Abstract
Our chapter examines the political and fiscal factors of collective capabilities for self-determination in three Inuit-dominated areas in Canada with active self-government regimes: the relatively new territory of Nunavut, the region of Nunavik (in Québec) and the region of Nunatsiavut (in Newfoundland and Labrador). We derive and measure important political and fiscal indicators identified by the literature (institutional independence, representation, local capacity and fiscal ability) that are based on the most recent information from the three regions. Our analysis indicates that most Inuit governments are still quite financially dependent and constrained. In terms of institutional independence, and representation, Nunavik lags behind the other regions due to a fragmented governance system with three separate regional public administration bodies that receive funding through provincial parent departments. In terms of local capacity, as measured by the proportion of Aboriginal people with university degree, the three regions lie well below Canadian and provincial averages. Nunatsiavut has significantly higher education levels than other Inuit regions; however, the percentage of Aboriginal people with university degrees is also higher in Newfoundland and Labrador than in Quebec and in Canada.
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Notes
- 1.
‘Own tax revenue’ refers to sub-national governments’ control “over tax rate or a revenue tax base and rate”, whereas ‘tax sharing revenue’ is defined by subnational governments’ “limited or no control over the rate and base of a tax and the central government decision on how to split revenues” (Ebel and Yilmaz 2002:8).
- 2.
General-purpose grants are the grants that “may be allocated based on either objective criteria or central government’s discretion”, while “specific grants are earmarked for certain purposes, and the allocation may or may not be conditional across subnational governments” (Ebel and Yilmaz 2002:9).
- 3.
The establishment of the Beaufort/Delta Government in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the Northwest Territories, which is still in a negotiation process, is not included in our assessment of governance indicators.
- 4.
De-concentration refers to the central government’s delegation of some of its policy responsibilities to its lower-level units (but not to separate public legal personalities such as elected public authorities like municipalities and regional administrations) (Hooghe et al. 2008).
- 5.
General-purpose administration refers to regional authorities responsible for more than one policy area (Hooghe et al. 2008).
- 6.
At first glance, this indicator seems highly correlated with education indicators of a given region; yet these professionals may not necessarily be the people who were born and earned their education in this region. Some argue that it is not sustainable to bring people from the South to fill the public service positions in the Arctic; yet it can also buy time for indigenous communities in the North to establish their human capital for the public sector, while benefiting from the expertise of professionals in policy-making and implementation processes.
- 7.
The Parliament of Canada can repeal any decision of the Government of Nunavut with regards to protection of endangered species within 45 days.
- 8.
For instance, in the past the Department of Fisheries and Oceans vetoed a decision of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board regarding the turbot quota, in order to protect the species (http://www.cba.org/nunavut/pdf/NU_interimreport.pdf).
- 9.
In the area of health policy, the Law of General Application prevails over Inuit Law in matters related to programs for (a) health promotion, injury prevention, disease prevention and control, environmental health prevention and control and environmental health; (b) public and community health care programs and services; addictions and substance abuse programs; (d) promotion of mental health wellness , prevention of mental health problems and the provision of mental health support services; and (e) premises, centres, facilities and buildings.
- 10.
There may be a mismatch between legal authority the Inuit region possesses and whether this authority is used in practice. For instance, Wilson et al. (2016) argue that the Nunatsiavut Government is not involved in areas like housing policy. Instead, the provincial government as well as regional quasi-governmental organizations like the Torngat Regional Housing Authority plays a key role. As stated above, it is beyond the scope of this study to ascertain the extent the regional bodies use their policy authority in the areas where they have authoritative competence (‘policy discretion’). We try to capture, to some extent, this dimension of autonomy through measuring the local capacity in these regions.
- 11.
The equivalent of a Mayor.
- 12.
Here, we created our own measures by adapting from World Health Organization’s capacity indicators for health professions (WHO 2012).
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Ozkan, U.R., Schott, S. (2017). Political and Fiscal Limitations of Inuit Self-Determination in the Canadian Arctic. In: Fondahl, G., Wilson, G. (eds) Northern Sustainabilities: Understanding and Addressing Change in the Circumpolar World. Springer Polar Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46150-2_7
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