Community Positions

Inuit communities have individuals who voluntarily provide services relating to their position in the community. Some of the key positions include elders, hunters, educators, midwives, volunteers, and counselors.

Elders
An 'elder' is a person who displays exceptional wisdom and knowledge. Age is not the only prerequisite to becoming an 'elder'; and not all elderly persons are considered 'elders'. Occasionally, middle-aged people possess the necessary traits and are considered elders; however, age usually confers wisdom and knowledge upon a person. Elders play a critical role in the transmission and sharing of information, act as counselors, and as carriers of Inuit heritage. Elders are known to have unique skills. The community members turn to different elders for various specialized forms of knowledge.

"People don't wait here for the formally trained counselors to do something. The residents act, if you have a problem in your marriage you see one elder, if you have problems with your children you may see another elder. Different elders have different skills. There are formal counselors in the community, these are traditional Inunmarit, which is a group of elders formed in the late nineteen-sixties because they realized there was a problem. These elders are 55 years old or older. They are not government agencies or counselors. The Inunmarit know intimately how everyone was brought up in the community and therefore can diagnose the problem better than can a stranger in the community."

"The elders and the church do counseling for free. The social worker doesn't act as a counselor. In Pond, people with problems go to the elders for help.

Elders are specialists, some are better at some problems than others. In the past and today the offender and their family are called together to discuss the problem with the offender."

"As the Renewable Resource Officer, I often consult with elders for advice."

Elders, as well as other family members, voluntarily provide counseling services that help improve the daily life of community members.

"The youth believe that TFN leaders make the decisions, that's wrong, it's the elders. Elders will always talk to other elders about the weather, games, politics, and other events which influence their daily lives. When I worked for Social Services and knew that someone was going to jail, people would be upset if the family wasn't told what was happening. The family wanted to be informed so they could help deal with the problem."

Arctic Bay is known as a stable community with strong traditional values. Local individuals volunteer to work as counselors to help Inuit help themselves improve their own quality of life.

"People send foster kids and troubled kids to stay in Arctic Bay Spousal assault cases in the north end of Baffin Region could be set up so the person or couple works with elders as counselors and eventually invites their husband to be counseled with elders."

Communication Between Generations
Communication systems have changed with recent generations. This influences the effectiveness of traditional child-rearing practices.

"There was no school in the past so children did their own thing and didn't worry about listening to parents and police. In the past children got their education from their parents. They respected tools and hunting gear.

Today they take whatever they want. Before they used to respect others, including whites. It seems like school makes kids not listen anymore. It is a good idea to build these new schools but the students aren't listening. Children listen to what their parents say about the old times, but at school it is totally different and they don't listen."

"Most teenagers can't communicate with adults because most adults didn't talk to children traditionally, the children learned by observing, not by asking questions. This worked well in the past to produce fine hunters or seamstresses, but it doesn't work today to produce lawyers or doctors. Today the teenagers need to be given confidence."

Respect for the elders is critical for the young people who are struggling to cope with their changing roles.

"Students listen to elders. This is a precious thread that must be retained."

"In Arctic Bay, 99% of the children listen to the elders, this is the thread that keeps the society together."

The role of the elder can be disrupted by long absences from a community. If people live most of their lives in the same community, they can slowly prepare themselves mentally to be elders. By moving to another community in their later years, an older person can be thrust into the position of an elder without being psychologically prepared for the role. Elders in this latter situation feel that they are less prepared to contribute as elders to the informal economy.

"When we moved back to Pond Inlet from Grise Fiord we noticed that all the elders had died, and now my wife, who is 82 years old and I are the elders. It was very difficult."

Elder's Control of Family Finances
In some families the elders have considerable control over the family resources.

"An elder's son was going to buy a 4-wheeler. At the last minute the elder told his son to go in with his brother and buy a boat for the family. The son did as he was told."

"Another elder came into the Northern and wanted a skidoo, he set up an account despite the fact that he was unemployed, he pulled the money together very quickly. When asked how he managed to get the money so quickly, he said that he had asked his sister and brother's family for the funds."

Hunters

In the past all able-bodied men were hunters, no longer is it clear who is or who is not a 'hunter'. Hunters play a significant role in maintaining the informal economy.

"A 'hunter' is someone who is capable of hunting on the land by themselves. The hunters in Arctic Bay can be divided into three groups: 1) Spring-time hunters: these are not the real professional hunters; 2) Employed hunters - full-time or part-time: these hunters are weekend hunters and there are about twenty hunters in this category in Arctic Bay. These men are true hunters as are the group 3 hunters; 3) Full-time hunters: there are about fifteen to twenty in town."

"The government considers anyone who holds a General Hunting Licence to be a hunter. Under this classification there are 219 hunters in Arctic Bay.

"People say that everyone is a hunter. Some of us are only weekend hunters though, full-time hunters have no other income. We don't recognize the needs of full-time hunters very well. Part-time hunters have taken the full-time hunter's status away. I'm going to try to change this. The problem is the status of a full-time hunter is not recognized because everyone says they hunt. There are 128 active GHL holders in Pont, about 50 are really active hunters, about ten are full-time hunters who make their living off hunting, they may have short-term jobs. One man is a full time hunter, his father, who is a pensioner, buys his son fuel and ammo when he needs it. Full-time hunters can survive only by having support from elsewhere. The hunters support program is dead. There is no money to spend."

"In Pond Inlet there are about ten dog teams; they are almost all owned by part-time or full-time hunters. The men use their teams to take out tourists or polar bear hunters in the spring."

"Now able bodied older men don't hunt unless it is for their own pleasure. About 300 people hold a general hunting licence in Cape Dorset, including 50 women. About 150 are active weekend hunters. Only a few older hunters stay overnight out on the land. Most people go out for a day and come back later on that same day.

"Only one woman hunts all winter long. Most women hunt in the spring. If their name is drawn for a polar bear permit then they also hunt in January during the bear season."

"Men and women both used to hunt for the benefit of the community. My mom was older and in weak health but told fond memories of hunting seals at Duke of York Bay when her two children were young.

Here lots of women go out hunting, some go in the winter. When I'm on the land I go with the flow. I'm more relaxed and I always think about what it would be like for Inuit before there were canvas tents and skidoos. I have a lot of respect for Inuit who survived for so many years without Coleman stoves and skidoos."

"The people that go out to fill the fish quotas are working people and they can afford to buy the equipment and fuel needed to go hunting and fishing. I would like to see all the lakes with commercial quotas open to only men that want to be commercial fishermen and have no other means of making money. It's frustrating to see working people fill the quotas and get rich selling fish, yet men that want to hunt or fish full-time can't even get out because they have no equipment."

Hunters as Specialists
Some hunters prefer to hunt seals in the summer from boats, and are very skilled at it, others might prefer to hunt seals in spring at the aglus, or perhaps are specialists at hunting walrus in polynias. This wide variety of skills provides a broader foundation of resources used in the informal economy.

"Some people have different skills, some women sew great parkas, other sew great kamiks, etc. just like some men are great caribou hunters and other bearded seal hunters.
"My husband is a source of harp seals, which he gives away free. Another man also hunts harp seals, but people buy them from him because he is a hunter without another source of income. Harps were not hunted in the past because of the difficulty of hunting from kayaks."

"Caribou is our main diet. My husband doesn't hunt seal or walrus. We usually get a bit of walrus from other hunters."