The informal economy, often referred to as the domestic economy, is the economy based on improving individual, family, or community well being through the informal exchange of goods or services. Items included in the Informal or Domestic Economy vary regionally and culturally. In addition, the role and significance of the informal economy varies from one community or cultural group to the next. The purpose of this report is to summarize how the informal economy is used by women, men, and children living on Baffin Island to improve their quality of life. Maintaining a good quality of life in an era of rapid cultural change is a challenging goal for contemporary Inuit. The need for Inuit leaders in each community, sound culturally based decision making and economic development skills, and a commitment to the community is important in order to maintain a healthy, thriving informal economy.

Sharing

In each community Inuit share a variety of goods, including food, equipment, clothing, and money with their family and friends. Sharing has been the basis of Inuit culture; it has enabled Inuit to thrive in a harsh environment. All the communities on Baffin Island, except Iqaluit, are small enough that people are related to almost everyone else in the community. Attitudes toward "sharing" reflect the relationship between the people sharing. In the past Inuit shared freely between all camp members and occasionally even between different camps. Now, due to the concentration of Inuit into much larger communities some of the open sharing is no longer possible. Sharing takes many different forms and is an important aspect of Inuit life. The following quotations present contemporary Inuit perspectives on sharing of food, money, skills, and materials.

"What is the most important thing in Inuit life? The family living happily together. That my daughter live with me, that my family should share and be well fed. In the past, the leader in the camp shared food."

Housework

Inuit rarely distinguish between household, neighbourly, and community work. The household is based on an extended family that often includes most of the community. Child-rearing, food acquisition (hunting) and preparation, clothing production, housing, and family care-giving activities are generally done on a volunteer basis. These activities provide the intimate interactions that mesh the community together and make it extremely difficult for people to enjoy living elsewhere. This section of the informal economy is relatively difficult to identify as the activities are done without thinking and without expecting thanks or recognition. They are done entirely voluntarily. Many non-Inuit tell how difficult it is to find volunteers; however, Inuit participate in a multitude of activities which they don't stop to think of as volunteer work. Child care, food, clothing, and care for elders is considered an invaluable contribution to improving the quality of their daily lives. Some conflicts over fee for service versus volunteer work have arisen as a result of combining monetary and subsistence economies.

Sharing Food

Meat Sharing Practices of Yesterday and Today
Meat sharing is one of the main foundations of the Inuit culture. In the past, the sharing of meat was considered to be everyone's right. For example, if someone wanted meat it was their right to take it from a hunter. Hunters did not expect thanks nor did they expect anything in return. If a hunter or their family was in need of food, they in turn could count

on receiving meat from any other hunter without being indebted to them. Methods used to share meat often varied from one region to the next.

"Not everyone hunts now but everyone shares the meat. There is no expectation that if you give meat that you will receive anything in return."

"In the Baffin region, usually the elders or the comp bossed divided the meat among the camp members. They would also see to it that any neighbouring camps which might be in need of meat would receive it."

"In the outpost camps in the past everyone was related, everyone helped. The camp leader was a man or woman who knew the family the best. The leader was not the eldest person in the camp if the eldest was ill. It was commonly the oldest active decision maker, usually a hunter but not necessarily. Occasionally a widow was the leader."

"In the camps in the past, all food was kept in caches and anyone could go to the leader for food. Today the population is increasing rapidly and no-one seems to worry about the future. Nobody worries about preparing their winter food and clothing like we used to."

Food is shared with friends and relatives as symbols of friendship.

"When I share food with someone it makes a friendship."

People on the land are much more concerned about each other's welfare than in town. Perhaps this is due to the number of people, the same holds true in the rural areas vs. the cities in the South. However, it is also due to the fact that when on the land the Inuit are doing familiar tasks, therefore, the older people are

functioning well and the older style sharing relationships are re-established.

"My husband provides meat to his family but even people who work don't pay him anything for their meat. The giving of food demonstrates friendship or love. By paying money it removes this connotation; however, people need to pay hunters so they can continue to hunt."

Sharing Ringed Seal
Ringed seals are the mainstay of the diet of Inuit living on Baffin Island. It is shared and often eaten in a communal fashion. Seal skins have always been important in the production of skin clothing, particularly for mitts and kamiks and to a lesser degree for summer hunting parka and pants.

