Abstract

The 2009 Government of Nunavut Report Card, a review of the first ten years of Nunavut’s existence, recommended the development of an anti-poverty strategy to help address severe social inequality in the territory. Between October 2010 and November 2011, the Government of Nunavut (GN), jointly with Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI), oversaw an extensive poverty-reduction public engagement process that resulted in the creation of the Nunavut Roundtable for Poverty Reduction and the territory’s poverty reduction strategy. The strategy suggests that the tension that exists between Inuit forms of governance and the model of public governance used today is the root cause of poverty. However, it does not offer an official definition of the term. Knowing the way in which poverty is perceived in Nunavut is key to understanding the direction of the territory’s poverty reduction strategy. Drawing upon interviews conducted in Iqaluit and in Ottawa in 2015, as well as on records from the Nunavut Anti-Poverty Secretariat, this article examines how the territory’s poverty reduction strategy was developed. It argues that the roundtable’s participatory methods, closely aligned with principles of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, have fostered a politicized discussion about poverty that has resulted in Nunavut’s poverty reduction strategy’s focus on collaboration and healing.

Highlights

  • Discussions about inequality in the Canadian North are not new (c.f. Berger, 1977; Canada, 1996; Jenness, 1964); the issue has received renewed attention in recent years

  • The combination of a participatory assessment of poverty and a social exclusion approach to poverty reduction present a challenge to policy-makers when it comes to collecting data and assessing the progress of anti-poverty initiatives (Impact Economics, 2012; Stewart, Laderchi, et al, 2007)

  • Launched in 2009 and co-chaired by the Government of Nunavut (GN) and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI), the participatory design of the Nunavut Roundtable for Poverty Reduction was intended to serve as a model for the development of social policy that is aligned with Article 32 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, which ensures that Inuit have the right to participate in the development of the territory’s social and cultural policy

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Summary

Introduction

Discussions about inequality in the Canadian North are not new (c.f. Berger, 1977; Canada, 1996; Jenness, 1964); the issue has received renewed attention in recent years. My analysis draws on raw data from the early stages of the roundtable public engagement process, which I collected while in Iqaluit This material spans the official launch of the territory’s poverty reduction efforts in 2010, discussions about poverty at the community level, as well as the regional meetings that took place before and after the Poverty Summit, where the Makimaniq Plan was drafted in late 2011. The six overarching themes that emerged from the community-level meetings included: healing and well-being; education, training, and skills development, including Inuit societal values, knowledge, and core life skills; food security and country food access; housing and income support programs; community economic development, employment, and cost of living; and other issues and ideas, a catch-all thematic category Following this discussion, regional roundtable participants brainstormed “Options for Action” that could be included in the territory’s poverty reduction plan. Since 2014, roundtable meetings have been held biannually (I-L, 2014; Scott, 2015; Tagalik, 2015)

Objectives of the Public Engagement Process
Findings
Conclusion
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