gender, nationalism, citizenship, and nunavut's territorial "house": a case study of...

Gender, Nationalism, Citizenship, and Nunavut's Territorial "House": A Case Study of theGender Parity Proposal DebateAuthor(s): Elana WilsonSource: Arctic Anthropology, Vol. 42, No. 2 (2005), pp. 82-94Published by: University of Wisconsin PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40316648 .

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Gender, Nationalism, Citizenship, and Nunavut's Territorial "House": A Case

Study of the Gender Parity Proposal Debate

Elana Wilson

Introduction

Abstract. On April 1, 1999 one-fifth of Canada's landmass became Nunavut, a new Arctic territory in which eighty-five percent of the population of 28,000 is Inuit. In this paper, I explore how

overlapping vocabularies of nationalism and citizenship, so successful in external negotiations with the Canadian state, were brought home and utilized to defend competing positions in the internal debate over a unique proposal that would have ensured gender parity in Nunavut's territorial legislature. The gender parity debate is analyzed to illustrate the way that different

political actors mobilized the concepts of nationalism and citizenship to support competing positions and how these two discourses influenced notions of the spaces in which gender difference can be acknowledged legitimately.

On April 1, 1999, one-fifth of Canada's landmass became Nunavut, a new Arctic territory in which eighty-five percent of the population of 28,000 is Inuit. In the thirty-year process of negotiation lead- ing to the formal division of the Northwest Territories into two separate political entities,1 Inuit politicians drew upon two important languages of political belonging - nationalism and citizenship. Inuit leaders took on the concept of being "nations within" the Canadian state, emphasizing their uniqueness as a separate people while simul- taneously recognizing their position within the Canadian state as Canadian citizens. Peter Ittinuar (1985:50-51), the first Inuit Member of Parliament, elucidates this approach: "we accept the fact that we are part of Canada . . . we are prepared to recognize the legitimate needs of the country as a whole if it in turn is prepared to recognize our needs as a

distinct northern people." More recently, Jose Kusugak (2003:52), president of the national Inuit organization Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK),2 charac- terized the relationship between the Inuit and Canada as a marriage that "requires constant work and attention in order to be successful ... [so that] we can proudly say 'I am Canadian - first' and I am also 'first-Canadian.' "

In this paper, I explore how these overlapping vocabularies of nationalism and citizenship, so successful in external negotiations with the Canadian state, were brought home and utilized by political leaders to defend competing positions in the internal debate over a unique proposal that would have ensured gender parity in Nunavut's territorial legislature. The gender parity proposal was an attempt to address the under-participation of women in formal politics by guaranteeing gender parity in the Nunavut Legislative Assembly through an electoral system in which two represen-

Elana Wilson, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1ER U.K.

ARCTIC ANTHROPOLOGY, Vol. 42, No. 2, pp. 82-94, 2005 ISSN 0066-6939 © 2005 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System



Gender and Politics in Nunavut

Wilson: The Gender Parity Proposal Debate 83

tatives would be chosen from each voting district: one man and one woman. Although the government of Nunavut is a public one in which all residents, indigenous and non-indigenous alike, can partic- ipate, a guiding principle within Nunavut is that it should be an Inuit homeland with governmental structures and political processes reflecting the values and interests of Inuit society. The establishment of Nunavut's territorial political institutions can be seen as an ongoing discussion over how Inuit national identity should be formulated and integrated with Canadian liberal-democratic gover- nance institutions and individualistic notions of citizenship. To locate the debate, I will sketch out a history of Inuit nation building and the emergence of formal politics in Nunavut, focusing specifically on how changes in leadership and power structures affected the political participation of women. In a detailed case study of the gender parity debate, which extended from the proposal's inception in 1994 to a public plebiscite in 1997, 1 analyze how different political actors mobilized the concepts of nationalism and citizenship to support competing positions and I highlight the ways in which these two discourses influenced notions of the spaces in which gender difference can be acknowledged legitimately. Throughout, as context for the arguments of those for and against the gender parity proposal, I outline and investigate the role that concepts of nationalism and citizenship have played in debates over indigenous self-government in Canada. By elucidating the roughly commensu- rate prominence of understandings of nationalism and citizenship in negotiating the internal politics of Nunavut, I hope to demonstrate that studies of indigenous nationalism and analyses of indigenous political debates should acknowledge the inter- weaving of nationalist and citizenship-based political sensibilities.

