Northern Review

A Circumpolar Perspective on Northern Development: Is Canada Falling Behind?

Carin Holroyd — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

This article first published advance online January 31, 2024

This essay considers the state of the contemporary Circumpolar World and provides a general overview of the way the various circumpolar jurisdictions are addressing the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century. It considers how northern areas are attracting the resources necessary to lessen the socio-economic divide between northern and southern/urban areas. An overview of infrastructure, basic services, economic development, regional leadership, security, Indigenous governance, and plans for the future of the countries and regions that make up the Circumpolar North reveals significant strengths and challenges. This examination focuses, in particular, on where Canada sits in comparison to its northern neighbours, a perspective that does not always put Canada in the best light. In many respects, Canada’s efforts in the North lag—sometimes considerably—behind circumpolar norms (aside from Russia). National and sub-national governments in Canada have not always attracted the funding, commitment, and vision needed to capitalize on the political, technological, and economic resources needed to better serve the peoples of the North; in recent years, some Arctic regions have done much better than others.

Inuksiutiit and the Emergence of Inuit Studies in Canada

Louis-Jacques Dorais — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

This article first published advance online January 31, 2024

At the start of the 1970s, many young anthropologists conducting fieldwork in Inuit communities adopted a new paradigm. Instead of describing communities from the outside, they wanted to mix with local people, as far as the Inuit agreed, living with them, learning their language, and, most importantly, trying to understand their world view in order to convey and explain it to non-Inuit. As a result, the old academic field of “Eskimology” was transformed into Inuit studies. Students from Université de Montréal and Université Laval, in Québec City, who fully shared the objectives of emerging Inuit studies, had been conducting research in the North under the tutorship of a young French anthropologist, Bernard Saladin d’Anglure. From 1970 they became a research team, based at Université Laval, called Inuksiutiit (“Things or people having to do with the Inuit”). In 1974, they founded a non-profit organization, Association Inuksiutiit Katimajiit (AIK), with the objectives to promote, develop, and disseminate knowledge on Inuit culture, language, and society while collaborating with Inuit communities. Several projects initiated by Inuksiutiit Katimajiit have played a major part in positioning Canada as the world leader in Inuit studies. Two accomplishments stand out in particular: the Études Inuit Studies journal and the Inuit Studies conferences. The initiatives of AIK have endowed the elicitation, dissemination, and promotion of knowledge originating from the Inuit—whether traditional or contemporary—with a global dimension. In this way, Inuksiutiit may have played an essential part in supporting the Indigenous citizens of the North American Arctic in the assertion of their identity and social rights.

University Education in Northern Manitoba: Inter Universities Services at 50

Dan Smith — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

This article first published advance online January 31, 2024

The long pursuit of university education in northern Canada has seen a variety of methods used to deliver higher education to northerners. One such approach, Inter Universities Services (IUS), has been supporting university course delivery in northern Manitoba since 1972-73. This article argues that IUS has evolved progressively over its fifty years from an initiative offering a disjointed set of university course options to become part of a coordinated, if unplanned, approach to university education in northern Manitoba. This article outlines the history of IUS, including origins, structure, issues, and key events, before looking to the future. Conclusions suggest that IUS has been central to the growth and stability of higher education in northern Manitoba.

Community Governance for Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Development: Lessons from Northern and Indigenous Energy Projects

Mariia Iakovleva — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Remote Indigenous communities in northern Canada often suffer from energy insecurity and energy poverty. In developing local clean energy production, there is an obvious benefit for government and industry partnering with these communities. However, the record of these partnerships is poor, with some failing to produce the expected benefits and others failing to get off the ground at all. This article is based on a study of four case studies of renewable energy projects in Indigenous communities in northern Saskatchewan and Alberta, in which I interviewed community project leaders to understand why these communities were interested in energy projects, what they hoped to achieve, and their experience with their partners. I also interviewed government and industry partners. While the results underline the importance of Indigenous intermediaries who can move easily between the communities and the larger energy production context, they also reveal a fundamental misalignment of expectations between Indigenous communities and their partners. Recent discussions about the potential for small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) in remote communities have generally focused on features of the technology rather than on aspects of the social context of Indigenous communities. I argue that, for communities to fully understand the advantages and drawbacks of this technology, much more attention needs to be paid to the construction of a safe space where communities can frame the discussion within Indigenous world views and lived experience. I offer some policy suggestions for how this space can be constructed and protected.

