Article Origin
Volume
Issue
Year
Page 10
A book on capitalism sat at the top of the Globe and Mail bestsellers' list for some time this spring. Twenty First Century Capitalism, Robert Heilbroner, explains the basics of the market economy and concludes capitalism will remain health probably for another century, but will eventually give way to some sort of planned economy.
Despite a doubtful conclusion, the book provides a useful explanation of the contemporary capitalist economy and echoes some recent comments made Charlie Watt.
During the Makivik Annual General Meeting in Kuujjuaq last spring, Charlie Watt said the market economy was spreading to more countries, with the downfall of communism in the former Soviet Union land the East Bloc countries, and to a certain extent in China. Watt mentioned these events to explain the economic change that is occurring in Nunavik with the creation of more sophisticated businesses, including the imminent marketing of wild meats.
A different economy
It is safe to say that the economy in Nunavik is considerably different than the economy in southern Canada. In academic texts it is described as the Native economy, composed of subsistence and participation in the capitalist economy. The nature of the participation in the capitalist economy determines the extent to which Inuit retain their traditional values.
A Nunavik labor force study conducted in 1991 University of Laval Professor Gerard Duhaime showed that approximately 550 Inuit held full time jobs out of an active work force of 2,400. Generally speaking, the economy is fueled government and administrative services. Each community has a municipal office, school, a Northern store and a Co-op. Larger villages also have para-public and government offices. Thus there are opportunities for permanent clerical, secretarial, skilled, and semi-skilled labor in each community.
The Nunavik economy is also characterized a phenomenon of part-time, short-term, and temporary work that is complex and conforms to the Inuit value of sharing. To his credit Duhaime analyzes this aspect of the labor market. He contends that Inuit share jobs among themselves. For example, a restaurant manager will sometimes be surprised that one of several children of a worker will show up to perform the tasks in the restaurant on any given day, instead of the person originally hired for the job. Similarly, most Co-op managers know that they will sometimes have a list of 50 people available to work in the store.
The way Inuit participate in the labor market is just one of the aspects that differentiate the Nunavik economy from the South. The high costs of goods caused by
the need to transport them hundreds of kilometres, and the size and dispersed nature of the market are other significant factors.
Nature of capitalism
While some aspects of the capital economy are evident, such as the existence of businesses, factories, banks, stock markets, and the ability to own private property, some are invisible. The invisible parts of those forces of the market economy that dictate how supply will meet demand, how prices will change as a result of competition, and a variety of other factors.
The fundamental values inherent to the capitalist economy are also invisible, but affect the way people behave and make decisions about their lives. Notions of "gain" as the object of daily life, the drive to accumulate capital, the constancy of "change," the important of "growth" or the urge to "innovate" are all hallmarks of the capitalist economy. These values are discussed at greater length in Heilbroner's book, as are the more traditional values of an Aboriginal group of people.
Clearly one of the questions that has to be asked is whether Inuit are trading their traditional values for capitalist ones, or making the capitalist economy conform to traditional Inuit values. The research conducted Duhaime, among others, suggests that there is considerable evidence of the latter taking place, and the emergence o agroup of Inuit business leaders provides some support for this view.
One of the more interesting aspects of the capitalist system is that it creates an environment wherecertain individuals will become entrepreneurs. Nicholas Hayek, the President of Swatch Watches in Switzerland, describes how entrepreneurs operate: With creativity, fantasy, developing new products and having confidence in yourself. It's a person who creates a new market, a new development, new wealth, new factories, and makes this investment." In any market economy, entrepreneurs are the exception. So it is in Nunavik as well.
Within the last five years, there is measurable growth in this activity, the stories to tell in each community about people who are going through the initial stages of creating small businesses. There are some fundamental differences, but the startup process appears to be similar to that experienced small businesses anywhere in Canada.
KRDC helps entrepreneurs
The Kativik Investment Fund, the Kativik Regional Development Council and Makivik Corporation all contribute to assist Inuit who want to start their own businesses. Speaking with Michel Lemieux, KRDC economic development officer in Inukjuak, it is clear that most Hudson Coast communities have about half-a-dozen small businesses in the startup phase.