The concept of a gender-equal legislature emerged from an awareness that traditional modes of Inuit gender relationships, leadership, and the nature and structure of political power and organization have changed over time (Hicks, interviewed November 8, 2003; Merritt, interviewed October 23, 20033). Despite the leadership of several high- profile Inuit women, overall levels of participation of Inuit women in politics remain relatively low, particularly in Nunavut. The assertion that the Nunavut government cannot adequately represent the interests of all Inuit if it consists almost entirely of males was one of the guiding principles behind the gender parity proposal.

Prior to contact with Europeans and Euro- Canadian bureaucratic structures, the basis of Inuit

collective life was the extended family unit, which was usually led by the oldest male who took deci- sions "informally, gently and ... in consultation with members of his extended family" (Duffy 1988:196). Ethnographic analyses of indigenous northerners' gender relations highlight that men and women were highly interdependent and that there was a mutual awareness and appreciation of this complementary relationship (Bodenhorn 1990; Doráis 1988; Guemple 1986; Reimer 1996).

Although the history of contact between the Canadian Inuit and European outsiders is a long and complex one that varies regionally across the Arctic, it has been argued that the most significant period and type of "contact" was the extension of Canadian state institutions (Poelzer 1995) and capitalism (Mitchell 1996) into the Arctic in the latter half of the twentieth century. In the 1960s, the majority of the formerly nomadic Inuit, under government pres- sure, began living in larger settlements. This process caused the Inuit to interact more regularly with those outside their own clan or kinship groups and reinvent and reorganize their societal patterns (Honigmann and Honigmann 1965). Concomitantly, sedentarization led to some of the first indications of more formal political organization in the shape of settlement councils (Damas 2002). Vallee (1967:217) argues that, after resettlement, there was a "trend towards the emergence of something which can be called an Eskimo [Inuit] social system in the Canadian Arctic, a social system which transcends local camps and communities and links widely sep- arated people in a consciousness of kind." In the 1970s, cultural associations flourished and a well- educated young Inuit leadership, who had experience in government schools and were familiar with settlement life, increasingly began to take on leadership positions (Damas 2002).

In 1971, the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC)- the first Inuit organization to represent Inuit of the Northwest Territories, Labrador, and Northern Quebec - was established. ITC's founder, Tagak Curley, emphasized the need for unity in address- ing the problems facing the widely geographically dispersed Inuit communities, stating that "we must all become one group: the Inuit" (ITC 1971). This movement towards unity was part of an attempt to deal with the trauma of rapid change, manifested in high rates of suicide, poverty, and violence, and to regain a measure of control for Inuit over their own lives. It was during the land claims process, which ran intermittently from the early 1970s to 1993, that cultural traditions, previously practiced more or less unselfconsciously, emerged as national symbols (Briggs 1997).

For women, the bureaucratization and profes- sionalization of decision-making had a bearing upon their participation in leadership activities. Initially, the Euro-Canadian traders, merchants,



The Gender Parity Proposal and Debate

84 Arctic Anthropology 42:2

missionaries, and government officials who con- trolled the North favored the participation and leadership of men (Reimer 1996; Thomsen 1988). The idea that official decision-making was a for- eign process requiring Western expertise inhibited the involvement of women, who felt that their experiences and knowledge were not applicable to this new political process (Thomsen 1988). Duffy (1988:197) argues that this period was one of dra- matic change, a time when "age-old political organization . . . broke down under the influence of high-status, non-Inuit immigrants . . . Inuit accepted a new outlook on authority - institutional- ized, formal and impersonal, imposed by lawmak- ers. . . ." Thomsen (1988:87) suggests, however, that some aspects of Inuit social organization endured, arguing that the traditional dichotomies between the camp and land and their attending divisions of labor seem to have mapped into male dominance of the public political sphere, as if according to some "pre-determined division of labor."

