DOCUMENT RESUME ED 031 334 RC 003 532 By-Stevenson, D. S. Problems of Eskimo Relocation for Industrial Employment, A Preliininary Study. Canadian Dept. of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa (Ontario). Report No-NSRG-68- I Pub Date May 68 Note-30p. EDRS Price MF-S0.25 HC-$1.60 Descriptors-Acculturation, Behavior Problems, *Culture Conflict, *Employment, Equal Protection, *Eskimos, Housing, Industry, Migrants, *Relocation, *Rural Areas, Urban Areas Identifiers-4F Canada A study was conducted to determine the reasons for variable success in relocating Eskimo families from rural areas of the northern territories of Canada to southern centers of industrial employment (railways, mining centers). The data were collected by interviewing 105 Eskimos, both male and female, married and single, who had migrated south. The findings revealed that Eskimo men were considered valuable workers by their employers, but because both men and women lacked comprehension of informal rules governing behavior in southern communities, they had difficulty in adlusting to community life styles. This sometimes resulted in excessive drinking by both sexes, deviations from "normative" behavior, and a desire to return to northern home settlements. Inadequate housing and kin obligations were found to be other reasons for returning home. Some of the suggestions made to help the Eskimo assimilate were: (1) provide instruction in proper behavior in realistic terms; (2) *provide adequate housing; (3) implement a seasonal employment scheme in view of long-term benefits; and (4) to permit self-sufficient Eskimos to phase from their special status as ward of the government to the regular status of a Candian worker. (RH) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH,EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVEDFROM THE THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS PERSON OR ORGANIZATIONORIGINATING IT. REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OFEDUCATION STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY POSITION OR POLICY. PROBLEMS OF ESKIMORELOCATION FORINDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT A preliminary Study by D.S. Stevenson research carried out whilethe author was employed bythe Northern Co-ordination This report is based on Indian Affairs and and Research Centre, now theNorthern Science ResearchGroup, of the Department of knowledge of the North. The Northern Development. It isreproduced here as a contribution to our necessarily those of theDepartment. opinions expressed, however, arethose of the author and not Science Research Requests for copies of this reportshould be addressed to Mr.A.J. Kerr, Chief, Northern Group, Department of IndianAffairs and NorthernDevelopment, Ottawa. Northern Science ResearchGroup, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa, May, 1968 ABSTRACT Under the auspices of the Northern ScienceResearch Group, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, research was conductedduring 1967 into the possible reasons for variable success in relocating Eskimo families to centresof industrial employment. A number of interimconclusions have been drawn. Where the migrants lack comprehensionof the informal rules governing behaviour that is acceptable in southern communities, and where attempts aremade by the migrants to retain former life patterns, assimilation and/or acceptance intothe community is seriously retarded. Further,although technical training and grade-school education are necessaryfor migration, by themselves they are not sufficient for successful adjustment to communitylife-styles. The problem lies partly in community awareness of the migrant, andpartly in the more insistent demands by the communityfor conformity of the migrant to 'normative' behaviour. Inshort, because the migrant is unaware of the informalrules governing acceptable behaviour in southerncommunities, and because his only recourse is to assumethat the actual behaviour he observes is acceptable,he models his own behaviour accordingly and, in conse- quence, is rejected by the community. 111 4.a TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements Foreword Chapter IThe Problem and The Method 1 5 Chapter 2The Great Slave Lake Railway Chapter 3 Yellowknife 13 17 Chapter 4Lynn Lake 19 Chapter 5 A Brief Note on the Urban Situation 21 Chapter 6Comments and Conclusions .. MAPS VIII Location Map . V gimminmenempwie ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to take this opportunity to thank those individuals, White,Eskimo, and Indian, who graciously put themselves to a good deal of inconvenience bymaking themselves and their knowledge available to me without stint. In particular I wish to thank Mr.'Pat' MacIlroy of the C.N.R., and his staff at Roma Junction, for their unflagging goodwill and co-operation inhelping me collect the