Saimuuq Qallunaat : the relations between Inuit and Non-Inuit in contemporary Kuujjuaq

19th January 2018

Saimuuq Qallunaat:

The relations between Inuit and Non-Inuit in

contemporary Kuujjuaq

Courtin Pierre MSc. Cultural and Social Anthropology 11428295 Anthropology Department, GSSS Tél: +32493936375 University of Amsterdam

courtin.pierre@outlook.com Supervisor: Dr. A.T. Strating

Second Reader: dr. Peter van Rooden

You can leave the North, but the North will never leave you Daniel


Acknowledgment

This thesis would have not seen the light of the day without a countless number of people. I encountered several issues during my fieldwork, some personal, some related to the research. This did not make the research and the writing process easy. Therefore, I would like to thank all the people who supported me before, during and after the research. To my supervisor Dr. A.T. Strating for his valuable advice, for his interest for my research and for his support. To Marieke Brand for her support during the most difficult times. To my parents, my sister and my brother-in-law for giving me the possibility to live this wonderful experience, encouraging me and helping me see the light at the end of the lobby. To Anne, for her love, her presence, her time and her encouragements. To my classmates for helping me nuance my analysis thanks to their divers opinions. I would also like to thank the generous people who sponsored me for my research as well.

My experience in Kuujjuaq would not have been nearly as interesting nor as exciting without the help of those I now consider as close friends. From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank Francis for hosting me, showing me around Kuujjuaq and its wonders, for helping me meeting people and for bringing me out of my comfort zone. Annie and Thierry for their support and for all the beautiful moments we shared. Hannah and Derek for offering me an accommodation for part of my stay and for the help they brought for this research. Daniel and Daniel for teaching me the art of tanning. Not forgetting all the people who accepted to answer my numerous questions during interviews. There are many more people who contributed to my research, I do not forget you.

Table of Content

The Dreaded Changes 11

Methodology 12

Inuktitut Lexicon 14

Chapter II: Historical Contextualization 16

Cultural Genocide 16

Bay James Convention 19

Lessons to learn 21

Chapter III: The Qallunaat 23

The "MMMA" 23

Who are these outsiders? 29

A strong social life 33

Chapter IV: Relations Inuit/Qallunaat 36

Work: a topic of division 36

Housing: a topic of conflict 41

Racism in Kuujjuaq? 43

Friendship and maybe more 48

A positive ending note 53

Qallunaat: Post-colonialism and Orientalism 54

Inuit Identity and Economy 59

A conflicting Position ₅₉

Identity as a Tool of Resistance ₆₄

Chapter V: Conclusion 68

Appendix 73

Chapter I: Introduction

Logan took me for a ride through the village and its surroundings. Logan is a game warden who kindly hosted me for most of my stay in the village. As a game warden, he is making sure the hunting and fishing rules are respected. Those rules are the fruit of Inuit decisions to regulate the impact of Qallunaat’s intensive hunting and 1 fishing practices. Logan wanted to show me the nicest places to truly experience the North. It was also the occasion for him to show me few of the places he works at. We went to see places such as the « Three Lakes » and the « Radar », places that represents the best what most people imagine when they think about the North: scattered lakes of various size or weaving rivers, pine trees of a bright green color, enormous rocks brought here thousands of years ago, massive hills and a wide breathtaking blue sky. As the sun was setting, and the temperature cooling down, we paid a last visit to the Marina. The Marina is the place where all the boats that leave or arrive in Kuujjuaq dock. Coincidence or not, the Marina is right in front of the Old Chimo, the ancient settlement of Kuujjuaq, on the other side of the Koksoak River. As we arrived there, two Inuit fishermen started waving at us and shouting. They needed help. One of them was standing next to a pick-up truck. The other was standing on the towed boat, still halfway in the water. The truck did not have enough gas to haul the boat out of the water. Luckily, we had a jerrycan and gladly helped them. Naturally, a conversation started with the most common ice-breaker in Kuujjuaq:

-

-

-

-

-

When asked why he said that, the Inuit, in a light state of inebriation, could not answer. He changed the topic to specify that he is not a true Inuit since he is half Inuit half Qallunaat. However, he pointed at the more silent Inuk standing by the truck and said « HE, he is a true Inuit ! 100% Inuit ».

This episode happened the very first day I ever spent in Kuujjuaq. I was shocked to see that, from an Inuit perspective, all the work they do is, in a way, to fit in a system brought by the Non-Inuit community working and living in the North. Why was this Inuk thinking he was working for the Non-Inuit? Is it because it is mainly Inuit reporting fishing and hunting

The Inuktitut term "Qallunaat" refers to the White people living in the North. See Lexicon p.14.

violations? Or was his answer on a deeper level? Was it reflecting the essence of the relations between the Inuit and the Qallunaat? Most of the time, the interactions between Inuit and Qallunaat were respectful. However, they were structured by a dichotomy I was about to witness during my whole stay in Kuujjuaq. Moreover, prior to my departure for Kuujjuaq, I read articles about the Inuit identity. Many authors, such as Edmund Searles, suggested that places where western institutions, values and ways of life are predominant abate the Inuit identity (Searles 2008 & 2010). Could the effects of the white presence in the North reach something as personal as identity? Moreover, this short story reflects the interest the Inuit have for the new comers. Indeed, asking when someone arrived and the reason for their presence in the North is, as I stated it, the most common ice-breaker in the village. Are the Inuit genuinely interested to meet the new Qallunaat, or are they trying to figure out what consequences will arise from each new comer? 


The title of this thesis is used as a symbol. Indeed, "saimuuq" is the Inuktitut word for "let's shake hands". This is what the Inuit told to the first White men that arrived in Kuujjuaq in the 1830's. This is the symbol of the contact between two cultures, and the start of western impact on the Inuit lives.

