Wilfrid Laurier University Scholars Commons @ Laurier Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) 2009 Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and Adaptive Co-Management: A Case Study of Narwhal Co-Management in Arctic Bay, Nunavut Aaron T. Dale Wilfrid Laurier University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd Part of the Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons Recommended Citation Dale, Aaron T., "Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit and Adaptive Co-Management: A Case Study of Narwhal Co- Management in Arctic Bay, Nunavut" (2009). Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive). 931. https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/931 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) by an authorized administrator of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. 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While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1*1 Canada INUIT QAUJIMAJATUQANGIT AND ADAPTIVE CO-MANAGEMENT: A CASE STUDY OF NARWHAL CO-MANAGEMENT IN ARCTIC BAY, NUNAVUT By Aaron T. Dale B.Sc, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2004 THESIS Submitted to the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Environmental Studies Wilfrid Laurier University © Aaron T. Dale 2009 ABSTRACT Since 2001 the community of Arctic Bay, located on north-western Baffin Island, in Nunavut, Canada, has been experimenting with a new approach to narwhal management - 'community-based' narwhal management. The new management system has devolved some decision-making powers to the local Hunters' and Trappers' Organization, who are empowered/required to draft by-laws to govern the hunt. Community-based narwhal management links local, regional, territorial, and national actors and agencies in a co- management arrangement that draws its powers from, and is steered by, the Nunavut Final Agreement (1993), the comprehensive land claims agreement between the Inuit of Nunavut and Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada. A primary purpose of the Nunavut Final Agreement, and the institutions created or empowered thereby, is to maximize Inuit participation in decision-making, and ensure that Inuit traditional knowledge (Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit) steers governance. In the field of resource and environmental management, the presumed benefits of knowledge integration (combining/comparing traditional knowledge with Western scientific knowledge) have been constrained by the fact that Western wildlife management institutions have co-evolved with Western scientific knowledge and do not easily accommodate alternate knowledge systems. However, knowledge integration has been recognized as a fundamental purpose of collaborative management, and a critical determinant of adaptive capacity. Is Nunavut's community-based narwhal management process integrating Inuit and Western knowledge meaningfully? Is knowledge integration building capacity to buffer change and adapt to changing circumstances. Challenges and risks associated with knowledge ii integration have not been adequately assessed, and collaborative narwhal management has not been understood in relation to its broader temporal and social-ecological context. This research, which draws heavily upon interviews conducted with resource-users and representatives of local, territorial and state management agencies, suggests that although devolution of some decision­ making powers to community-level actors under the terms of the Nunavut Final Agreement is enabling knowledge integration, and adaptive capacity in turn, the presumed benefits of both have been slow to materialize. in ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work would not have been possible without the unwavering support of friends and family - thank you. Thank you also to my girlfriend, Rhea, my greatest ally and my sole escape. Thank you to Derek Armitage and Scott Slocombe for their careful revisions and insightful suggestions. Finally, a heartfelt thank you to the people of Arctic Bay, who welcomed me into their homes and shared their culture freely. Thanks especially to Mishak Allurut, for his tireless hard work, and to Dave and Irene Svoboda. The most important things I learned throughout this process have nothing to do with narwhal or traditional knowledge and for that I am forever grateful to the wonderful people I met along the way. Thank you all! IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii LIST OF ACRONYMS ix GLOSSARY OF TERMS x 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Overview 1 1.2 Narwhal and Narwhal Co-Management 3 1.3 Guiding Principles: A Preliminary Theoretical Progression 6 1.4 Approach and Methods 10 1.5 Goals and Objectives 12 1.6 Summary of Thesis Organization 13 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 15 2.1 Introduction 15 2.2 Traditional Knowledge 16 2.3 Collaboration and Collaborative Management 26 2.4 Knowledge Integration 29 2.5 Adaptive Capacity 41 2.6 Convergence: Adaptive Co-Management 44 3. APPROACH AND METHODS 47 3.1 Approach 47 3.2 Methodology 55 3.3 Methods 57 3.4 Case Study and Scope 63 v 4. INUITT QA UJIMAJA TUQANGIT AND COLLABORATIVE MANAGEMENT 67 4.1 Introduction 67 4.2 Knowledge Gathering 68 4.3 Knowledge Sharing 74 4.4 Knowledge Integration 76 4.5 Knowledge Interpretation 81 4.6. Knowledge Application/Decision-Making 84 4.7 Summary 88 5. CHANGE AND ADAPTATION 90 5.1 Introduction 90 5.2 'Traditional' Hunting, Management, and Use 91 5.3 Change and Adaptation 94 5.4 Temporal Scale: Prospects for the Future 110 5.5 Summary Ill 6. ADAPTIVE CO-MANAGEMENT AND INUIT QAUJIMAJATUQANGIT 115 6.1 Introduction 115 6.2 Adaptive Co-Management Maturation 117 6.3 Summary 132 7. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 134 7.1 Conclusions 134 7.2 Recommendations 140 7.3 Closing 145 8. REFERENCES 147 9. APPENDICES 158 Appendix 1. Interview Participants 158 Appendix 2. Interview Guide 160 Appendix 3. Informed Consent Statement/Information Letter 162 VI LIST OF TABLES Table 1.0 Sample TK Definitions 17 Table 2.0 Attributes of Traditional and Scientific Epistemologies 25 Table 3.0 Comparative Social-Economic Indicators 65 Table 4.0 Differences between IQ and WSK Cited as Challenges and Risks 76 Table 5.0 Temporal Context 90 Table 6.0 Landed Narwhal in Arctic Bay and Canada 100 Table 7.0 Analytical Framework of Adaptive Co-Management Maturation 116 Table 8.0 Maturation of Adaptive Narwhal Co-Management in Arctic Bay, Nunavut 133 Table 9.0 Summary of Challenges and Risks 137 VII LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.0 Conceptual Model of Indigenous Knowledge 19 Figure 2.0 Conceptual Model oilnuit Qaujimajatuqangit 22 Figure 3.0 Knowledge Integration: Summary of Benefits, Challenges, and Risks 41 Figure 4.0 Conceptual Model of Adaptive Management and Learning 44 Figure 5.0 Simplification of AMESH 48 Figure 6.0 Conceptual Methodological Model 56 Figure 7.0 Map of Nunavut with Arctic Bay and Admiralty Inlet Inset 64 Figure 8.0 Influence Diagram of Narwhal Hunting and Management 112 Figure 9.0 Jurisdictional Scale of Community-Based Narwhal Management 125 Figure 10.0 Knowledge Management System 136 VIII LIST OF ACRONYMS ACM Adaptive Co-Management CBNM Community-Based Narwhal Management CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species DFO Department of Fisheries and Oceans HTO Hunters' and Trappers' Organization IQ Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit LEK Local Ecological Knowledge NTI Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated NWMB Nunavut Wildlife Management Board RWO Regional Wildlife Organization TK Traditional Knowledge TEK Traditional Ecological Knowledge WSK Western Scientific Knowledge IX GLOSSARY