ss pennies aeltete

Canada

By PAUL OGRESKO

First of two parts
anada’s far north
— the Arctic —
exists in the minds
of most Canadians
as an alien land. It is
a place steeped in
myths, a “desolate”
land where explor-
ers have ventured,
many not to return. They have gone to the
Arctic to discover things — the North Pole,
the Northwest passage, or whatever. Today
southerners still explore this land, though
wooden sailing vessels have been replaced
by nuclear submarines.

That a people have lived in this land for
ages is a fact almost unnoticed in our south-
ern, “civilized,” world. Most Canadians see
only a vast wasteland — an inhospitable
land not even worthy of human habitation.
Therefore those who live there must some-
how be uncivilized — their way of life and
view of the world inferior to our “more
developed” southern world. A few images
are etched into the southern consciousness
so that we can, simplistically, categorize
these people. We gave them a name —
Eskimo — though now the word Inuit
(which is what the people of Canada’s Arc-
tic call themselves and which means “the
people”) has finally found its way into our
vocabulary. We developed a few pat
images — the igloo, the sealskin coats, and
soapstone carvings — but beyond that, lit-
tle.

Misconceptions and ignorance lay the
cornerstones for colonialism and racism.
Stereotypes abound: the Arctic becomes a
frozen desert devoid of everything “modern
civilization” values, so the people living
become “primitive” and prime targets for
enlightenment about our modern age.

Yet this “primitive people” — the Inuit
— have lived in harmony with this land for
ages. They have evolved a culture and a
view Of life that lacks such accomplishments
of southern civilization as poverty, class dif-
ferences and war. In his book Living Arctic,
Canadian writer Hugh Brody documents
how fundamentally different this outlook
on life can be.

“Their ideas and institutions, their views
about property, children, sexuality and
social control, are radically unlike those
founded in settled, originally agricultural

societies, Peasant attachment to specific
plots of land, the wish to have large
numbers of children in short periods of
time, emphasis upon marriage, subordina-
tion of women to men, preoccupation with
private ownership, and bodies of explicit
law that are enforced by some form of
police — allthese notions and practices are
deeply alien... “

Today things are rapidly changing. The
Arctic has become an area crucial to world
politics. Militarily, it has become a kind of
no man’s land between competing global
powers — a potential powderkeg along
with Europe and the Pacific. The scientists
of the “developed” world are finally realiz-
ing how integral the Arctic is to the ecology
of the whole world and to the survival of
humanity — something the Inuit have
always known.

Much has changed for the Inuit as well.
No culture is ever stagnant but part of the

about global politics and our interdepend-
ence on each other for survival. It is a vision
of politics that has been put forward to the
world community by Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev. The vision the Inuit offer of the
Arctic’s future, at a time when the Canadian
government seems intent on its increased
militarization, is also one of hope.

Perhaps the essence of new thinking can
be found not just in the corridors of political
power, but with those people who have not
forgotten how to live with the land and with
each other.

Since its inception in 1977, the Inuit Cir-
cumpolar Conference (ICC), a non-
governmental body comprising the Inuit of
Canada, Greenland and Alaska, has had a
policy of no military build-up in the Arctic
and keeping the Arctic nuclear-free. Meet-
ing every three years in Greenland, the ICC
has served both as a forum for the Inuit of
different countries to meet and exchange

Among the draft principles adopted by the Inuit Cir-
cumpolar Conference is one calling for ‘new notions of
security through international co-operation.’

colonial attitude in Canada has been to
regard the aboriginal cultures, whether
Dene or Cree, Metis or Inuit, as archaic,
unable to adapt and thus doomed to disap-
pear. The assumption has been that if abo-
riginal cultures changed, they would no
longer be aboriginal but become part of the
dominant society.

Yet computers and fax machines exist
alongside traditional ways for today’s Inuit.
The ability to adapt and evolve remains
very much alive; however, there are social
problems. Increased development has
brought such benefits of southern civiliza-
tion as alcohol and crime to the Inuit.
Indeed, the Inuit are today at a crossroads
— at stake is not only the future of the
Arctic, but their survival as a people. Politi-
cally the Inuit are dealing on both the Can-
adian and world level to ensure their own
cultural survival. This two-part article will
attempt to show how interdependent their
future, and ours, is.

The crisis facing the southern world has
precipitated the need for a new thinking

views, and also as a political body to pro-
mote the rights of the Inuit and other north-
ern peoples on the world stage. With
observer status at the United Nations since
1984, the ICC is one of the growing number
of non-governmental agencies asserting an
increasingly greater influence on global
politics.

Speaking with the Tribune, ICC Presi-
dent Mary Simon said one of the major
concerns of the Conference, along with pro-
tecting the rights of the Inuit and the ecolog-
ical balance of the Arctic, is the increasing
threat posed by militarization.

The Mulroney government’s nuclear
submarine plan and the ramifications it
holds for Canada’s Inuit are a source of
concern for Simon.

“A number or resolutions have been
passed at our Assembly against nuclear
weapons and the militarization of the Arc-
tic. Therefore, the ICC is opposed to
nuclear sub activity in the Arctic waters.
The long-term implications are quite
serious in terms of disturbing the marine

environment and the potential for an acci-
dent. Any accident would contaminate the
waters, the wildlife, and therefore the people
who live in the Arctic.”

Among the many draft principles
adopted at the last ICC General Assembly
in 1986 is one calling for “new notions of
common security through international co-
operation.” It provides a clear vision of a
stabilized Arctic where the fundamental
rights of the Inuit and other northern peo-
ples are respected.

The Arctic must not be viewed as a front-
ier or battleground for East-West competi-
tion or conflict, the ICC contends. Rather it
is first and foremost the ancestral home of
Inuit and other northern peoples. In order
to achieve real and lasting security in the
Arctic, northern peoples should encourage
the development of new notions of com-
mon security that do not lead to militariza-
tion. Such new concepts of security should
be based on the promotion of human rights
and international cooperation on economic
trade, cultural exchanges, environmental
protection, polar research, arms control
and other peaceful initiatives.

Making world governments sensitive to
the rights of the indigenous peoples of the
North has been a long term goal of the ICC,
but like other non-governmental bodies, it
is grappling with questions with global ram-
ifications. In developing its policies, the ICC
is recognizing the inter-relationship between
human nights, peace and development.

In a global context, peace is much more
than an absence of war. It is considered to
entail a fair and democratic system of inter-
national relations, based on principles of
mutual co-operation. This is consistent with
the view that international law has under-
gone a rapid transformation from a law of
coexistence which merely reflected interna-
tional conduct, to a law of co-operation
which actively influences conduct towards
commonly-shared goals The link
between disarmament and development
must also be recognized. The arms race not
only imperils international peace, but also
continues to divert increasingly vast resour-
ces needed for economic and social devel-
opment.

Next week: Part two — The upcoming
participation of Soviet Native people in the
Inuit Circumpolar Conference, and the Inuit
response to growing Canadian militarization
in the Arctic.

Pacific Tribune, January 16, 1989 « 5