Kuujjuaq

My research took place in Kuujjuaq, one of the fourteen villages of Nunavik. Nunavik is the Arctic region of the province of Quebec, on the East side of the Hudson Bay. In 2011, Nunavik was home to 10,755 Inuit, an increase of 12% from 2006. This represents 18% of 2 the Inuit population of Canada . In comparison, Nunavut is home to almost 50% of Canada’s 3 Inuit (Pélouas 2015: 142). Contrary to Nunavut, Nunavik is not a territory but a region. If Nunavut is independent, Nunavik still ‘belongs’ to the province of Quebec. However, recently, Nunavik acquired a regional government. The idea of creating a regional government was not new. In the 1960’s, the economic success of Inuit cooperatives led the Inuit leaders to enter the political sphere (Bouchard, 2008). However, the Quebec government, with the desire of hydroelectric exploitation of the region, put a stop to the Inuit’s ambitions. This led to the 1975 Bay James and Northern Quebec Agreement. The Dissidents, an Inuit movement

According to the 2011 National Household Survey:

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-656-x/89-656-2

x2016016-eng.htm (consulted 27/10/2017). Ibid.

protesting against the Bay James Convention, did not agree with the handover of the territorial rights. The financial crisis of 1980, quarrels over the share of power parcel (three categories of land emerged out of the Bay James Convention) and the incapacity of setting long-term goals made the idea of a regional government come back (ibid.). Nevertheless, the idea was once again abandoned. It was not until 1997 that the idea was revisited, when the Prime Minister of Quebec and the president of the Makivik Society launched the negotiation process. The negotiations took 10 years. In 2007, the "Entente" was signed, leaving the door opened for the creation of a non-ethnic regional government, i.e. "opened to the participation of all citizens in Nunavik" (ibid.: 142). Thanks to the creation of this regional government, the Inuit have more to say in how their life is regulated by the federal government, allowing them to keep their way of life intact. However, the existence of Nunavik is ignored by a lot of Canadians and even Quebecers. The name of this region is often confused with Nunavut, one of the biggest Canadian territories. This brings confusion among the Southern population. "When you tell people you live in Kuujjuaq, in Nunavik, they often ask you if you did not mean Nunavut" once said Florence, a social worker I met in Kuujjuaq.

Fig. 1 Map of Nunavik. Kuujjuaq is at the red dot. Nunavut is circled in green, map on the right (modified by the author). Source: Google image.

Kuujjuaq is situated in the North of Nunavik, near the Ungava Bay. It is one of the only two villages directly accessible by plane from Montréal. The Koksoak River runs alongside the village that counts 2,132 inhabitants (Nunavik Tourism Website, 2010) . 4 However, it seems impossible to know the exact amount of Qallunaat present in the village. (This point will be developed further in the chapter dedicated to the Qallunaat). At the frontier between the Taïga and the Tundra, Kuujjuaq is surrounded by the boreal forest. The village was previously called Fort Chimo and now lives at the rhythm of the Koksoak’s tide (ibid.). Indeed, Kuujjuaq means "Great River" in Inuktitut. The village owes its development to an early settlement of the fur trading Hudson Bay Company and the creation of a U.S. Air Force base, which was offered to Canada after World War II (ibid.). Due to the permafrost, a subsurface soil that remains frozen throughout the year, it is impossible to build foundations for houses. Hence, buildings are resting on piles. Another consequence of the permafrost is the impossibility to put water pipes and sewers in the ground. As a consequence, there is no running water. Therefore, trucks visit every houses every morning of the week to fill up the water tanks and empty the septic tank. Moreover, food costs twice as much as in the South of the country since the food has to be shipped, either by plane or by boat, since no roads link the villages to the Southern cities nor between each other. As a consequence, some of the food arrives in the grocery shop close to the expiry date. Some shelves remains empty when the plane fails to deliver what was ordered. Moreover, there is no phone coverage and the access to internet is limited to a certain amount per month.

But what does Kuujjuaq look like? Although it is quite a small village from a western point of view, Kuujjuaq is one of the biggest communities of Nunavik. There are no buses or taxis linking the airport to the village. The first building at the entrance of the village is the City Hall, one of the biggest building, with a gigantic, colorful, fresco representing an Inuk shooting a couple of caribou with a bow and arrow. Inside the city hall, there is a cinema that projects movies once winter knocks at the door. Not far away from the city hall is the hospital. Kuujjuaq is the only village, with Kuujjuaraapik, to have a hospital. While Kuujjuaq is in charge of the villages on the Ungava Bay, Kuujjuaraapik takes care of the Hudson Bay coast. There are three bars in the village. The first bar is the "Lounge", which is part of one of the three hotels of the village named "Auberge Inn". The second bar is right in front of the

http://www.nunavik-tourism.com/Kuujjuaq.aspx

Lounge, and is called "Bar Ikkaqivik". However, it is called "The Zoo" by most of the Qallunaat. The third and last bar is called the "Nuna Golf". Each bar has a specific public. The Ikkaqivik is mostly visited by Inuit, although it is not rare to catch sight of a couple of Qallunaat in the crowd. The Lounge is frequented by both Inuit and Qallunaat. However, they rarely mix. I have almost never seen a group of Inuit sitting at a table with a group of Qallunaat, or vice versa, for example. Finally, the Nuna Golf, for which a membership is required, is frequented mostly by Qallunaat, although some Inuit also enjoy spending time in this cozier bar. Here again, Inuit and Qallunaat seem to be, for the most part, two distinctive groups. There are also two restaurants, three grocery shops, an art gallery, a sport-center, two schools, a post office, a police office, a Health Board, the Kativik Regional Government headquarters as well as the Makivik Corporation headquarters (Makivik was created to manage the funds received from the Bay James Convention) . 5

Fig. 2 City Hall of Kuujjuaq. Source: Google Image

Enumerating the different institutions available in Kuujjuaq might seem rather futile for a thesis. However, my aims here are to deconstruct the stereotype of Northern villages as deprived of institutions and to underline an aspect of the life in Kuujjuaq that struck me from the beginning. In most of the institutions I talked about, Qallunaat are predominantly seen, not only as customers, but as workers too. During my first couple of weeks in Kuujjuaq, the only places I could see Inuit workers outnumbering the Qallunaat were the City Hall, where only Inuit seem to be hired, water and sewage truck drivers and in the art gallery. I could not help

http://www.makivik.org/

but to wonder whether or not the Qallunaat came in the North to impose their way of life while excluding the people they impose it to from participating in it. Are the Qallunaat in charge of every aspects of life in the North? Do they have access to the best occupations leaving the low-paid ones to the Inuit? What do Inuit have to say on how their village is run? What more is that, in any of those institutions, Inuit and Qallunaat seem to rarely mix. Moreover, another shocking aspect of Kuujjuaq is the language. Most of the Qallunaat present in the village are French speaking, while most of the Inuit speak Inuktitut and/or English. However, a small percentage of the Inuit population is trilingual. The presence of the "Uiguit", the Inuktitut word for the French speaking coming from our tendency to say "Oui-oui", is explained by the fact that Nunavik is part of the Québec region.

Research Question

In light of the story at the Marina and the description of Kuujjuaq, in this thesis, I try to answer the following question:

How are the relationships Qallunaat/Inuit to be defined and how do they affect the Inuit?

Could these relationships be portrayed as an Employer/Employee relationship, as reflected by the episode of the Marina? Or should the relations be seen as a neocolonial attitude from the Qallunaat toward the Inuit as suggested by their omnipresence in all working spheres? Why do the Inuit and Qallunaat rarely mix? Why do they not work together? And how is this relationship affecting the Inuit?

