"Inuit and Social Justice" * Ryerson University * Toronto, Ontario * May 24, 2011
(Inuktitut introduction).
I will repeat in English, one of Canada’s other major languages: Thank you for the invitation to be with you and speak with you today.
It is a pleasure to be here.
The topic of my address today is “Inuit and Social Justice”.
After my address, I shall be most interested in your comments and questions.
I have broken my topic down into three parts.
In the off chance that not everyone here today has done post-graduate work in Inuit studies, I begin with a description of Inuit history and contemporary realities.
In my second part, I offer some ideas as to what “social justice” might mean in Canada.
In the final part of my address, I offer some suggestions on what kinds of things might promote social justice in Canada generally, and social justice for Inuit in particular.
Who are the Inuit, and what is Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami … or ITK?
Within Canada, Inuit are one of three Constitutionally recognized aboriginal peoples.
We are relatively few in numbers … approximately 55,000, spread from Labrador in the east to the Northwest Territories in the west … but we are a young population and still growing quickly.
If our numbers are modest, our geographic reach is anything but. The Arctic constitutes approximately one-third of Canada’s lands and waters with 50% of Canada’s shore lines.
There are 53 Inuit communities ranging from populations of more than a 1,000 to as small as 200.
Inuit are the solid majority of the permanent population in the Arctic, and a solid majority in all of the communities, with the exception of Inuvik and Iqaluit.
Inuit are also becoming more numerous in some southern cities, such as Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg and Edmonton.
Of course, Inuit do not live only in Canada.
We are a circumpolar people.
We live in Chukotka, in Russia, and in Alaska, and in Greenland, as well as in Canada.
We are some 160,000 in our circumpolar homeland … the area we call Inuit Nunaat.
Historically, and in many and important ways continuing today, we are a hunting and gathering people.
Our culture is rooted in that reality.
And is shaped and nourished by that reality.
Country foods continue to be a very important part of our culture and daily lives.
Hunting has become very expensive.
Tens of thousands of dollars are required to be properly equipped as a hunter.
Gas prices continue to climb. Incomes are often shared in order to support a hunter within a family in order to assure access to country food.
Inuit communities are physically far away from the main population centres of Canada.
With few exceptions, there are no road connections to the rest of Canada.
Transportation is by air and sea.
Air travel shrinks these distances, and the Arctic is now connected by modern communications to the rest of Canada and the world.
All Inuit communities have some level of broadband access.
While our connections to the outside world are far more deep and diverse than they have ever been, the relationship between Inuit and outside States and peoples is nonetheless a long and complex one.
While our relations with explorers may have started on a more equal footing, based on commercial exchange, they became very one sided.
Put bluntly, we were colonized.
Thoroughly colonized.
Sometimes with good intentions.
Sometimes not.
We are still working through some of the negative effects of that colonization.
Effects ranging from coerced relocations to and between communities, to residential schools abuse, to inter-generational crises brought about by disrespect for traditional Inuit culture and values.
We are recovering.
We have made progress.
And we have hope.
We have responded to the challenges of new technologies and global forces to stretch our culture, and to re-organize how we go about our lives and business.
We have taken particular care to equip ourselves with a set of representative institutions and mechanisms.
We have community and regional organizations within Canada.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, ITK, is the national Inuit organization within Canada, built on regional organization membership.
ITK, in turn, works closely with the Inuit Circumpolar Council, which represents the Inuit of Inuit Nunaat at the international level.
We have concluded five land claims agreements, or modern treaties, stretching from the Labrador coast to the Yukon/Alaska border.
These agreements create a set of contemporary power sharing arrangements with the Canadian State that equip us with critical roles in the governance and economies of our regions and communities.
Land claims agreements provide us with tools for shaping our lives and developing our lands and resources.
Collectively, Inuit own large parcels of land, some with full subsurface rights.
We now share in the management and, to some extent, the benefits, from natural resource development.
We have access to investment capital and are using it.
We own air and marine transport companies, fishing companies, and service industries for oil and gas development. We are creating joint ventures with various businesses.
Through the creation of the Nunavut territory in 1999, we brought about the first change to the map of Canada since Newfoundland’s entry in 1949.
In Nunavut, we have created the largest public government jurisdiction in the Americas that was built on --- and is building on --- its aboriginal majority.
Nunavut joins with Quebec as being the only member of the provincial and territorial club with a majority language other than English.
Surely this says something positive, and promising, about the flexibility and creativity of Canadian federalism.
We are also working on and building up innovative regional self-government and public government models outside Nunavut. These are in Nunatsiavut (northern Labrador), Nunavik (arctic Quebec), and the Inuvialuit area.