Perhaps the authority of males in the territorial government of Nunavut also alludes to the well-documented dominance of males in "imagining" the nation, which is discussed further below. The movement to create Nunavut, like other national movements, greatly emphasized the right to exercise authority over land, a traditionally male domain of activity (Cassidy 1993). The economic and political emphasis on natural resources and the centrality of the image of the hunter (Dybbroe 1988; Thomsen 1988) may have positioned mascu- line concerns at the center of nation-building and political structures within Nunavut. Further, the national emphasis on women as "givers of life, cus- todians of culture and language, and caretakers of children" (RCAP 1996a:64) perhaps placed domesticity at the center of Inuit womanhood, creating a situation in which the mobility required by political office is problematic. Other reasons cited for women's low participation in elected politics include the difficulty of balancing family, career, and community obligations and the challenge of gaining access to the funds and supportive net- works required for political campaigns (Dewar, interviewed September 26, 2003; Dickson, interviewed September 26, 2003; Doherty, interviewed August 28, 20034).

The idea of a gender-balanced legislature was discussed first in 1994 by the Nunavut Implemen- tation Commission (NIC). The NIC was mandated to provide advice on the establishment of Nunavut to three parties: the Inuit corporation in charge of overseeing the fulfillment of the Nunavut Land

Claims Agreement - Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, the government from which Nunavut was partitioned - the Northwest Territories, and the federal government of Canada. John Amagoalik, an influential Inuit politician and Chief Commissioner of the NIC, asked NIC staff members to explore ways of increasing the involvement of women in the politics of the soon-to-be-established territory (Hicks, interviewed November 8, 2003). The staff subsequently generated the idea of gender parity, which would "build" gender balance into the very structure of the legislative assembly through a voting system in which one man and one woman would be chosen from each electoral district.

Though the majority of the nine-person commission was initially skeptical of the gender parity concept, Mary Simon, an Inuit politician and commissioner from Nunavik (Northern Quebec), urged the other members of the NIC to at least consider the proposal (Hicks, interviewed November 8, 2003; Merritt, interviewed October 23, 2003). In many ways, the atmosphere within the NIC was one in which such a unique proposal could at least be considered. Although, as one commissioner describes it, there was a sense that "we were restricted in what we could do" and that "we needed to create something that worked, something sensible and didn't want to be different just for the sake of being different" this feeling existed in combination with a nascent desire to "remake the world" (Harper, interviewed October 22, 2003). Most commissioners came to support the idea of gender parity on the premise that "if you would get better government with both men and women involved, then you had to set the process in motion and create the institutions required to ensure equality" (Merritt, interviewed October 23, 2003). They began to see gender parity as a combination of practicality and innovation - a rational step towards overcoming a history of women's voice- lessness and non-participation in politics.

The Nunavut Implementation Commission's proposal for gender parity avoided making sweep- ing claims about the cultural merits of the proposal, specifically regarding whether or not it corresponded with traditional Inuit culture. Rather, the written proposal highlighted political under- representation of and discrimination against women throughout the world, the systemic barriers inherent to certain types of electoral and gover- nance systems, and the need for balanced representation. A transcript from a 1996 "Nunavut Leaders' Meeting" (Nunavut Implementation Commission 1996) indicates that the debate amongst those already active in the political scene focused on the question of whether or not the proposal was an acceptable mechanism for increasing women's participation, whereas traditional Inuit culture rarely



Nationalism: Tradition, Unity, and the National Family

Wilson : The Gender Parity Proposal Debate 85

is mentioned. Leaders, such as Jose Kusugak, saw the proposal as an appropriate mechanism for achieving a desired balance between men and women and supported gender parity with mainly pragmatic reasons. Kusugak posed the question (Nunavut Implementation Commission 1996:50): "Would [gender parity] make Nunavut a better place to live? I think so. I mean we are a practical people . . . [people take] different roles and responsibilities in the home as indicated by their skills, knowledge and experience."