In order to respond to that question, I interviewed Qallunaat, participated to the life in Kuujjuaq, hence practicing participant observation and had many informal talks. Each interview was divided in three main parts. I started with asking practical questions about their presence in the North (how they got there, what reason brought them to move to Kuujjuaq, what they like and dislike about the village). I then proceeded to talk about their relationships with other Qallunaat. However, I would spend a lot of time on discussing the relations the Qallunaat have with the Inuit. The structure of my interviews is the result of various observations I made of the realities of life in Kuujjuaq.

The dreaded changes

Studying the relationship between the Inuit and Non-Inuit of Kuujjuaq was not my first intention. It actually became my main research topic once on the ground. I had to face the fear of changing my research topic twice. I headed toward Kuujjuaq with the idea of studying the social impact of climate change in mind. I wanted to see how the traditional activities are impacted. However, I quickly switched the topic. For many reasons. The first one is that, in the span of one week, I met three different people, Inuit and Qallunaat, who did not believe Man was responsible for climate change and thus did not want to talk about it. Moreover, I was afraid that the results of this research would be redundant. Indeed, every single person with whom I talked about the climate change would recount the exact same changes I read about in the texts I used for my research proposal (snow arriving later but melting earlier than usual, changed hunting and fishing routes for example). All the changes related to climate change were talked about in less than five minutes and never varied. Finally, one night, outside a bar, I started talking to a group of Inuit women. "What are you doing here?" says one of them. "I'm here for three months, for a research. I was planning on studying the impact of climate change on your lives, but I think I will have to switch to a different topic" I replied. Without hesitation, the same woman answered "Yes! If you truly want to study climate change here, you would have to stay ten years with us, to witness the changes the way we do, otherwise, your research won't get anywhere, it will always stay on the surface, it won't go very deep". Her claim was supported by a couple of other women in the group who nodded and repeated what the woman just said. Does it mean that climate change is not an important matter to study? Of course not, climate change is happening and is the most visible in the North.

I therefore changed my research topic to a more delicate subject. Suicide rates among the Inuit are, according to Michael Kral, among the highest in the world and "ten times that the rest of Canada" (Kral, 2012: 306). The first week I spent in Kuujjuaq was shaken by unfortunate news: two people committed suicide. Henry and Florence, two social workers I met, as well as well as Camille, an ecologist, recounted: "Last year was horrible, 15 people committed suicide". Unfortunately, suicide, especially among the younger generation, is a visible phenomena in Kuujjuaq. Every one is affected by it, one way or another. Some talk openly about it, some see this as a taboo subject and withdraw. My intentions were not to

interview the relatives of the victims. It would have been too delicate for a first research. Moreover, and as a doctor of the Health Board of the village highlighted, talking about suicide with anyone in such a small community could have had disastrous consequences. It could have brought back a forgotten idea of committing suicide or worsened a depression or a mourning. I would have had to provide a psychological support from a third party, which I would not have been able to for financial reasons. Finally, I could have interviewed medical staff in order to continue studying suicide without taking any risk. However, I would have needed a research permit I would not have been able to acquire due to time related reasons.

The idea for my final and present research topic came from the side observations I did when I first arrived, just like that episode at the Marina. It is under Dr. A.T. Strating's suggestion that I decided to study the relations between the Inuit and the Qallunaat. This was a valuable piece of advice since this is a less studied topic in the Northern communities, since the researchers only focus on the Inuit and their culture. However, it is important to study this relationship since the white presence in the North has an impact on the life and the culture of the Inuit. In times where photographers such as Jimmy Nelson and Art Wolfe and anthropologists such as Wade Davis, among others, traveled and are traveling the world to advocate for the conservation of the specificity of each culture, a review of the Western cultural influence in the North turns out to be important. As resilient as the Inuit can be, their way of life has been tremendously affected since their very first encounters with the Westerners.

The fact that I had to switch my research topic twice shows the importance of side observations once on the field. If I had not payed attention to anything else than what was related to my initial research topic, I would not have been able to find another topic to fall back on.

Methodology

In order to successfully complete this research, I used different methods, adapted to the circumstances. With my informant's consent, I recorded interviews with a total of eight Qallunaat, over the span of six semi-directed interviews. I conducted one life story, through two interviews of one hour and a half length each. I also conducted two group interviews as well as three individual interviews. The length of the group interviews ranged between one

hour and half and two hours, while the individual interviews lasted between an hour and an hour and a half. Most of my interviews were conducted in French, except for two interviews that were in English. The vignettes used in this thesis are the result of personal translations of French interviews into English. Contrary to what I was planning, I did not use the photo elicitation as a main method. However, I would occasionally show pictures I took and this would lead to interesting, most of the time informal, talks. I used participant observation most of my time there, participating in the daily life and experiencing it too. It means that I would work during the day and spend time with my informants during the evening. We would go wander in the land, fishing, walking the dogs or berry picking in the afternoon. The evenings were spent either at one of the three bars, at the restaurant or at someone's house. Since I belonged to the group I studied, I reflected on my own experience of the relations I had with Inuit, as well as the opinion I would have on their behavior and culture. Seeing that Kuujjuaq is a small village, and that everyone knows each other, I decided to change my informants' names. Although I received very few negative opinions about the Inuit, I did not have the opportunity to study the Inuit's perspective on their relation with the Qallunaat. How Qallunaat's opinion would be received by the Inuit is therefore beyond the scope of this research.

Each method had its own benefits. Group interviews appeared to be useful since I had the occasion to interview a couple that had been in Kuujjuaq for the same amount of time, and another one where one of the partners had been there for an extended period of time while the other had spent only a few months in the village. This allowed me to have good comparisons on their experiences of the life in the North. Moreover, in group interviews, the presence of the researcher can be forgotten, giving to the interview an aspect of a debate. Participant observation allowed me to catch a glimpse of the relations Qallunaat have with each others and with the Inuit. Although I tried to conduct my interviews in the most relaxed atmosphere in order to put my informants at ease, informal talks allowed them to talk more naturally, out of the formal aspect of interviews. Conducting a life story with Rick appeared to be useful in order to see the changes that took place in Kuujjuaq and in the relations between the Inuit and the Qallunaat.