"When a seal was brought into the camp in the past, it was divided into portions for men and women because there wasn't enough room for everyone to sit around the same carcass. The women's portions were placed on platters and eaten beside the carcass, while the men ate directly from the carcass.
" In the past a hunter that killed a ringed seal kept only the skin and the top of the stomach for his family. The other parts of the carcass were divided into pieces for the other families in the camp."

"In Dorset women eat the seal's heart, chest, upper spine, tip of the shoulder, and head. Men eat the lower spine and ribs. Children also eat the ribs as well as the sirloin. Liver is eaten by both men and women. The same system exists in Lake Harbour. In Dorset they don't cut up the meat until they are ready to eat it. Aged meat and frozen meat is eaten here in Dorset."

"Pregnant women are allowed to eat only certain parts of the seal."

Sharing Bearded Seal
Bearded seals occur in much lower numbers than ringed seals, but they are always sought after because of their importance in the domestic economy. Due to the superior strength and durability of their skins, they are preferred for kamik soles, harpoon lines, dog traces, and rope. The meat is also consumed by Inuit and their dogs.

"Traditionally, whoever caught a bearded seal got to keep certain parts of the seal. The hunter kept the ribs from the right side, while the heart and vertebrae were shared by the women. Today bearded seals are shared differently depending upon how many hunters are involved in the hunt."

"If one person shoots the animal and two other help, then the shooter gets all the skin for kamiks and each of the helpers gets one rope donut each--only two donuts would be cut if only two helpers. If there were four helpers, four donuts would by cut. Donuts are cut from the area immediately behind the front flippers. The rest of the bottom half of the seal is cut by making one slice from the last donut to the tail. This is used for kamiks. On the head portion, the skin is cut from one flipper around the nose to the other flipper. This skin is used for kamiks."

Sharing Walrus
Walrus have always been extremely important in the Inuit economy. The meat is considered to be the finest dog food available, a team can be driven further on walrus meat than on any other type of meat. The meat continues to be used for dog food and is also relished by many of the elders, especially aged meat.

The ivory was extremely important in the past for the production of tools, and is still a valuable item in the carving industry. Walrus are dangerous to hunt and considered by many hunters to be even more menacing than polar bears. Not all hunters will attempt to kill walrus, especially if they are in a small boat.

"When a walrus was killed in the past the women ate the vertebrae, while the men ate the heart and head. Today men and women sometimes eat the same pieces, it is changing away from the past."

"When a walrus was captured, the man who harpooned the walrus kept the right side of the carcass for his family. If the hunter had someone assisting him on the kill, the assistant received the left half of the carcass. If there were other hunters involved in the kill, the posterior end of the walrus was cut off and divided among the other hunters."

"When my dad gets a walrus everyone goes, they don't have to phone, they just go and ask for food. This doesn't happen with sea lift or other types of food orders. If we run out of tea, sugar, bannock, we borrow it from our neighbours. Relatives take food if it is brought in on a sea lift, people share with their relatives. I know some Inuit who buy food and ship it up on the sea lift. They have to be able to save their money to place the order and share the food with their relatives."

Sharing Whales
Narwhal and beluga inhabit the north Baffin region; in the south Baffin region beluga are more prevalent. In the past narwhal and beluga meat was dried and eaten by the Inuit and their dogs; now usually only a few Inuit, primarily elders, enjoy the dried meat.

Muktuk, whale skin with some of the blubber attached, has always been considered an Inuit delicacy and it remains highly sought after by young and old alike.

"In Dorset women eat the beluga still, men eat all of the muktuk, in Dorset and Lake Harbour beluga meat is eaten but not in Coral Harbour. Dorset people enjoy the meat dried."

"Whale meat is eaten by the elders, the meat is covered with muktuk and aged, it is not sold aged at the HTA."

Sharing Polar Bear
Among the Inuit, successful bear hunters were considered to be highly skilled. The meat was eaten by the Inuit in the past and continues to be consumed. In the past, polar bear skins were used primarily for bedding skins, occasionally they were made into clothing. In recent times polar bear skins have been sold to southerners and have provided significant income to the domestic economy. The value of the skins varies drastically from year to year, as it does with all fur bearers.

"In the past, a successful bear hunter in the Arctic Bay area kept the skin and the meat from the shoulder, and rump, the rest of the bear meat was shared amongst the other camp families."