IQALUIT, Nunavut -- Ottawa will pay Nunavut $256 million as part of a settlement of a longstanding lawsuit.

Most of that money will be used to fund training for Inuit to enter the territory's civil service.

Nunavut has never come close to the same percentage of Inuit in government jobs as they are in the general population, which was one of the promises in the land claim.

The group which oversees the claim argued that the disparity was caused by ongoing underfunding of Inuit education.

A conciliator agreed, saying in 2005 that Ottawa should spend an another $20 million a year on Inuit education.

When Ottawa didn't follow the conciliator's report, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. filed the lawsuit, claiming $1 billion in damages.