I did not go to Kuujjuaq sponsored by any local organization, nor did I have a local supervisor. In order to inform the Kuujjuamiut of my intentions, meet people and find

accommodation, I posted notes on Facebook groups (Kuujjuaq Sell/Swap and Kuujjuamiut) prior to my departure. I received an answer from Lily and Marshall, a couple of teachers, and from Logan a couple of days before my arrival in Kuujjuaq. Thanks to Logan, I quickly met people during social gathering such as bonfires or nights in the bars. From there, I proceeded to use the snowball effect, one person leading to another. The strong solidarity and the high sense of sociability in Kuujjuaq made it easier than I expected. Indeed, before arriving in Kuujjuaq, I was constantly wondering: "How am I going to get in touch with the Inuit?". That is why I decided to volunteer for the local tannery. I reckon my help was welcome and it was the occasion to get in touch with the Inuit culture, meet Inuit people and on a more personal level, learn a beautiful art. Although my research topic changed, I decided to keep volunteering, for it kept me busy during the day while my informants were at work. I would also visit the City Hall as well as the Makivik Research Center where datas about Kuujjuaq and the Nunavik are available.

Inuktitut Lexicon

Before going any further, some lexical explanations might come in handy. There are few Inuktitut words I am going to use throughout the thesis, and their meaning is important for a clear understanding of what follows. The Inuktitut is the language spoken by the Inuit. It also refers to the "Inuit way of doing" (Therrien, 2012: 148). In the same way, the Qallunaatitut is the Qallunaat way of doing. The Inuktitut has a syllabic form and alphabetical characters (see Fig. 3). "Inuit" means "The Human Beings" and is the plural version of "Inuk", hence meaning "a man" or "a woman" (Ibid: 14). The term "Eskimo" is a derogative term that was first thought to mean "eater of raw meat" while it meant "that one who speaks a foreign language" (ibid.). I will therefore never use this term. I will also keep the word "Inuit" in its invariable form, out of respect for the language, as suggested by Anne Pélouas (Pélouas, 2015: 8-9).

Fig. 3 Inuktitut syllabic alphabet. Source: Google image

On the other end are the "Qallunaat", the plural version of "Qallunaaq", where the first Q is silent. "Qallu" meaning "eyebrow" and "naat" meaning "belly" , the word "Qallunaat" was created by the Inuit when they encountered the first white people who had thick eyebrows and fat bellies (Therrien, 2012:15). As a consequence, this term designates the White people, and is also invariable. The term "Ritnitaraq" refers to the African population, present in small percentages in Kuujjuaq. The spelling of Ritnitaraq might not be correct since I learned about this word thanks to an Inuk acquaintance who did not know how to spell with the alphabetical characters. Therefore, Ritnitaraq is a phonetic transcription of the syllabic word. According to Inuit acquaintances, those two words are deprived of any connotations, they only have a descriptive and distinctive purpose.

Finally, the suffix "miut" indicates the place of origins. Hence, the "Kuujjuamiut" are the inhabitants of Kuujjuaq.

These are recurrent terms used throughout the thesis. Isolated terms will be defined when needed. Moreover, there is an appendix at the end of this thesis recalling the Inuktitut words 6 used.

For more on the Inuktitut, its origins and structure, see "Les Inuit" by Michele Therrien, 2012

Chapter II: Historical Contextualization

Although the aim of this paper is not to retrace the evolution of the relationship between the Inuit and the Qallunaat since their first encounter, a historical contextualization is important. Indeed, it would be difficult to understand the values defended by the European Union without knowing the influence the two World Wars had had. In the same way, it would be difficult to understand the relations between the Inuit and the Qallunaat without having knowledge of the treaties between the Canadian government and the Inuit, the Indian Act, the boarding schools, the child abductions and the attempted cultural genocide that took place in Canada, not so long ago. Moreover, this part of Canadian history is ignored by a vast majority of Canadians. Besides, whether I was intending to study the social impact of climate change, the causes of suicide or the relations between the two coexisting cultures, all my informants insisted on the importance of recalling this dark part of the Canadian history. The first part of the historical contextualization might seem overly simplified, disregarding certain parts of history to someone who already knows Canadian history. However, I chose to focus on certain aspects of history that reflects more the consequences the contacts between Inuit and Qallunaat had, and still have. I then proceed to explain the principles defended by the Bay James Convention, results of negotiations between the government of Quebec and the Inuit and Cree. To understand the contemporary situation of Kuujjuaq, this Convention is important. I then conclude this chapter by a personal analysis of the history and its consequences.

Cultural Genocide

The contacts between the Inuit and the rest of the world was sporadic and opportunist until the 1700's. Certainly, Martin Frobisher and Henry Hudson who led expeditions in this, back 7 then, mysterious land had contacts with the Inuit. However, the core of their mission was not to establish contacts with the Inuit, nor introducing them to the western culture, but rather to find the North-West Passage, a commercial route allowing to link the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. After the explorers, it was the turn of whalers to set up temporary camps in Inuit communities. However, and as Michèle Therrien suggests, the colonial history starts

For more on the history of expeditions in the North prior to 1600's-1700's, see "Ultima Thulé" by

7

with the arrival of two main protagonists: the fur traders and the missionaries/administrators. The fur traders introduced weapons and alcohol. Indeed, in 1670, the famous Hudson Bay Company was created and kept its fur commerce until the 1920's when the fur trade started to decline. The missionaries, for their part, had the mission to settle the Inuit population that had been a nomadic tribe for hundreds of years. "That is where the surface changes got closer to what we can qualify of changes in depth" (Therrien, 2012: 45) (I translated from the French to the English)

Although Canada is nowadays perceived as "The multicultural land", the Canadian government has had rough immigration policies, notably with Jewish, Japanese, Ukrainian, Chinese and African people (Boyko, 1995). However, the Native case was different. The policies were not concerning a people coming from the outside. Hence, they could not be stopped at the border controls. As John Boyko states it "Canada's Native people have survived an intentional, sustained, well-financed and cleverly executed program of cultural genocide perpetrated by the government of Canada" (Boyko, 1995: 187). It started with an attempt at bureaucratic cultural genocide, through the Treaties, signed with the Natives of Canada (1701 onward), and the Indian Act (1876), considered as one of the most racist piece of Canadian legislation (Ibid: 191). Although those treaties recognized the Natives as a Nation, the sole intention of the Canadian government was the annihilation of their rights. However, from a Native point of view, all existing things exist for a reason and must be accommodated to. Hence, the treaties were seen as a way to accommodate to the white population invading their land. Agreeing on those treaties did not mean surrendering to the Western culture, something the Canadian government missed (Ibid.). Not only are the Inuit resilient, they are also extremely adaptive. The Indian Act, passed in 1876, defined who was to be considered Native and who was not, especially the Bill C-31, who disadvantaged mostly the Indian women (Gagné, 2009: 457). As a consequence, many Natives were placed outside the law, not being considered Native nor Canadian. Because the Inuit names were too difficult to remember, or even to pronounce, Inuit were assigned a number, engraved on a locket (Boyko, 1995). Beyond defining the Native status, the Canadian government forbid traditional cultural ceremonies. Missionaries, for example, tried to discredit the authority of the shamans. People found making the traditional ceremonies durable were sentenced to prison. The Government of Canada kept creating degrading and racist laws, through the Indian Act, without consulting

the Native leaders, until 1985 . In a sadly beautiful way, Boyko states "The government's 8 treaties and laws had stolen their past and attacked their present. The Indian Act also awarded the government the means to steal their future. It stole their children" (Ibid: 195).

