1 Iron Ore and Well-Being: Inuit Engagements with Mining Katherine Sinclair Department of Anthropology McGill University, Montreal April 2017 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Katherine Sinclair 2017 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Figures ..................................................................................................................4 Abstract ...............................................................................................................................5 ..............................................................................................................................7 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................9 Chapter One: Working, North and South .....................................................................13 Neoliberalism ............................................................................................................................. 17 The Mine .................................................................................................................................... 22 Dissertation Overview ................................................................................................................ 27 Chapter Two: The History of Mining in Nunavut ........................................................37 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 37 Historical Overview .................................................................................................................... 39 A Sequence of Important Mining Operations in Nunavut/NWT ............................................... 46 Resource Extraction and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement ................................................ 55 Culture and Other Continuing Trends ........................................................................................ 61 Chapter Three: Nanisivik, the State, and the Market ..................................................74 The History of Nanisivik ............................................................................................................ 75 The Legacy of Nanisivik ............................................................................................................ 84 The State and the Market ............................................................................................................ 90 The Indigenization of Modernity .............................................................................................. 100 Chapter Four: Training ................................................................................................106 Capacity Building and the Company as a Partner .................................................................... 108 The Canadian Institute of Mining Convention ......................................................................... 117 3 Training at and by Baffinland ................................................................................................... 122 Capacity Building in the Community .................................................................................. 123 Growing People at the Mine Site ......................................................................................... 128 Improving the North ................................................................................................................. 130 Skills and Traits ........................................................................................................................ 137 Chapter Five: Home ......................................................................................................139 Space and Place ........................................................................................................................ 144 Existing and New Kinship ........................................................................................................ 151 Kinship and Family Livelihood Traditions .............................................................................. 158 Land and the Mine Site/Land as Home ................................................................................ 161 Multiple Homes ........................................................................................................................ 168 Chapter Six: Living Well and Well-Being ...................................................................172 Territoriality ............................................................................................................................. 176 Life Projects .............................................................................................................................. 182 The Mine, Well-Being, and Vertical Threads .......................................................................... 185 The Value of Work ............................................................................................................... 187 Skills and Engagement at the Mine Site .............................................................................. 191 Working at the Mine and Relationships ............................................................................... 195 It’s Not All Well-Being ........................................................................................................ 197 Friction ..................................................................................................................................... 200 Conclusion: Inversing Neoliberalism ...........................................................................204 References .......................................................................................................................215 4 TABLE OF FIGURES Map of the North Baffin Region (Nunatsiaq News 2012) .............................................23 ...............................................................................35 Nullujaat at the Mary River Project (author’s own) ....................................................36 Map of Past and Present Mines in NWT and Yukon (Gibson 1978) ..........................47 Legend for Map of Past and Present Mines in NWT and Yukon (Gibson 1978) ......48 Letter from Arctic Bay (Gibson 1978) ..................................................................... 79-80 5 ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the intersection of governmental and extractive industry expectations of Inuit employment in mining with Inuit self-reported experiences of the mining industry. It is based on approximately fifteen months of fieldwork in Igloolik, Nunavut (primary field site); the Mary River Project (iron ore mine) in the North Baffin region; and at a number of mining consultations, open meetings, conferences, and events in several other Nunavut and southern Canada locations. In trying to understand Inuit engagement with employment in the mining industry and with mining policy, I ask the following questions: what are the implications for development if the material and discursive conditions for self-governance are met (such as in Nunavut)? How are the interactions of global mining processes with local communities in Nunavut conditioned by the history of mining in Nunavut? How could living well, with a focus on land-based livelihoods, be maintained when faced with an industry that notoriously destroys land? I suggest that various federal and Territorial governments as well as companies in the mining industry have long taken a certain understanding of Inuit employees: Inuit cultural traits that are thought to conform to neoliberal capitalism are pointed to as leading to successful employment in the mining industry, whereas cultural traits that are considered to be contrary to neoliberal capitalism are classified as employment failures. By contrast, Inuit who spoke to me during my fieldwork indicated that the successful employment – where work in the mining industry best contributes to well-being as defined by Inuit employees – happens where Inuit culture diverges from neoliberal capitalist expectations. This position has implications for governmental and industry-promoted policies and training strategies that try to support Inuit benefits from the Mary River Project. More 6 broadly, it suggests that the way Inuit employees are inversing neoliberal logic at the mine site is an important point of consideration in an increasingly neoliberal global economic environment. As such, this work seeks to contribute to analyses within the anthropology of development around questions of neoliberal subject creation, the strategic use of culture, and place-based notions of living well. 7 RÉSUMÉ Cette thèse examine comment les attentes des gouvernements et des industries extractives par rapport à l'emploi des Inuit dans l'industrie minière se comparent aux perspectives des Inuit sur leurs expériences de cette industrie. Cette thèse se base sur une recherche de terrain d’environ quinze mois à Igloolik, Nunavut (terrain principal) et sur le site du projet minier de Mary River (minerai de fer), au nord de l’île de Baffin. Elle repose également sur la participation à plusieurs consultations minières, réunions publiques, conférences et événements dans plusieurs autres régions du Nunavut et du sud du Canada. Dans le but de mieux comprendre l’implication