The Social Life of Political Institutions Among the Nunavik Inuit (Arctic Québec, Canada)

Abstract

This chapter proposes to analyze the nature of the relationship between Inuit of Nunavik (arctic Québec, Canada) and the political organizations that rule their collective lives. It intends to examine what role and place people assign to these organizations in the context of self-governance in Nunavik. Using a relational approach, in order to take into account the singular ontology reflected in Inuit discourses and practices, this chapter shows that Nunavik Inuit do not see themselves separated from political institutions, but rather in a continuous relationship with them. Their attempt to achieve political autonomy in the region is not designed to attain complete separation with the Canadian federal government and with the Québec provincial government, but to establish a new relationship with them, where they would be recognized as equal partners. This chapter is based on long-term fieldwork in Nunavik communities and on research in governmental archives, which aimed to analyze power relationships among Inuit in Nunavik. It reveals that the relationships between people and the political entities are structured in the same way as their interpersonal relationships. Nunavik Inuit endowed their political institutions with agency and assigned them a specific place in their web of life.