An amendment to the Indian Act, passed in 1884, made the Department of Indian Affairs responsible for the 'education' of the Native children (Ibid.). However, the education was not the primary aim of the boarding schools created after the amendment. Far from the reserves, those boarding schools were designed to annihilate the Natives' cultures by inculcating western values in the kids and by converting them to Christianity. Teachers were either priest with no teaching experience or teachers of poor quality, fired from white schools for inappropriate behaviors (Ibid.). In order to send the kids to that compulsory education, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) encircled the settlements to prevent runaways. Children between the age of six and sixteen were taken from their families, sent to a nearby police station until the kidnappings were complete. Protesting parents would be fined or sent to prison. Siblings were split since the schools were segregated according to genders. A daily life in the residential school was structured by an early wake-up call in order to pray, followed by classes in the morning and work on diverse tasks in the afternoon. The evening was reserved to study and prayers (Ibid.). To go further in the education, to university for example, students would have to give up on their Indian status. Just like the traditional ceremonies, the language was forbidden. Lessons were taught in English. Private conversations among the students also had to be in English. Any failure to respect the English-only rule was punished by torturous treatments. It went even further. As Boyko states: "In a 1991 British Columbia inquiry, it was revealed that more than half of the Native people interviewed had suffered sexual abuse while residential school students" (Ibid: 199). As kids were taught to hate their culture, their background, many were found trying to rub off their skin color. Going back to their families during the summer holidays appeared to be problematic, since all connections to their culture was gone. Those kids found themselves lost between two culture they did not belong to. The residential schools closed in 1951 when the government understood the schools failed at "civilizing" the Natives (Ibid.).

The new strategy, legitimized with the idea of saving the children from the social issues created by the residential schools, was to send them to white families and schools.

For more on the treaties and the Indian Act, see "Last Steps to Freedom: the Evolution of Canadian

8

Waves of kidnapping started in 1955. Children were taken from families where the smallest evidence of alcoholism or lack of parenting was found. However, the way the Natives raise their children is more permissive and allows more freedom to the children. As a consequence, the Canadian government believed it was bad parenting and children were sent to foster families, often out of the region they came from. Contrarily to the residential schools, with the child abductions, the parents did not know where their children were sent to and when they would come back, if this ever was the case (Ibid.). It is only 35 years later that the kidnapping program was recognized as damaging Native children. From that moment on, governments officials "publicly admitted the culpability of the dominant white culture and the role of systemic racism in creating and perpetuating the crisis" (Ibid: 214). However, this did not prevent the endemic racism among the Canadian population to thrive. Studies conducted in the 1960's and the 1970's reached the conclusion that Natives were sentenced more severely than their white counterpart for the exact same infractions.

Other, more subtle, strategies were used to assimilate and settle the adult population. As Wade Davis states it:

"[…] trading goods [i.e. alcohol,weapons] proved seductive, drawing the people toward the mission and away from the land […]. A distemper epidemic allowed the authorities to rationalize the whole-sale slaughter of Inuit dogs. The introduction of the snowmobile in the early 1960's increased dependence on the cash economy" (Davis, 2009: 208).

Bay James Convention

The Bay James Convention is a step forward undertaken by the government of Québec. Some of my informants, mainly Rick, a Qallunaat who has been in the North for 25 years, mentioned the importance of this Convention and how its results are visible today. In order to explain the Convention, I provide a personal understanding of the speech given by John Ciacca, a member of the National Assembly of Québec, introducing and summarizing the said Convention.

In 1973, negotiations between the government of Québec and the autochthons of Nunavik began. Two years later, the Bay James Convention was born. The convention takes on territorial and monetary questions, the organization of the territory as well as a development of the territory while providing the basic services to the people who live in those remote areas. The Bay James Convention allowed the government of Québec to fulfill its

promises made in 1912, when the Québec received the land of Nunavik from the North West Territories. Nevertheless, the Convention is not all about the Inuit's and the Cree's (another North American First Nation people) claims. It was also about expanding the Quebec's frontiers and allowing its government to exploit the natural resources. As a consequence, local and regional governments were implemented in autochthon communities. The Kativik Regional Government (KRG), was created as a link between the communities and the ministry of Municipal Affairs. The KRG is also assigned the mission to take care of providing public services. In the communities where services like schools, hospitals or a police office already existed, those services passed into the hands of the Quebec jurisdiction.

An emphasis was put on the Land. The government of Quebec understood the central and crucial place taken by the Land in the autochthon's heart. They created three categories of Land. Lands of category I are the Lands exclusively reserved for the autochthons, which is most of the time the community and its immediate surroundings. Self-determination is a central point of those lands. That is why Qallunaat need hunting and fishing permits, fruit of an Inuit decision to restrict the Qallunaat in those activities. The Lands of category II are closely related. They are the lands where the autochthons have exclusive hunting, fishing and trapping rights. Lands of category III is the part of the Land where the autochthons do not receive privileges and exclusive rights. The lands of this category represent the majority of the Nunavik. Ciacca insists on the point that the Convention is done in a way to leave the autochthon's way of life intact. Out of the negotiations, the Inuit and the Cree managed to receive compensations in exchange of their land (Ciacca, 1975: xi-xxiii. in: Convention de la Baie James et du Nord Québecois et conventions complémentaires, 1998) . As Rick explains:

"at some point, the autochthon said 'we want to have a right … a right to vote' […] 'It's our territory'. So, the government of that time […] assembled Inuit chiefs, senates, Cree,… Then it

gave them compensations. The Cree decided they wouldn't pay taxes […] on any of their purchase. Ok, the government signed the entente with the Cree. The Inuit for their part, said

'we prefer receiving a big amount [of money]'. They received something like $60 million I think. […] The Makivik Corporation was created to manage that money. To make the money grow, create employment, on their own, decide. Like First Air, it belongs to Makivik. Air Inuit

Ciacca, in his speech, insisted on the attention paid by the government of Quebec to avoid any paternalistic attitude toward the Inuit and the Cree. He justifies this point by recalling that favorable conditions are awarded to the autochthons for their traditional occupations to thrive, as well as the fact that they are bureaucratically treated the same way as any other Quebec citizens. That the autochthons of Nunavik are not seen as being under the administrative supervision of the government of Quebec seems to be a point Ciacca insisted on. To the contrary, they are seen as counterparts, while recognizing their position as a minority within a minority.

