When Nunavut was carved out of the Northwest Territories in 1999, the new territory was hailed as the first institution that gave natives self-government powers similar to those of a province.
It was also the culmination of an idea that surfaced in Parliament during the 1960s. And expectations for its success were high on all sides, as were hopes that the new government would help alleviate widespread problems of unemployment and suicide among the Inuit populations.
"The thought was to create a government that understood the Inuit and that was more accessible to them," said Gurston Dacks, a political science professor at the University of Alberta.
"There was hope that this government would provide a better approach on social issues," Prof. Dacks said.
"There was also the hope that the government itself would provide a number of jobs that would ... motivate young Inuit people to stay in school and aspire to administrative, well-paying and above all safe work."
The idea to partition the Northwest Territories appeared in the House of Commons as early as the 1960s, when legislation was introduced to that effect. But the bill died in Parliament in 1963.
And the partition was seriously considered again in 1976, with the start of negotiations on a land claim between the Inuit and the federal government.
The Inuit were fearful that development in the North would encroach on their traditional hunting grounds.
Their demands included the partition of the Northwest Territories into two administrative entities - a call that was backed by a majority of residents in a 1982 plebiscite.
After coming under heavy criticism for its reaction to the Oka crisis in 1991, the Tory government of the time was eager to show some successful initiatives in its relations with natives.
And in 1993 then-prime-minister Brian Mulroney flew to Baffin Island to sign the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, which established one-fifth of Canada's land mass as a distinct territory.
On April 1, 1999, many Inuit gathered in Iqaluit to celebrate the creation of the new jurisdiction, which is very different from the rest.
Inuit comprised 85 per cent of the population, and the government pledged to put their concerns first and to work on pervasive problems such as unemployment, suicide and illiteracy.
But the hopes that accompanied the new territory's creation were dampened recently by reports showing violent crime and suicide rates soaring among Inuit youth.
"The expectations were unreasonably optimistic, as happens in any pursuit of a grand political agenda," Prof. Dacks said.