International Newsletter on
Sustainable Local Development
Newsletter #97
April 1st 2013
Summary
Cooperatives and
Inuit communities in Canada
5th Meeting for the Globalisation of
Solidarity
Editorial message
The link between indigenous peoples and
the cooperative approach is most striking. Group spirit and the Commons are
something all these communities share. In addition, the fundamental spirit of
cooperatives, that of collective enterprise and collectiveness is perfectly
suited to indigenous communities’ mentality. In this issue, we illustrate,
albeit in simplified form, the way in which cooperatives have provided the
natural model that correspond to the values of the Inuit populations of Canada.
As most of our readers are aware, we are
involved in various ways with the Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of
Social and Solidarity Economy (RIPESS). All three of us actively participated
in the 3rd third meeting for the Globalisation of Solidarity in
Dakar in 2005, as well as the 4th that took place in Luxemburg in
2009. The programme for the next meeting, scheduled to be held in the
Philippines next October, is now on-line.
Judith Hitchman
Yvon Poirier
Martine Theveniaut
Cooperatives and
Inuit Communities in Canada
By Yvon Poirier
The Canadian
Arctic is a vast polar territory that stretches from the Atlantic right across
to Alaska; it is the home of the Inuit. The Inuit are a “people” who have lived
a nomadic existence for many thousands of years, living essentially from their
fishing and hunting activities. Their community differs from other indigenous
peoples of the Americas. They arrived later, and are related to the Inuit of
Greenland, the Lapps of Finland and the native people of Siberia.
Since the 1950s,
the development of health and educational services provided by the Canadian
government, the development of trade and the military presence during the Cold
War all accentuated and accelerated change within these communities. This has
led to the creation of villages, built so that people could live closer to
services.
The need was born
to create businesses to trade Inuit art, particularly the internationally renowned stone
sculptures. These spontaneously were built as cooperatives as “the principles of cooperative structure were
well adapted to our culture of sharing”. In another document, we can read
that “The main aim of all cooperatives
was to unite the community and to act as the spokesperson for their interests”.
Two important
federations of cooperatives currently exist: the Arctic Cooperative is present
in the North and West of Canada, and the Fédération des Coopératives du Nouveau
Québec (Nunavik) in 14 Inuit villages in the northern part of the province of Quebec.
The Fédération des coopératives du Nouveau–Québec
(FCNQ)
This Federation was founded in 1967, and includes
the cooperatives of 14 Inuit villages with a total population of 13,000. The
cooperative movement is the main non-governmental employer in the region, with
approximately 350 mainly Inuit employees.
This cooperative movement is far more than just
commercial outlets. To illustrate, here is an overview of their activities
(excerpt from the website):
·
Operating retail
stores with a wide selection of merchandise at competitive prices, often paying
back savings in cash and shares to members at the end of the year.
·
Banking, post
offices, cable TV and Internet services.
·
Management
training, staff development and auditing service.
·
Marketing Inuit
art across Canada and around the world.
·
Operating hotels,
a travel agency, and hunting and fishing camps.
·
Bulk storage and
distribution of crucial oil & fuel supplies.
·
Construction
projects in Nunavik for housing, schools, etc.
The annual revenue of the Coop for 2012 was $230 million.
Artic Cooperatives Limited
The 31
cooperatives in the Canadian North operate similarly to those in Quebec.
The Arctic Co-Operatives Ltd was founded in 1972
(under a different name), and is the result of a merger between regional
groups. It also extended its services to meet the needs of the population of
local villages, including food, cable TV and Internet services. The annual revenue
for 2012 was $196 million. Similarly to Nunavik, it is the main private
employer with 800 employees.
Launch of the
International Year of Cooperatives in June 2012
Conclusion
We can see through this article that these cooperatives are genuine
community tools, and that there is a close link with the ancestral community
spirit of the people.
There are however huge challenges. It is in these regions of the Far
North that the impacts of climate change are the most visible. The melting of
the polar icecap that covers lakes and rivers is faster every spring. This is
leading to huge change in the hunting and fishing patterns that are still the
subsistence activities of these people. The infrastructure, including
buildings, will be affected, as the permafrost area recedes. For example, the
landing strips for planes will no longer be usable. Polar bear populations are
increasingly threatened.
Not to mention global “modernity” with TV, Internet, social media etc.
How is it possible to preserve a traditional culture as well as the Inuit
language? This is a genuine challenge.
Other major challenges are facing these communities. For example, the
mining industry is important. Yet for the last decade, the communities as well
as territorial governments have been consulted in environmental impact studies,
in negotiations on royalties and job-creation for the local Inuit population.
It is also important to state that the community spirit that is also
expressed through the cooperative movement, has progressively led them to
achieve a high level of governmental autonomy, more so than other indigenous
peoples of the Americas. In the West, these autonomous governments have their
own parliaments, Prime Ministers, etc. Their status is almost equivalent to
that of the Canadian provinces. The fact that they are the majority in this
region facilitated acquiring this status.
A similar process is underway in Quebec.
Plans are going well for of implementing an autonomous government. It is even more complex as their territory is
itself within that of Quebec; and even though it covers a vast area, there is
no road infrastructure etc. It is interesting to note that the meeting to constitute
the Federation of Cooperatives of Nouveau-Québec was the first time that the 14
communities met together. They state that working as a Federation led them to
the idea of autonomous governance.
We sincerely hope that the community
spirit as well as the collective tools such as cooperatives will enable them to
resist and build a better world that respects the ecosystems of which they have
a greater than average awareness than most inhabitants of our planet.
http://www.arcticco-op.com/
5th Meeting for the Globalisation of
Solidarity
The 5th RIPESS Meeting for the Globalisation of Solidarity
will be held in Manila in the Philippines from October 14th – 18th
2013. The theme will be “SEE as an alternative development model”
The programme is online in English, French and Spanish at: http://www.ripess.org/programme-manila-2013/
About the Newsletter
This Newsletter
is published in French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Bahasa Indonesia and in
Japanese. It has been produced on a voluntary basis since the first issue in
2003.
The Editorial
team wishes to thank the following volunteers for their support in translation
and revision:
Michel Colin (Brazil)
Paula Garuz Naval (Ireland)
Évéline Poirier (Canada)
Brunilda Rafael (France)
We also wish to
thank the Civil Policy Research Institute (CPRI) of Seikatsu Club in Japan for
the Japanese translation and AKSI UI for the translation to Bahasa Indonesia.
Our Newsletters
are available on the WEB:
http://local-development.blogspot.com/
To contact us
(for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):
Yvon Poirier
ypoirier@videotron.ca