Lessons to Learn

What are the consequences of such a history? The main and most self-evident result is the creation of a tremendous generational and cultural gap. A lot of changes took place in the span of three generations. Before the 1960's, Inuit were still born in Igloos. Indeed, they were forced to settle by the 1940's in what is now the Nunavut (Davis, 2009: 206), and in the 1960's for Nunavik. Nowadays, they are born in hospitals. Moreover, the kids sent to the boarding schools were deprived of parental example, and did not learn the Inuktitut, in both sense of language and the Inuit way of doing. All the social issues faced by the Inuit nowadays are a direct consequence of the residential schools. "Dysfunctional families, alcoholism, drug abuse, family violence and more were the legacy of the schools" (Boyko, 1995: 200), those are often brought up as the main reasons for someone to commit suicide in Northern communities. While history is not the direct cause for such a high suicide rate, it created the social issues responsible for it. Although the Inuit are known to be adaptive, it does not mean they passively endured the treatments the government had planned for them. Wade Davis recounts in his book "The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World" how two Inuit, who attended the residential schools, were brought back to their roots. In their case, their parents took them for a dogsled trip across the tundra (Davis, 2009: 208). Many families, when they could retrieve their children, taught them the Inuit traditions and turned them back into Inuit. Moreover, Inuit political movements fought, and are still fighting for their rights and for their culture to thrive. The Bay James convention is one example, the creation of Nunavut as a territory another.

Regarding the Bay James Convention, although it is a step forward taken by the government of Quebec, one could look at it as another way to subtly impose a system,

fostering the colonization of the Inuit. Indeed, although some land was given to the Inuit, the price to pay for the Inuit was the establishment of Southern institutions, Southern way of life as well as the imposition of a third official language, French. The imposition of French as a third official language brought the Inuit to demonstrate in the street of Kuujjuaq during the fall and spring of 1977, stopping all governmental activities of Quebec in Nunavik (See Fig. 4) Moreover, certain points mentioned in Ciacca's speech are not yet realized, such as the education in the autochthons' language. According to Lily and Marshall, a couple of teachers, students have the choice to complete their studies either in English or French. There are very few classes taught in Inuktitut. However, the desire to work with the Inuit, their position as counterparts, not subordinate, is visible in Ciacca's speech.

Fig. 4 Demonstration against the imposition of French, 28th June 1977, Kuujjuaq. "We were here thousands of years before the French" Sources: Archives of Kuujjuaq

Chapter III: The Qallunaat

The Qallunaat are the main protagonists of my research in Kuujjuaq. In order to understand their relationship with the Inuit, as well as with each other, it is important to first understand who the Qallunaat are. I will start this chapter with a classification of the different groups of Qallunaat and Ritnitaraq, on the basis of their motivations to go to the North. Seeing that I belong to the group I studied, being myself a white caucasian man, I will try to position myself within this social categorization. I will then proceed to give more general information concerning the Qallunaat I encountered, informations about their life in Kuujjuaq, the reasons that brought them there, as well as their life in a broader sense.

The "MMMA"

There is a commonly accepted social categorization of the white population, and of the Ritnitaraq, in Kuujjuaq. This categorization is known by most of the people living in the village, whether they just arrived or lived there for many years, whether they are Qallunaat, Ritnitaraq or Inuit. It is Henry, a social worker who arrived 3 years ago in Kuujjuaq, that brought the existence of this social categorization to my knowledge. It is also reflected in Michel Hellman’s cartoon book about his Northern Experience (See fig.5). This social classification is based on the Qallunaat’s reasons to come live and work in the North and can also be related to their occupation. It is referred to as the "3 « M »" :

Ms. Frizzle is a teacher at the Jaanimmarik High School of Kuujjuaq. She has been teaching in Kuujjuaq for three years and taught in another community of Nunavik prior. As we were talking about the numerous social issues her students have to face, I asked her if, in her opinion, she has any role to play in the children's development, their well-being and the improvement of their situation. She replied:

"I do. I hope I do. I've made a lot of connections with my students. I would say… I have 15 students right now. […] I have a really good connection with them. I think that… I like to think I inspire some people, because I try to stay positive, love life, appreciate the small things. And I try to live a drama-free life. And I try to live healthy, eat well. Cary this sense of … well-being, physical and mental. And I try to give that out. And I hope that it's picked up by other people in a way. Especially in a place where there is so much problems and chaos. […]

just to model, having strategies, to deal with difficult things like that. […] So I like to think I inspire kids. Better ways to go through life than smoke and drink."

Ms. Frizzle incarnates the first "M", which refers to the "Missionaries". According to Henry, the missionaries are people who come in the North, aware of the social, health and cultural issues that a lot of Inuit have to face in their life. They come to Kuujjuaq with the desire to help them, to "save them from their miseries", as Henry would say. Missionaries are often found to be working in the medical sphere, or more broadly as social workers, as well as teachers. They also are all the people who come in the North with the intension to protect the Inuit culture from the ever-growing Western cultural influence. To a greater extend, people who protect the environment could also be considered to be Missionaries, or "Indirect-Missionaries", since the land is of a crucial importance for the Inuit mental and physical well-being. It is important to notice that the missionaries portrayed here have nothing to do with the missionaries depicted in the Historical Contextualization chapter.

- - -

It was karaoke night at the Nuna Golf. At some point in the evening, Logan presents me to two men he just met. They are construction workers and are in Kuujjuaq for the summer. As we were talking about life in Kuujjuaq and what brought each of us there, one construction worker explained:

"We come here during the summer because it is the only time we can build. It is a great experience and we earn a lot more money for the time we spend here, way more than in the South. So although we're far away from the girlfriend, we can buy her presents when we go

back"

The construction worker represents the second "M", which concerns the "Money-Makers". As their category name indicates, they are in Kuujjuaq for the financial benefit of working in the North. Indeed, the minimum wage in Southern Canada rotates around $11 CAN. In the 9 meantime, according to Rick, it is twice as much in Kuujjuaq, giving the possibility to earn a minimum of $22CAN per hour. Such a high minimum wage is explained by the price of goods and services in the North, usually two times more expensive than in the South. To an appealing salary can be added bonuses. Risk premium as well as premium removal (a financial bonus granted for being far away from one's family/relatives) are often granted. The

See http://srv116.services.gc.ca/dimt-wid/sm-mw/rpt1.aspx (9/10/2017).