information I required for this study. Thanks must also go to Mr. A. Okpik and Mr.N. Burgess of Yellowknife for their extremely helpful opinions and insights into Eskimo relocationdifficulties. No less helpful were Mr. W. Clark and Mr. P.A. Cain of Lynn Lake in their co-operation andinterest in the work I was doing there. Last, but not least, I gratefully acknowledge the positive and helpfulattitudes of the numerous individuals in all areas visited who gave up their time to assist mein every way possible. David Stevenson Halifax February, 1968 VII LOCATION MAP- CENTRALCANADA NORTHWEST TERRITORIES YELLOWKNIFE Rankin Inlet ort Smith ,....... ....... ei.ma.m. .,, --1Now. ' Roma Junction 1 T ompson i / aE BA / R TA MA 1 / I ASKATCHEWA EDMONTO / 1 / I 1 I I t I 1 1 I \ I I 1 t I 1 1 1 1 1 i i ( I 1 WINNIPEG is I, Alles i 1 J% 0 100 200 $00 1 1 or.. WWII*...." .......* L. *-- plimwmorr--Imornr9 ' i--,10......so.o. I .-- -- -- --- ..MOIMIONO VIII FOREWORD responsible for vocational training This report is the result of a requestfrom the educational administrators in The range of their responsibilitiesincludes the placement of trained workers in the Northwest Territories. is wage-earning positions. Thenumber of available openings forsuch workers in northern settlements of a limited today, and this has led tothe relocation of some Eskimo workersto industrial centers. Aware this new environment, the range ofsociological problems connected withthe adaptation of workers to Centre was requested to bring tobear on this problem theanalytical skills of a social scientist, and which follows covers accordingly, Professor Stevenson wasengaged to undertake this research. The report the first season's work. Afurther report is planned. A. J. Kerr, Chief, Northern Science Research Group. IX Chapter 1 THE PROBLEM AND THE METHOD With the introduction of large-scale construction projects and a resurgenceof mining activities in the mid-1950's, social and economic changes in the Canadian Arctic regions havebeen steadily accelerating. As a result of these developments and theprobable irreversibly depressed conditions in thefur-markets and game populations, hunting, trapping,and combined hunting-trapping as subsistence activitieshave become barely feasible for the indigenous populations of those areas.Government support in the form of family allowances, welfare, housing loans, loans for co-ops, and other funds, has provendoubtfully adequate to meet the needs of the people. Recognizing this,the Canadian Government introduced afairly comprehensive system of grade-school education (primary andsecondary), and a broad vocational training program designed to provide a greater rangeof occupational choice, and to permit the possibility of geographical mobility of that segment of the labour forceinterested in migrating. In more recent years, the reduced operations of such employment sources as the DEW Line andother federal projects as well as the closure of certain private mining operations in the NorthwestTerritories, has prompted the government to promote and encourage alternative employment possibilitiesin the Territories and the northern parts of the provinces. Beginning in the summer of 1963, the government,in co-operation with interested business firms, initiated small-scale migration of a few Eskimo familiesfrom some northern settlements to selected southern communities. The selection of the southern communities wasdetermined solely by the availability of employment, while selection of families was basedlargely, but not only, on the basis of the past training and work experience of the husband in each family. During the intervening years, it became apparent to thosefederal government agencies within the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development who areinvolved with the problems of education and training, that there was a disturbingly widevariation in the adjustment and successful assimilation of the Eskimo families in different localities. The usualsyndromes of maladjustment were reported: excessive use of alcohol, job absenteeism, general apathy, persistentanti-social behaviour and frequent arrests for law infractions (generally misdemeanors rather than criminaloffenses), and the return of groups of disgruntled Eskimo families to their home settlements. Early in 1966 I was asked by the NorthernCo-Ordination and Research Centre, at the request of the Education Division of the Northern Administration Branch,Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, to conduct research into the possible reasonsfor the variable success in the relocation program. A research schedule was drawn up early in 1967and approved by the government agencies concerned. This schedule called for a search of the literature onproblems of cross-cultural migration with particular emphasis on moves from economies other than wage-based