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Date of Award
Spring 2020
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Historical & Political Studies; College of Arts & Sciences
First Advisor
Hilary Parsons Dick
Abstract
Out of the 4 million inhabitants in the Arctic, about 1.13 million of those are Indigenous. The melting sea ice combined with the large quantities of oil and gas in the Arctic making it an area of new possibilities. Therefore, it is important to understand how the unresolved tensions between mainland Canadian sovereignty, Inuit native sovereignty, and Canadian Arctic sovereignty violate fundamental Indigenous human and sovereign rights of the Inuit by enabling excess resource extraction that makes Inuit practice, inherent to their sovereignty, difficult to practice. The thesis provides a review of scholarly sources to determine the impact that natural resource extraction has had on the Canadian Inuit and their livelihoods. The findings indicate that although effort has been made to include Inuit sovereignty and human rights in decision-making, their voices have not been properly heard and acknowledged resulting in loss of linguistic and traditional hunting practices. Knowledge of Inuit, and other Indigenous groups, practices are important in creating a cohesive partnership between the corporations and Indigenous communities in order to create a broad, ground-level approach. Arctic states and corporations can help by allowing Indigenous voices on international decision-making bodies with the ability to vote.
Recommended Citation
Travis, Renee, "Natural Resources in the Arctic: Geopolitical Impact Natural Resources Have on the Canadian Inuit" (2020). Capstone Showcase. 1.
https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/showcase/2020/is/1
Natural Resources in the Arctic: Geopolitical Impact Natural Resources Have on the Canadian Inuit
Out of the 4 million inhabitants in the Arctic, about 1.13 million of those are Indigenous. The melting sea ice combined with the large quantities of oil and gas in the Arctic making it an area of new possibilities. Therefore, it is important to understand how the unresolved tensions between mainland Canadian sovereignty, Inuit native sovereignty, and Canadian Arctic sovereignty violate fundamental Indigenous human and sovereign rights of the Inuit by enabling excess resource extraction that makes Inuit practice, inherent to their sovereignty, difficult to practice. The thesis provides a review of scholarly sources to determine the impact that natural resource extraction has had on the Canadian Inuit and their livelihoods. The findings indicate that although effort has been made to include Inuit sovereignty and human rights in decision-making, their voices have not been properly heard and acknowledged resulting in loss of linguistic and traditional hunting practices. Knowledge of Inuit, and other Indigenous groups, practices are important in creating a cohesive partnership between the corporations and Indigenous communities in order to create a broad, ground-level approach. Arctic states and corporations can help by allowing Indigenous voices on international decision-making bodies with the ability to vote.
Comments
International Studies