Money-Makers are the least appreciated people by both Inuit and Qallunaat in Kuujjuaq, and are often subjects of criticisms. Indeed, they are seen as taking advantage of the system in place while having a destructive effect on the Inuit population. I will further this argument in the chapter about the Inuit/Qallunaat relations and effects the latter have on the former. However, those who are primarily and explicitly Money-Makers represent only a small fraction of the Qallunaat population. I did not meet anyone explicitly motivating their presence in the North with money. However, my informants, such as Henry, pointed out that most of the Money-Makers work in the construction, a seasonal job during the summer time. Florence told me that some nurses can also be explicit Money-Makers. Nonetheless, it would be a mistake to say that all construction workers and nurses are guided by money. Indeed, in the conversation I had with the construction workers, the money was not the only argument used to justify their presence in the North. The fact that they can learn different building methods, building in another, more challenging, environment, this whole experience is also seen as a motivation to work in Kuujjuaq for the summer.

- - -

I conducted a life story with Rick, since he has been in the North for approximately 25 years. As we were talking about the origins of his interest for hunting and fishing, we talked about his life in Quebec, before moving to Kuujjuaq. He said:

"Every end of the week, we used to go fishing and hunting. All the time. […] That's where the interest comes from. […] Back at that time in Quebec, a lot of hunting was happening. Not like nowadays. Back in that time, I remember, there were fields as far as the eye can see. Now, you go to the same place, it is covered in Walmart, Charles Bourg Galleries, highways, … All the rivers are going under [those constructions], you don't see them, they are in tubes. Before, it wasn't this. You had Quebec, with cows, fields and farmers. It was wild. Nowadays, no, there isn't green space anymore. Swamps have left room for commercial centers like Walmart. It completely changed. I saw that coming and I told to myself 'That doesn't make any sense, I'm not interested in living like this' you know. Doing the little routine like a lot of people do, car for an hour in the traffic jam in the morning, an hour in the traffic jam coming back in the evening, sometimes two… What's the point?"

Rick, among many others, represents the last "M". The third "M" encompasses the "Misfits". The Misfits, as depicted in Hellman's cartoon (see fig.5), are people who try to escape something in the South. This category involves a large spectrum of ways-out. Indeed, this category spans everyone, from those escaping a way of life that does not fit their values to those running away from the police, although the latter are a minority. Kuujjuaq is therefore the best place they could hope for, a place between two worlds. It is not as remote, as secluded, as the other villages in the Nunavik or the Nunavut. And while Kuujjuaq is considered to be a city by the Inuit from the smaller villages, it is not in the eyes of the Misfits. Kuujjuaq, just like Kuujjuarapik, is a place where the western culture is still present, but to a lesser extent. It is a place that is both disorienting and familiar at the same time. A place where it is possible to escape the frenetic rhythm of life in the South and still enjoy its benefits.

- - -

However, Henry pointed out that a fourth category can be observed among the Qallunaat population: the "Adventurers". Although none of my informant explicitly stated they are here for the adventure, their way of life is a testimony to it. Fishing on the river, hunting in the Land, long treks in the nature with the risk of encountering a bear or wolves. The adventurers come to Kuujjuaq for the experience, for the adventure that living in the North represents. Indeed, and as depicted in the introductory chapter, life in the North forces people to go out of their comfort zone. The conditions of life as well as the numerous outdoor activities are adventures in themselves. The adventurers also want to prove themselves they are capable of living in the extreme conditions of the North, similar to a personal challenge, an adventure of the self. Adventurer are eager to learn new skills such as hunting or fishing or other Inuit traditional activities. They explore Kuujjuaq and its surroundings and are sometimes brought to other villages in Nunavik.

Fig. 5 Hellman's cartoon "Nunavik" (Hellman, 2017:43). "Here, we say there are three types
 of people who come to the North, the three "M". The Missionaries, the Money Makers and the
 Misfits. The people who want to change this world, the people who want to earn cash, then the
 people who are looking to run away from something… Like you!"

This social categorization is based on people’s motivation to come to the North. As the motivations vary from one person to another, those categories are not mutually exclusive. It means that one person can belong to two groups at the same time, even to every group all at once. One person can belong to the Adventurers and the Misfits, someone looking for an experience because his/her life in the South does not fit his/her values. This is the case of Florence, who did not feel like studying and living in a city she could not connect with because she was in need of adventure and travel. Or someone could be an adventurer looking to earn some extra money for other planned adventures. Moreover, it is possible to be included in a category during the stay in the North. Indeed, many informants, when asked about what are the advantages of living in Kuujjuaq, mentioned the rhythm of life and how going back to Southern cities is difficult. As Henry said: "The big city, with all the traffic, people that run, too busy all the time trying to do a thousand things at the same time, try out all options, etc…" to what he added "So when I go back to Québec, yes there is nostalgia [about his family and friends], but I quickly miss the North". It is his experience of the North that made him partially a Misfit. Rick, in comparison, is a Misfit from the beginning and that is what brought him in Kuujjuaq. Nevertheless, and as I will develop later in this chapter, a sojourn in the North is not always a personal decision. The degrees resulting from certain studies leave very little working possibilities. Northern communities can be seen as the last resort to find an occupation.

The social categorization of Kuujjuaq holds more about the social life than a mere classification of people according to their motivations. Who classifies who? Since it is a commonly accepted social categorization, both Inuit and Qallunaat/Ritnitaraq classify the Qallunaat and Ritnitaraq within those categories. This social segregation exist only for the people that do not come from any of the northern communities. Indeed, the Inuit are not classified in any group since their presence in the North is natural. On the other end, the Qallunaat and Ritnitaraq migrated there. This social categorization not only classifies them in the eyes of the Inuit, it also reminds them that they are not from Kuujjuaq. It might be going too far saying that it is done in a way to remind them they should not be there. Nevertheless, there is a moral connotation to each social group. As said previously, the Money-Makers are the least appreciated people. Both by Inuit and Qallunaat/Ritnitaraq. Therefore, belonging to the Money-Makers has a negative moral connotation while belonging to the other groups has either a positive moral connotation (the missionaries) or a neutral, indifferent reaction (the Misfits and adventurers). Therefore, belonging to the Money-Makers has other consequences than being a Missionary. For example, I was talking with Logan and I asked him if his occupation as a game warden facilitated his contacts with the Inuit, since he is protecting what is extremely valuable in the eyes of the Inuit. He said: "People [the Inuit] love game wardens because they know we are going to control the Qallunaat fishing on their territory. We directly protect their resources". As said previously, those protecting the environment can be considered as Missionaries since they protect an essential part of what permits a mental and physical well-being for the Inuit and thus fight the issues they face. On the other hand, Money-Makers can receive violent verbal reactions. It is not rare to hear an Inuk ask on a more aggressive tone "You're here to steal our money aren't you? Go back home", followed by insults such as "F******* Qallunaat" or "Go home you F*****". Moreover, the North could be seen as a barrier to the racial dichotomy between the Qallunaat and the Ritnitaraq. Indeed, the Inuit see the Qallunaat and the Ritnitaraq as one group, a group of outsiders. The color of their skin, their religion or political conviction does not matter. Most of the Qallunaat and Ritnitaraq are not aware of the word "Ritnitaraq". As a consequence, they all perceive themselves in the same group, a group of outsider. I will foster the reactions linked to the social categorizations and the racism toward the outsiders in the following chapter.