Although the concept of gender parity enjoyed support by most of Nunavut's leaders, the NIC determined that the issue should be put to a public vote, which was held on May 26, 1997. The reasoning behind this decision is elucidated clearly in a 1995 draft policy document (Merritt 1996:8):

Recommendations to fundamental reform must discharge the burden of having a high level of public support; healthy respect for the integrity and dependability of democratic institutions and process surely demands nothing less ... the Commission concludes that the introduction of any major reforms to established democratic institutions and processes in Nunavut must be justified by the tangible evidence of public preference.

Those involved in the Commission also recall that a plebiscite was called for in light of continued opposition from prominent politicians representing the Eastern Arctic in the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly (Merritt, interviewed October 23, 2003) and because the commissioners could only make recommendations and wanted to back the proposal with public support (Harper, interviewed October 22, 2003).

The Commission also recognized that the commissioners could not be confident of public preferences, as they had encountered both opposition and support for the proposal while on community tours during December, 1994 and January, 1995. In a briefing note (Nunavut Implementation Commission 1995a:n.p), the situation is described:

Speakers [from the community tours in December and January] who supported the concept often spoke about the issues contained in the discussion paper, such as the systemic barriers to women being equal participants in politics . . . Opposition to the concept tended to focus on the question of merit - selecting two MLAs [Member of the Legislative Assembly] on the basis of gender was felt to violate the principle of selecting the 'best person for the job/

Prior to the 1997 vote, political leaders in favor of gender parity once again toured Nunavut's communities as part of the "Yes" campaign, published articles and distributed information. Subsequently, a smaller "No" campaign, championed by Manitok

Thompson, a prominent female politician who had served as an MLA in the Northwest Territories, was established in opposition. However, all meetings about gender parity had relatively low attendance and only 39 percent of all eligible voters (Dahl 1997) turned out for the final vote, in which gender parity was rejected by 57 percent of those casting ballots.5

Regardless, the debate struck a chord amongst those engaged in the political life of the soon-to-be- territory. Ultimately, by the time of the vote, John Amagoalik wrote that "this [gender parity] vote will largely reveal what kind of society we are" (1997a). The consistency with which the public and politicians chose to discuss the issue of gender parity through nationalist language, namely focusing on tradition, unity, and the concept of home, and by referencing the equalizing power of universal citizenship, speaks to the role these discourses play in the imagining of new political communities and to their efficacy and flexibility as strategic political vocabularies.

The thirty-year process of land claims negotiations between Inuit politicians and the Canadian federal government was concomitant with and supported by the construction of a collective Canadian Inuit political identity.6 This shared Inuit political identity was both a means of unifying Inuit and as a way of speaking to the Canadian government in an already accepted and familiar idiom - nationalism. Nationalism, which entails an emphasis on the uniqueness, naturalness, and unity of a group and that group's right to control over its geographic homeland and a culturally meaningful way of life within it, now "determines the norm for the legiti- macy of political units in the modern world ... it sets the accepted standard" (Gellner 1993:49; see also Anderson 1991; Breuilly 1991; Connor 1993; Smith 1999; Wimmer 2002). Many scholars (Anderson 1991; Yuval-Davis 2000; Wimmer 2002) have highlighted the flexibility of nationalist discourse and documented the way nationalism has been adopted by cultural groups geographically and socially distinct from the industrialized (Gellner 1993), bureaucratized (Breuilly 1991) Europe of print capitalism (Anderson 1991) in which nationalism first arose.