Inuit were early and consistent supporters of the patriation of the Canadian Constitution in the early 1980s. This includes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the equal treatment of men and women in provisions relating to aboriginal peoples.
In 1980 and 1995 the Inuit of Quebec came out strongly for Canada in the two referendums held in Quebec on Quebec sovereignty.
As you may recall, the ‘No’ vote in 1995 was an extremely close one. The massive Inuit vote in Quebec in favor of preserving the integrity of Canada was a crucial part of that thin margin.
Confederation is, of course, a kind of family and, as in all families, we must each seek to support and rely on each other.
Inuit society is built on the central importance of this value.
And within the Canadian family, we are a distinct People.
A foundational … first order … aboriginal people.
The Constitution of Canada acknowledges this.
International law says so.
Our status as a People does not detract from our citizenship in Canada.
Nor would we want it to.
Inuit have made many contributions to Canada’s well-being since first acquiring the opportunity to speak to national audiences on national issues, and to help shape national events.
And we have stood up for Canada’s fundamental rights and interests in the Canadian Arctic on many occasions when they have been questioned from abroad. This includes matters relating to the Northwest Passage and the ability of Canada to control marine traffic through that Passage.
In this international arena, we have been consistently vocal.
Inuit positions are put forward forcefully in places like New York, Geneva, Brussels, Washington and Copenhagen. Inuit are permanent participants in the Arctic Council. Our voice is heard in Ottawa and in provincial and territorial capitals.
Over the last thirty years we have participated in such diverse projects as:
- the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species,
- the Convention on Biological Diversity, and
- the creation and ongoing work of the Arctic Council.
The Inuit voice has been evident in the petition brought forward by Inuit individuals, with the assistance of Inuit organizations, to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Inuit are seeking relief from global warming violations caused by acts and omissions of the United States Government.
The Inuit voice is being asserted in litigation currently before the European General Court of Justice. Inuit are challenging the legal basis of EU legislation adopted in 2009 to ban the import of seal products into Europe.
The Inuit voice has contributed to the development of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. I was in New York the day it was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2007, after some 20 years of work.
While not having formal treaty status, that Declaration now forms part of the world’s human rights architecture.
Following the adoption of the UN Declaration, and the increasing international focus on the Arctic as a region, circumpolar Inuit decided to make our own statements about the status and rights of Inuit as a people.
In the last two years, Inuit from across the circumpolar world have developed, through consensus, important statements on two critical aspects of Arctic geo-politics and economic development projections.
They are:
- A Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Sovereignty in the Arctic, and
- A Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Resource Development Principles in Inuit Nunaat
I have brought copies of these with me and recommend them for your reading.
All these legal and political breakthroughs, formal and informal, by Inuit working domestically and in the international arena, are crucial.
But the written word only goes so far in addressing … and redressing … fundamental problems within and between societies.
Our Inuit treaties, statements, and international declarations operate in the context of free market forces.
Treaties do not decide the costs of extracting and shipping minerals or the cyclical nature of global commodity prices.
Our political breakthroughs have occurred in the midst of ongoing and still unresolved economic hardships and challenges.
Today in the Arctic, the cost of living is staggering.
I can fly economy class twice from Toronto to Hong Kong for the same price as flying from Toronto to a community on Baffin Island.
Foods and commodities that supplement traditional country foods are staggeringly expensive.
Geography alone presents Inuit with many serious and stubborn challenges.
These challenges reinforce many of the difficulties left behind by history.
Today, we are experiencing youth suicide, violent deaths and substance abuse at record levels.
We grieve for these things.
Let me give you a few other hard facts.
We have far lower educational outcomes than other Canadians …
Our high school non-completion rates are often in the 75% range.
Our housing conditions remain well below the Canadian standards.
Our health indicators continue to lag behind the rest of Canada …
Our incidence of TB is such that, if we were not citizens of Canada, we would not be allowed entry into the country.
Substance abuse plagues our families and communities.
The suicide rate is 11 times the Canadian average --- most being young people.
The enormous cost of imported food, combined with the high costs of hunting traditional country food have made hunger a major problem.
A recent Canadian Medical Association Journal article documented that more than 70% of households in Nunavut experience food insecurity in the course of the year.
These kinds of fact are both shocking and shaming … for us, as Inuit, for all of us, as Canadians, and for family members of a shared humanity.
It is not acceptable for citizens of Canada, a G8 member, to be suffering this level of fundamental socio-economic distress.
We are not silent or passive.
We seek to make best use of the limited capital at our disposal or within our reach.