When I came back from the fieldwork and discussed some of my data with few of my anthropologist colleagues and with teachers, a recurrent question was "And you Pierre, which categories do you think you belong to?". I would say I belong to every group, except the Money-Makers, since I was not allowed to earn money. Most of all, I belong to the adventurers. The reading of Paul Emile Victor's expeditions in Greenland or Wade Davis' analysis of Ancient Wisdom in Igloolik, a village in Nunavut, northern Canada, gave me the taste for a Northern experience, to know more about the Inuit. I had a romantic perspective on the Inuit and the North, as a cold place inhabited by people dressed in fur, that turned out to be erroneous. Moreover, I wanted to learn the Inuit culture. This is what led me to volunteer for the local tannery. I can also be considered as a Missionary, especially with my first two research topics, namely the social impact of climate change and the suicide in Inuit communities. I was conducting a research on those topics with the hope of bringing clarity on these issues and eventually reaching a conclusion that could help the Inuit. In a way, studying the topic of the relations between the Qallunaat and the Inuit can also explain the fact that I belong to the missionaries. Indeed, my aim in this work is to reconcile the two groups that usually live separately. Finally, I belong to the misfits because I was looking for another way of life, another perspective on the meaning of life.

Who are these Outsiders?

However, this social categorization remains abstract. Who are the Qallunaat? What are they doing in the North? Why did they leave behind their life in the South in favor of a life in the North? How did they arrive there? How long do they stay? What is their perspective on their life in the North?

As said in the introduction, one aspect of Kuujjuaq that struck me when I arrived is the omnipresence of Qallunaat. They are visible everywhere, whether it is in the street or where they work. But what is it exactly that they do in Kuujjuaq? The biggest employer in the village is the hospital. Hence, there are a lot of nurses, pharmacists and other health care workers. The Kativik Regional Government (KRG), which was created to bring services to the fourteen communities of Nunavik, employs ecologists, environmentalists, as well as people able to provide childcare services or assistance to victims of crimes. The KRG is also where the Human Resource Management of Kuujjuaq is. Qallunaat are also social workers for

the Department of Youth Protection or other institutions, game wardens, teachers, police officers, constructions workers, owners of the bars and restaurant, chef cook. Sometimes, they work as cashiers or waiter/waitress at the restaurant.

Most of the Qallunaat I encountered during my fieldwork were in their late twenties, early thirties. However, there are exceptions. Indeed, Rick, for example, is in his sixties. Although I did not meet many people like Rick, who has been in the North for an extended period of time, I heard about them. Why do they come in the North at such an early age? There are several reasons that can bring a southern Canadian to this part of their country. Some Qallunaat and Ritnitaraq took the opportunity to benefit from what is called the "Nordic Time Off". If someone has a stable occupation in the South and if it is possible to replace them for a short period of time, it is possible for them to go and work up North. The duration of the Nordic Time Off oscillate between one and two years. However, it is not rare to see someone being seduced by the life in Kuujjuaq and hence deciding to stay for a couple of years more. For others, a sojourn in the North was not their personal choice. Indeed, when I asked Logan, the game warden, why he came to Kuujjuaq, he explained me that he did not choose it. He said that, at first, he would have preferred working around the area he grew up in. However, he was assigned a contract of one year in Kuujjuaq. It is his occupation as a game warden that brought him there, not a personal decision: "For me, in the protection of the fauna, it's difficult to find a job in the city you want to.[…] there was no one for this occupation in Kuujjuaq so there was a need. I am a seasonal worker. So they sent me here, I didn't have a word to say" Logan said. Nevertheless, there are Qallunaat who come to the North out of their own will. Indeed, it is quite easy to find a job in the North. Expressing interest of working in the North to an acquaintance or a friend already living in the North can assure a job offer within a short period of time. As Florence explained her experience: "My friend called me and said 'I heard you are interested [to go work in Kuujjuaq], would you like to come up?' Five days later I was in the North.". Henry motivated his answer by mentioning the vicious cycle that happens in the south: "When you finish your studies, you look for a job in order to have working experience. Most of the employers will ask you for working experience. […] While here, as long as you have the necessary pre-requisite, well you can work". Moreover, and as many of my informants stated, a working experience in the North is a positive point on the Curriculum Vitae for a later employment in the South. A nurse said "responsibilities, even as a

nurse, are bigger, so you learn more […] working here as a nurse is good because it proves we can do a lot with little material or equipment". A final professional motivation to go to Kuujjuaq are the working benefits. As said earlier, the minimum wage is two times higher than in the South, special premiums linked to the presence in the North are granted. However, the four months of holidays per year are another appealing benefit. Although those holidays are not paid, the plane tickets between Kuujjuaq and the city the Qallunaat have been hired from are paid. This advantage is brought up significantly more often than the wage and other financial benefits. The rhythm goes as follow: they work for two months followed by one month of holiday. However, this benefit is only granted to the Qallunaat and the Ritnitaraq working for the center of Health. This includes the hospital, the DYP (Department of Youth Protection), the Health Board and other medical centers. Henry specified that people working for the Kativik Regional Government, mentioned in the contextualization chapter with the James Bay Convention, also have holidays, but under different conditions. Some Qallunaat have local employments and are subject to yet different conditions and length of holidays. Therefore, if the working benefit does not benefit everyone, what else can bring some Qallunaat to come? Some of them, like Henry, followed a partner who started working in the North. Finally, belonging to one of the social group depicted previously can push someone to live and work in the North. It is because Rick was a Misfit that he decided to move to Kuujjuaq. Florence, for example, had been teaching English and French abroad for three years, spending each summers in Kuujjuaq. As she came back from Japan, she confessed the reason that brought her to apply for a full time job in Kuujjuaq:

"When I came back from Japan, I was not in the mood to do my PhD. So this time it was a way out […]" to what she later added "I went back to Montréal [after Japan] and it was not my city, I did not want to be there, I had the reverse cultural shock. […] I wasn't feeling good

and I was telling myself that all I wanted was to travel, going back to university was really annoying me […] It was more my mind set, at the time, that I was not going back to school. And I was not staying in Montreal either. So the only logical thing to do was to go back in the

North".

The reasons motivating a Qallunaat to come live and work in the North work the same way as the social categorization. Indeed, this segment of an interview I conducted with Florence not