The Northern Review 55

Complete Issue — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Tag the Scientists!

Amanda Graham — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Extract from Introduction...
Northern research. A big topic. An important one. Scholars, academics, practitioners, and community people are thinking about it a lot: how and why it’s done. We’re talking about how to repatriate it, about how to fund it, about how to ensure that inquiries are relevant and methods valid, that people are involved in research in good ways, and that the research benefits widely.
This is the place where “Tag the Scientists” comes from. Deep in the boreal forest, CritterLab, with its moose PI, fox and porcupine grad students, and bunny undergrads, undertakes an observational study of southern scientists who conduct research in and about the North, to uncover the complex lives of their subjects through remote sensing. It’s a riff on ACCESS, an idea facetiously floated by Aron Senkpiel and Norm Easton in the Northern Review’s first issue, recounting a time they’d been talking about “the problem of the South.” They had joked around with the idea of a northern Association of Canadian Colleges Engaged in Southern Studies. It would hold annual Southern Studies conferences in the North, and establish scholarships for students to come north to study southern Canada. The Association would set up field stations in the Near, Middle, and Far South to enable researchers to spend a month or two down south in the winter. “That reminded us,” they breathlessly conclude, “that we would have to give some thought to developing a code of ethics to which members engaged in southern research would have to subscribe.”(1) The tables would be comprehensively turned!

Addressing Domestic Violence through Circle Peacemaking in Kake, Alaska: Reflections on Building Tribal-Researcher Capacity

Eric Einspruch, Jon Wunrow, Mike Jackson, Dawn Jackson, Anthony Gastelum — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

This article first published advance online February 9, 2024

We begin by acknowledging the impact of historical trauma on the community, as this formed the backdrop for the entire capacity building project. In January 2021, the Organized Village of Kake (OVK), Alaska, received funding for a planning grant from the National Institute of Justice through the Tribal-Researcher Capacity-Building Grant program. The project focused on how to incorporate domestic violence (intimate partner violence) cases into the Circle Peacemaking process, and on developing a proposal to study that process. The partnership team consisted of members of the OVK Tribal staff and independent researchers. The grant was awarded in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic, so all work on this project had to be conducted remotely. Of particular importance, Zoom allowed for face-to-face meetings, even though they could not be held in person. The partnership determined that a research study on use of Circle Peacemaking to handle domestic violence cases should centre an Indigenous research paradigm. The conceptual framework for the Circle Peacemaking process, rooted in Lingìt culture and life, is described. Existing strengths in the community that support the potential for using Circle Peacemaking in Kake to address domestic violence, potential measures of success, potential problems in carrying out a future study, and key learnings are also described.

Review of An Ethnohistory of the Chisana River Basin (by Norman Alexander Easton)

Polly Hyslop — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Book Review first published advance online March 20, 2024

An Ethnohistory of the Chisana River Basin. By Norman Alexander Easton. National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, 2021.

The publication of this book is a collaboration between Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska and the YukonU Research Centre at Yukon University in Canada.

Review of Uumajursiutik unaatuinnamut / Hunter with Harpoon / Chasseur au harpon (by Markoosie Patsauq, edited & translated by Marc-Antoine Mahieu and Valerie Henitiuk)

Deanna Reder — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Book Review first published advance online March 20, 2024

Uumajursiutik unaatuinnamut / Hunter with Harpoon / Chasseur au harpon. By Markoosie Patsauq, edited and translated by Marc-Antoine Mahieu and Valerie Henitiuk. McGill-Queens University Press, 2021.

Review of The Hungers of the World: New & Collected Later Poems (by John Morgan)

Dawn Macdonald — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Book Review first published advance online February 9, 2024

John Morgan, The Hungers of the World: New & Collected Later Poems (Salmon Poetry, 2023). 174 pp.