The language of nationalism has featured prominently in Inuit and First Nations7 negotiations with the federal government (Cairns 2000; Cassidy 1993; Elliot 1984). Sub-state nationalism, namely the emergence of Quebecois nationalism and separatism in the 1960s, had already enriched the vocabulary of Canadian cultural rights and




acted as a springboard from which indigenous groups could make their claims (Mackey 2000). Many indigenous groups aligned the issue of their collective rights to those of the Québécois as part of an effort to position their claim to self-government both "within the framework of Canadian society and as equals with Ottawa and the provinces" (Fieras and Elliot 1992:72). In addition, the national unity and constitutional debates in Canada (Bashevkin 1991; Boldt and Long 1985; Mackey 2002) contributed to the authority of indigenous claims.

However, many have emphasized that nationalism is not without problems as a method for communicating the political goals of indigenous peoples. These scholars and observers of indigenous nationalism and politics argue that indigenous peoples are forced to express their connection to the land and their political aspira- tions in an idiom that is acceptable to the state but at odds with indigenous political philosophy and experience (Alfred 1995; Ingold 2000; Maaka and Fieras 2000; Simpson 2000; Tully 2000; Wimmer 2002). For example, Alfred (1995) asserts that the idea of nationalism lacks the depth necessary to describe a movement that does not aspire to complete sovereignty, but, rather, is a response to Western political and cultural hegemony and an effort to achieve cultural sovereignty and a level of political autonomy through self-government.

Studies of the positioning of women and women's interests in nationalist movements have raised another point of concern. Feminist critiques of nationalism have highlighted the idea that nationalism, despite its emphasis on unity, enshrines differences between men and women and that gendered8 symbolism characterizes nationalist rhetoric (Mayer 2000; Parker et al. 1992; Yuval-Davis 2000). Within the national homeland, men and women are assigned different roles - women often become the "symbolic border guards" of culture, while men tend to the nation in the public sphere (Anderson 1991; Yuval-Davis 2000). These constructions of masculinities and feminini- ties are "significant not only because they locate and identify male and female persons, but because they give powers to act in various political con- texts" (Radcliffe 1993:200). Thus, the positioning of women as keepers of the home can create a geography of power in which women are distanced from the public sphere - the space of modern national political decision-making. It is important to note, however, that many indigenous feminist scholars reject the claim that patriarchy is universal and ascribe disparities in the power accorded men and women in indigenous cultures to the influence of Western beliefs (Mclvor 1999; Turpel- Lafond 1997).

The appropriation of tradition is a powerful tool in the nation-building process and in national politics the past becomes an important political resource (Hobsbawm 1983; Lowenthal 1996). Although the discussion of gender parity in the Nunavut legislature was not initially presented or discussed in relation to Inuit tradition, the idea of traditional and inherent gender complementarity, construed by some political actors as equality, within Inuit society came to be used by both supporters and opponents of gender parity, who framed their arguments with competing views on the continuity between traditional gender relationships and those of the present-day. Those against the proposal hearkened to traditional gender relationships as a firm foundation assuring mutual respect, which made the proposal itself superfluous. James Arreak, in a letter to the editor of Nunatsiaq News,9 argued that "women do not need to earn respect, because they already have our respect" (1997). Also, Christianity has come to be incorporated as part of Inuit "tradition" across the North, albeit in a variety of forms and varying greatly from community to community (Brody 2000; Chance 1990). A relatively conservative interpretation of Christianity was invoked by a vocal minority who, particularly over community radio, used religion as grounds for opposition to the gender parity proposal (Dahl 1997; Gombay 2000; Hicks and White 2000; Kango, interviewed October 3, 200310).