Lemieux helps people with business projects to get funding. The process involves filling out several forms and drafting a clear business plan, showing the potential for revenue in the first three years of the business. About six months is the time it takes for the planning phase of a business.
Despite this limitation, Lemieux and the other KRDC economic development officers in Nunavik have plenty of work to keep them busy. There are KRDC offices
in Salluit and Kuujjuaq and more and more Inuit are coming forward with ideas to create small business.
Freelance translator Eva Kasudluak applied for a grant of roughly $3,500 to purchase computer equipment that would allo her to work from her home. She has spent several months collecting letters of recommendation from potential clients in order to prove that she would be able to make enough revenue to cover the costs of the new business.
With those letters, and the contacts Kasudluak already had, Lemieux was able to put together a proposal with a three-year estimate of the potential revenue. From Inukjuak, he was able to register the name of Kasudluak's business with the province of Quebec and fill out funding request forms. Kasudluak decided to call her business Tukusivik Registered.
"Her chances of getting this grant are excellent," says Lemieux. "During the time she prepared the proposal she has been doing quite a bit of translating already."
Indeed, while calling for a letter of recommendation from the Kativik Regional Government in Kuujjuaq, Kasudluak was put on hold, and when the caller returned, she not only had a letter of recommendation, but a request to translate some documents from English to Inmuktitut.
Kasudluak's attitude about going into business for herself appears to be a mixture of anxiety and optimism. She worries about the paperwork and filling out proper tax forms, but on the other hand looks forward to working at home, providing income for a babysitter for her kids, taking over the responsibility for the groceries from her husband and generally providing for a better standard of living for her family. It is premature to talk about expanding the business, but Kasudluak envisions hiring other people to help with some of the translations.
Nunavik entrepreneurs
Lemieux told us of at least three other business plans in Inukjuak. Samwilly Elijassialuk is preparing to launch Naqquq Enterprises Reg'd. Over the past few years,
Elijassialuk has been busy reloading empty bullet shells with gunpowder and lead pellets (depending on the caliber). In a small shed behind his house, Samwilly showed us the equipment he had obtained to reload a variety of bullets. He waits permits from the federal and provincial governments before he can sell his bullets. Naqquq, which Samwilly explained means arrowhead, is a rare example of manufacturing in Nunavik, one that actually recycles resources (empty bullet casings).
Inukjuak also has a taxi service now, thanks to Johnny Williams. Williams hasn't neglected marketing: He's put notices with the taxi phone number in all public places and produced huge fridge magnets with the taxi phone number.
Another Inukjuak entrepreneur is Jobie Epoo, the Mayor of Inukjual. Epoo owns Epoo Snowmobile Clinic Inc. and is launching another venture called Caripoo Trading Inc. The new business involves selling caribou antlers to Korea, where they are made into medicines, including aphrodisiacs. Epoo says a group of Korean businessmen approached him about the venture.
Two track vehicles, manufactured in the U.S. and purchased form a Canadian distributor in Winnipeg, were recently driven over land and ice from La Grande to Inukjuak (a voyage covering more than 500 kilometres). The bright red Track Trucks are worth roughly $38,000 each. Epoo plans to use them to follow the caribou herds and pick up the antlers as they molt off the animals. He hopes to pick up 40,000 pounds of antlers over four months.
"It's fun. I have an opportunity to learn something new every day, a new snowmobile part, or a new aspect of banking. It's great education."
On the down side, Epoo spoke of the difficulty everybody in Nunavik shares in raising capital.
"People have rarely had enough income or savings to start a business. For a small business you need at least $20,000 cash. With less than that, it's pretty difficult to start anything. Whatever savings people have had have been deposited at the Northern Store or Co-op and they don't pay any interest."
It's clear Epoo thought businesss should do more than just exist in a community.
"They should contribute in some way to the life of a community."
The notion that a business s
- 719 views