Women’s participation in decision making - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 220

Inuit would be called to one place to eat and they would make plans as
to who is going to hunt the day after … if the weather co-operated. They
would gather at night and tell their stories of the day's hunt and make
plans for the next day.
(Piugaattuk and Angiliq 1986:15)
Food sharing is also reflective of social responsibility:
Food sharing was necessary for the physical and social welfare of the
entire group. It made people feel that they were part of the community.
Someone you shared food with was someone you could turn to for help
at a future date … Selfishness was not tolerated, and young hunters were
taught to take care of all camp members.
(Bennett and Rowley 2004:87)
Food sharing is also a time of celebration, by welcoming gesture to the com-
munity, well articulated by Isapee Qanguq:
When the dog teams returned they had big loads of meat … After they
completed the task of storing the meat, my grandfather Inuutiq went
outdoors; as he got to the entrance he started to shout in a loud voice:
'Tamuattuaaq, tamuattuaaq, avagusukkama, tamuattuaaq.' [Something
to chew, something to chew, it is my wish to share it, something to
chew.] Everyone came so that our home was packed with people.
(Bennett and Rowley 2004:87)
The culmination of celebration, social responsibility and practicality is cen-
tral in conceptualizing Nunavut's political reality beyond its present colonial
systems to a political system really rooted in the Inuit way.
Moving beyond a continued contradiction in Nunavut
Nunavut is Inuit homeland, and Nunavut's political system stems from the
signing of the NLCA, a legal contract between the Government of Canada
and the Inuit of Nunavut. The NLCA secured the creation of an Inuit major-
ity territory within the Canadian federation supported by institutions that
function at the standard of the Government of Canada. The contradiction that
Inuit in Nunavut surrendered their aboriginal rights to secure the creation of
a government that functions according to the standard of a colonial mecha-
nism within Inuit homeland is the forum in which Inuit governance must
re-emerge from. How can this be done?
There are many ways to answer this question. I have chosen to focus on
political consultation as it is the bureaucratic equivalent of communica-
tion and interaction, and it is the central interaction between 'government',