In contrast, many parties asserted that gender parity would be crucial to restoring a tradition of respect and equality. They argued that traditional relationships between males and females had been undermined by contact with Euro-Canadian society. Supporters of gender parity, when asked about the debate and plebiscite, began their comments with personal memories of important women leaders within their families and communities and used this as a basis for asserting the need to reincorporate women into formal politics and leadership (Irniq, interviewed October 29, 200311; Kango, interviewed October 3, 2003). Martha Flaherty, former president of Pauktuutit (the Inuit Women's Organization), pointed to the negative effect of rapid change upon the balance between the sexes, asserting that "women have suffered doubly for we lost status in our own society and were subjected to the patriar- chal institutions born in the south" (RCAP 1996b:72). Mary Simon also emphasized that traditional equality in which "men and women. . . . were always equal [as] neither could survive without the work performed by the other" had been lost (in Bourgeois 1997b:19). John Amagoalik (in Philips 1996), as well as others, frequently referred to establishing gender parity as a process of healing, reconciliation, and reconstitution of an equality that had existed in traditional Inuit relationships.



Citizenship


In this way, the restoration of a "traditional" balance between the sexes would lead to a greater sense of unity amongst Inuit.

Striving for and maintaining a feeling of one- ness, communion, and commonality based on tradition is another task in the nationalist project. Some saw the gender parity vote as too divisive and argued against the acknowledgement of individual differences over political unity in the public sphere. Women could not be viewed as a separate collective, or even as a division within this collective, without jeopardizing the tenuous viability of the whole. This line of thought is demonstrated in an article written by the former president of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, Paul Quassa (1997:7):

You look at the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, we talk about 'beneficiaries,' we talk about collective ownership of lands, we talk about collective rights . . . [Our ancestors] did things collectively in order to survive ... I believe that this trend will only make the Inuit think and act as if there are two distinct groups rather than viewing us all as one . . .

Quassa (interviewed August 26, 2003) restated that the gender parity vote was too much of an "us against them" issue, meaning that it created divisive feelings of difference where none had existed previously. Similarly, James Arreak (1997:17) argued that the parity went against "Inuit spirit" that is "communally based and individualism is second to it." Maureen Doherty (interviewed August 28, 2003), former Executive Director of Qullit (the Status of Women Council), confirmed that women's concerns are often seen as too divisive and stated that being a feminist is seen by many Inuit women as the need to be critical and to speak against one's culture.

However, others argued that a gender-balanced legislature would lead to an increased sense of unity amongst the people of Nunavut. One man, at a public meeting in Pond Inlet, supported gender parity, citing too much division between men and women now and that when "looking at the past and looking at the present there's no other way to go but for the proposal" (Bourgeois 1997c:l). Peter Ernerk (Irniq), a member of the Nunavut Implementation Commission, supported gender parity, asserting that "this is about a reconciliation between men and women. It is about sharing responsibilities and rewards more evenly" (1997:7). In this statement, Irniq points to another important aspect of the debate - individual and national families.

The conceptualization of women as the carriers of tradition responsible for the care of the national family is central to nationalist discourse and echoes throughout the understandings of Inuit "womanhood." As carriers of knowledge about the communities and the home, supporters of gender parity argued that the presence of more women in

formal politics would help the government solve social problems, such as issues relating to health and education. One Igloolik woman said that social issues, often seen as women's issues, would have a higher priority if the Nunavut legislature had gender parity. She argued that "if we don't make a change, I don't see these types of problems going away . . . Nobody talks about them in the present government" (in Bourgeois 1997c:l). This view was repeated in Pond Inlet, where one man stated that, because men and women have different points of view, gender parity could only strengthen the representative capability of the new government (in Bourgeois 1997d).

The centrality and importance of family and community was also used as a reason to reject the proposal. Many voiced concern that the absence of women in the home, while traveling and partici- pating in territorial politics, would lead to a deep- ening of the social problems afflicting many communities in Nunavut (Dahl 1997). One elder in Pond Inlet voiced his concern about women being elected members of the legislative assembly, as children would be left at home. "I see kids who are left alone at home ... I think they're the ones com- mitting suicide when they get older. What's going to happen to those kids when their mothers are at the capital?" (in Bourgeois 1997d:12).

