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A bit about the research findings:
The Inuit of Baker Lake rely heavily upon the local social economy for their material, social, and cultural well-being. The most prominent “institution” in the local social economy of Baker Lake is the mixed economy — household reliance upon a combination of harvesting, household clothing and tool production, and money from a variety of sources including government transfers, simple commodity production, and wage labour. The various components of the mixed economy have relationships with one another that are in some ways mutually supportive and in others, contradictory. This is perhaps most apparent in the relationship between harvesting and wage labour, especially when nonrenewable resource extraction is a substantial source of employment.
Due to the contradictions between these two activities and the continued and arguably irreplaceable role harvesting plays in community well-being, it is necessary to take a balanced and cautious approach to industrial activity. In the context of Baker Lake, the existing Meadowbank Gold Mine is a project not entirely irreconcilable with notions of balanced economic development and has thus far, with a few important exceptions, played a primarily positive role in the community. The proposed Kiggavik uranium mine, however, — if it becomes a reality — would represent a departure from a logic of balanced economic development and may have substantial negative implications for the local social economy, and more generally, the Inuit of Baker Lake.
See the final report for more information.
Please see the complete list of final Linking, Learning, and Leveraging project reports here.
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Member of the Canadian Social Economy Research Partnerships
Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada / Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada
