopted by Nunavut when it came into existence in 1999. In 1905, the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were separated from the then much larger Northwest Territories. The Yukon Territory had been created in 1898 to
Nunavut Land Claims Agreement that recommended dividing the Northwest Territories into two electoral districts: the Western Arctic (now the Northwest Territories) and Nunatsiaq (now Nunavut). The Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut (TFN) negotiated the land claims agreement with the federal government in 1982. Voting in the Northwest Territories determined the creation of Nunavut with a passing vote of 56%. The TFN and representatives from the federal and territorial governments signed the land claims agreement-in-principle in 1990. In 1992 the TFN and federal negotiators agreed on the substantive portions of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. On May 25, 1993, Paul Quassa, then president of the Tunngavik