Arguments drawing upon nationalist rhetoric were often positioned directly next to views supported by beliefs about the nature of citizenship and equality in Canada. This highlights the overlapping nature of collective, national rights and individual, citizenship-based rights that is central both within Nunavut and to Canada's vision of a reworked relationship between the state and indigenous peoples. The Royal Commission's Report on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP 1996b:665) highlights the prominence assigned to both identities, stating: "self-government ... is the reinstatement of a nation-to-nation relationship. It is the entrenchment of the Aboriginal right of doing things differently within the boundaries of the flexible Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and international human rights standards." Thus, aboriginal identity and the concept of Canadian citizenship, exemplified here by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, are both meant to be present in the process of imagining indigenous political communities.

Like nationalism, citizenship has been the subject of critique, in particular the notions that all citizens are equal before and within the state and that universal citizenship ensures equality in political access and representation. Indigenous scholars were critical of the "citizens plus" approach that was dominant until the 1960s as, although it




accorded indigenous peoples special rights as individual Canadian citizens and descendants of origi- nal inhabitants, it did not acknowledge indigenous collective rights (Cairns 2000). Feminist scholars have forwarded another strong critique of citizenship. Young (1998:410) contends that the belief that democracy and citizenship "transcend particu- larity and difference" further reinforces the expec- tation that good citizens set aside their individual perspectives and concerns. Under a veil of neutrality and objectivity, the expression of specific interests, such as women's interests or indigenous interests, is seen to be undemocratic, reactionary, or ill suited to the public sphere. Pateman (1989) argues that this discourse of universality requires the suppression of experience and difference from public discourse in the name of objectivity - a practice that reinforces the privileges of already dominant groups.

Those against the gender parity proposal argued from a position of belief in the ability of existing forms of representation and rights to ensure the fair treatment and equal participation of all citizens. Paul Quassa (1997:7) argued that "each and every able Canadian elector has the right to run for office . . . we don't elect people because they are men or women, but because they have experience and have proven their ability to constituents." At a public meeting in Pangnirtung, a small community on Baffin Island, one participant stated that "all Canadians are equal, and we can become priests or presidents, even women" (quoted in Dahl 1997:44). Dewar (interviewed September 26, 2003) com- mented that a preferential voting system was seen to be demeaning to qualified female candidates because women are "not just women, they are part of society and have a right to run against anyone." Manitok Thompson (Nunavut Implementation Commission 1996:46), a long-time Member of Parliament in the Eastern Arctic, came out against gender parity, arguing:

I'm not elected because I'm a woman ... I wish there were more women in politics, but I don't want myself, personally, that women be elected because they are women . . . If we really want equal representation, we must deal with the problems that are keeping them out of politics.

Others, largely in letters to the Editor of Nunatsiaq News, argued along these same lines with state- ments such as "let men and women stand on their own, as equals" (Carey 1997) or asserting that ensuring gender parity would be demeaning to women (see de Melo 1997; Napayok 1997; Wilson 1997).

Quassa (2003) stated that communities simply were not concerned with gender parity and that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms meant that the mechanism for equality already

existed. Those against the proposal also saw it as anti-democratic, which illustrates the belief that the acknowledgement of difference, in this case gender, in the public political sphere undermines equality between and rights of citizens. For example, a Pond Inlet man stated "I like the way elec- tions are held today in the legislative assembly . . . it's a democratic process we're practicing today and I'd like to continue practicing it" (in Bourgeois 1997c:2). Amagoalik (in Nunavut Implementation Commission 1996:73-74) responded to this point of view, asserting, "I don't think anyone should sug- gest that having a gender equal Assembly somehow diminishes democracy ... I think we should look at the issue as something that enhances democracy, not diminishes it because it would better represent society. ..." These comments highlight that the proposal was perceived as superfluous in light of the equality and rights protected by Canadian law and reflect aptly the belief that elected offices are open to all and the most suitable candidate will always be elected, regardless of gender.