We are using our political organizations at every level --- national, provincial and territorial, regional and community.
We use them to steer available public sector investment towards key economic drivers …
Notably towards basic infrastructure in the form of such things as small craft harbours and every available aspect of education and training.
Much of Canada’s mineral potential is within Inuit Nunangat. There are many major resource development projects up and running or being considered in our homeland:
… the MacKenzie Valley Pipeline
… many mining projects: Baffinland, iron ore; Voisey’s Bay and Raglan, nickel; Meadowbank, gold … to name a few
… ongoing exploration for diamonds and uranium
… the Bathurst Inlet port and road project
… the Manitoba- Nunavut road/rail link.
Prime Minister Harper has talked about Canada’s natural resource wealth in numerous speeches before business audiences in Canada and abroad.
He has predicted that this wealth, particularly in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, positions Canada to become a mineral and energy superpower.
Yet we are living with great material deprivation in the midst of great resource wealth.
Where does the concept of “social justice” fit into all this?
Quite apart from any lack of consensus as to what social justice might entail in Canada, there are even more varying views on how we might achieve it.
From my perspective, social justice requires creating a floor or safety net --- a solid, reliable, generous safety net --- in relation to the basic material needs that all human beings have.
Decent housing.
Ready access to health care – For both physical and mental health.
Opportunities to be educated and trained.
A reasonable hope to be productive and feel productive, whether through employment or other forms of activity.
Physical security.
These needs have both personal and collective dimensions.
Every citizen and every household should be able to rely on the help of neighbours, in the greater neighbourhood we call Canada.
But so, too, in a collective, aggregate sense, should all the constituent elements --- the building blocks --- of Canadian society.
Aboriginal peoples are such constituent elements, such building blocks.
Social justice remains elusive in Canada, whatever the state of national standards and norms, if identifiable parts of Canadian society are left out and left behind.
In seeking social justice in Canada we much acknowledge, and accept, that we live in a pluralistic society, with an ever evolving set of demographics, equipped with an economy which is a mix of public and private sectors.
Open and democratic societies need mixed economies and mixed identities.
In the search for social justice, it is essential to use the formal powers and institutions of governance --- Constitutions, laws, policies, programs, government departments and agencies --- to create a network of effective social supports for all members and sectors.
For example, a number of boards of education in Canada have done a fine job in teaching students about what it takes to create a more tolerant world.
As a minority in Canada, Inuit are acutely conscious of the importance of overall societal attitudes.
I spend a great deal of time in places such as this, trying to relay an Inuit message and trying, in a small way, to influence what others --- my co-citizens --- aspire to for Canada.
I would like to conclude my remarks by identifying some of them for you:
- finalization of the National Inuit Education Strategy, and the commitment, by all levels of government with Inuit constituents, of appropriate public funding support for that Strategy
- beyond the Strategy, the elevation of Inuit education and training initiatives to be the highest priority in Arctic policy
- construction of a new mental wellness centre in each of the four Inuit regions seeking one
- full implementation, in letter and spirit, of the promises made to Inuit in our land claims agreements, or modern treaties. In the case of Nunavut, this should include implementation of retired Justice Tom Berger’s 2006 conciliation report
- reform of federal land claims agreement implementation policy as proposed by the Land Claims Coalition and as endorsed in a Senate Committee Report
- the injection of major new funding into the transportation/retail subsidy for the import of basic foods and household goods to isolated Inuit and other communities
- positive senior government response to the recent circumpolar Inuit declaration on resource development in the Arctic
- international and domestic acceptance that the pace of climate change already being experienced in the Arctic. This requires inclusion of the Arctic in international climate change adaptation measures
- A line in the next federal Budget with millions allocated to building social housing in the Arctic is critically needed.
My list could go on and on, of course. Needs in the Arctic are great. You must go there to truly understand the needs.
My last comment involves the idea of a Charter of Social Rights.
When the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms was first being discussed in the context of patriation of the Canadian Constitution, there was some discussion of the need to include some basic social rights. These were rights to education, health care, housing, employment, in our foundational Constitutional documents.
Perhaps because of the preoccupation with federal/provincial and inter-regional dynamics and tensions at the time, the idea of a Social Charter did not gain momentum.
Subsequent Constitutional conversations focused heavily on Quebec’s place in Canada.
Since then, there have been some occasional, but very low profile, attempts to re-inject the concept of a Social Charter back into our national public discourse.
From the perspective of Inuit, a full, focused and lively discussion on social rights and a Social Charter would be timely and welcome.
(Inuktitut).
Thank you for your attention.