Review of Decolonizing Data: Unsettling Conversations about Social Research Methods (by Jacqueline M. Quinless)

Sara McPhee-Knowles, Lisa Kanary — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Decolonizing Data: Unsettling Conversations about Social Research Methods. By Jacqueline M. Quinless. University of Toronto Press, 2022.

Review of Red Arctic: Russian Strategy Under Putin (by Elizabeth Buchanan)

Andrew Chater — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Book Review first published advance online March 6, 2024

Red Arctic: Russian Strategy Under Putin. By Elizabeth Buchanan (Brookings Institution Press, 2023), 248 pp.

Review of I Will Live for Both of Us: A History of Colonialism, Uranium Mining, and Inuit Resistance (by Joan Scottie, Warren Bernauer, and Jack Hicks)

Gertrude Saxinger — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Book Review first published advance online March 7, 2024

I Will Live for Both of Us: A History of Colonialism, Uranium Mining, and Inuit Resistance. Joan Scottie, Warren Bernauer and Jack Hicks. University of Manitoba Press, 2022. 264 pp.

Dawson City in 1898—Searching for the "Paris of the North"

M.J. Kirchhoff — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

This article first published advance online March 6, 2024

Government agencies in Canada such as Parks Canada and Travel Yukon often describe Dawson City during the Klondike Gold Rush as “the Paris of the North” and “the largest city west of Winnipeg and north of Seattle.” This essay looks for proof of those statements, and shows that the phrases were actually invented in the 1950s and 1960s, following their use in books by Laura and Pierre Berton, to bolster a nascent tourism industry in the North. This sets up a conflict: use official 1898 Canadian government reports that show Dawson City was much smaller and rougher than it is often described, or continue with the unsubstantiated exaggerations of the mid twentieth century? The answer is obvious; history is nothing if it is not backed by reliable sources, and in this article the author argues for more balance and use of citations in Klondike reporting.

George Black and the Wuksonovich Trial: Finding the Truth in History

Michael Gates, Kathy Gates — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Inaccurate historical details often become embedded in the narrative because of frequent repetition. Such was the case with a murder trial that involved prominent Yukon lawyer George Black in 1922. This is a cautionary note for those gathering historical accounts to dig deep and evaluate the content carefully, or risk perpetuating historical myths.

Editorial: Number 55

Ken Coates — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700

With issue Number 55, the Northern Review continues its commitment to the diversity of northern scholarship. The journal continues to support the work of northern-based scholars from across the Circumpolar World, and of southern-based researchers working on northern topics. We remain open to all disciplines and to a wide variety of approaches to communicating insights about the North.
The continued growth of northern post-secondary institutions—Yukon University’s expansion, plans for the polytechnic in the Northwest Territories, and the development of an Inuit institution in Nunavut—represent the latest Canadian additions to the fine tradition of northern scholarship. We have long admired the efforts and contributions of our friends and colleagues on the many campuses of the University of Alaska; and we are enthusiastic supporters of the impressive work of the fine universities and colleges in Scandinavia, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland, to say nothing of the now (sadly) isolated academics in Russia. The Northern Review hopes that more scholars from throughout the Circumpolar World seek out the journal as a primary publication option for northern-centred scholars.
This issue reflects the core values and approach of the Northern Review. We have included several commentaries—impressive conceptual works that tackle such diverse topics as George Black’s legal career, Canada’s changing stature in the Circumpolar World, and new understandings of Dawson City during the Klondike gold rush. There are scholarly works on the evolution of university education in Manitoba and the transformation of Inuit Studies in Canada.
Impressive works explore the sad but consequential effects of domestic violence, and the potential environmental and economic impact of small modular reactors in the North. The tongue-in-cheek and provocative cartoons of one of our senior editors, Amanda Graham, provide a visual commentary on the state of southern academic engagement with the North.
We know you will enjoy the diverse perspectives reflected in Number 55. We hope that this volume will encourage other northern academics to send their current work to the Northern Review, and to work with us to continue developing a unique and powerful northern academic voice.