Women’s participation in decision making - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 212

an intransigent and embarrassing truth to the Canadian state: if the state
dispossesses a people and continuously controls their political, social and eco-
nomic realities, that people's social suffering will persist and require constant
attention and resources. Unfortunately, all indications are that Canada and
most Canadians are content to subsidize Indigenous suffering and the suffer-
ing industries spawned by the operations of the AANDC, rather than restore
economic and social well-being in Indigenous communities. The imposition
of colonial institutions, and massive - and failing - efforts to indigenize these
institutions, may be read as a central aspect of creating suffering - a hallmark
of human insecurity.
Implications for Indigenous women and human security in
the Arctic
Insofar as Indigenous political processes continue to operate, both Indigenous
women and men hold equally important responsibilities; however, wom-
en's participation in colonial institutions lags far behind the participation
of men. Within colonial institutions representing exclusively Indigenous
interests (such as Tribal Councils and land claim governments), women
fare better than in public government institutions. For example, both the
NWT and Nunavut legislatures, which have nineteen members each, have
two women representatives (including the Premier of Nunavut) (current to
2013). Regional Inuit associations, Inuvialuit organizations and Band and
Metis councils include several women as presidents, chairpersons, executive
members and councillors.
If human security is constituted, in part, by the participation of all citizens
in decision-making processes, what are the implications of a lack of wom-
en's representation in colonial institutions, and the broader problem of the
lack of Indigenous participation and control of institutional implementation
of 'indigenous inclusive' institutions, such as land claim created bodies and
responsibilities? What are the implications for human security that a signifi-
cant aspect of Indigenous political practices - Indigenous institutions which
are respected, not elected - are unrecognized by colonial governments that
have dispossessed Indigenous people and subsequently fund colonial institu-
tions of their own choosing as the only legitimate avenues for Indigenous
participation and consultation?
Clearly, human security, in terms of access to and control of the political
process, is deeply undermined by current colonial practices in the Arctic, with
a doubly damaging blow to women in particular, who participate more freely
and in greater numbers within Indigenous rather than colonial institutions.
To rectify this problem, governments could take a first step by expanding their
notion of what constitutes 'legitimate' Indigenous governments and 'legiti-
mate' methods of consultation. They must move beyond the perception that
only a few elected Band councillors or land claim government representatives