Supporters of gender parity attempted to highlight the institutional barriers inherent to gov- ernance structures (Nunavut Implementation Commission 1995b). Martha Flaherty highlighted an irony of the emerging Nunavut government. She stated that "Inuit have been fighting for democracy for a long time . . . yet our government is still practicing discrimination against women" (in Bourgeois 1997a:l). Flaherty (1996[1994]:n.p.) saw the Nunavut gender parity referendum as a unique opportunity to reverse this trend and seemed to try to undermine the status quo by presenting Nunavut as a. tabula rasa:

In Nunavut we have the rare opportunity to design a government from scratch. We can try to avoid some of the problems with existing governments, one of the most significant problems being the under-representation of women ... In the old days, Inuit survived in the harsh environment through cooperation, and NIC is now proposing to carry on this long-standing tradition of working together.

Supporters of the proposal saw gender parity as a way of ensuring that southern institutions of gover- nance did not bring new inequalities as part of their structural "baggage" and called for a rethinking of ideas about government. In "For Our Families, For Our Future," (Yes n.d:n.p) an infor- mational leaflet produced by the Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, the Nunavut Implementation Commission, and Pauktuutit (who campaigned as the YES group), the opportunity for innovation and improvement in Nunavut is emphasized:

If you vote YES on May 26, you will be agreeing that Nunavut doesn't have to be a copy of the



The Contested Geography of the Nunavut Legislative

Assembly


existing government. Instead, the Nunavut government will be a better, healthier government than we have now . . . People around the world would say, 'What a brave step forward' - a better way to elect a legislature.

In these efforts to create the cognitive space for innovation in Nunavut, politicians in support of the concept of gender parity attempted to recon- ceptualize the space in which politics was to be conducted - the legislative assembly or, perhaps more tellingly, the "house."

In attempting to incorporate an acknowledgement of gender difference into the structure of the legislative assembly, supporters of the proposal were challenging powerful notions about the nature of representation in and the formal structures of the public sphere. While it is important to exercise caution in relating Western literature on the public/private divide to non- Western societies, much of the evidence outlined above points to the influence of Euro-Canadian political ideas in shaping political strategies and structures in Nunavut.

In European and Western political thought, the public sphere is conceived of as a place of neutrality and equality and was constructed largely through contrast with the domestic sphere of family and home (Phillips 1998). Feminist scholars argue that this contrast resulted in two concepts that powerfully characterize modern political thought: the "public/private divide" and the related notion of women's responsibility for the spheres of domesticity and reproduction and men's obligation to the public world of economic and political life (Okin 1998). The emphasis on the objectivity and neutrality of the public sphere created a political space in which the expression of specific or personal differences and concerns, such as women's issues, is seen to be undemocratic and reactionary (Sapiro 1998; Young 1998). Thus feminist theorists argue that the traditional public/private divide excludes both women and women's issues from the public sphere, resulting in the exclusion of women from nation-building and formal politics (Okin 1998; Pateman 1989; Phillips 1998; Young 1998; Yuval-Davis 2000). Ogborn (1998), however, sees the public/private divide as something that is constantly being constructed and reworked, rather than a permanent and immutable feature of public political life. In reference to eighteenth century London, he argues (1998:78):

It is by no means certain that any rigid separation between fixed definitions of public and private, or any stable gendering of those terms, can be assumed . . . Instead, it is in the process of private individuals coming together to form a public that definitions of public and private - of privatized individuals and public spheres - are constituted.

The gender parity proposal and plebiscite can be construed in this way - individual political actors working to define what interests are public and private and where these interests should be addressed and acknowledged. This involved a rethinking of the public sphere - a process in which concepts of a gendered home and nation conflicted with belief in maintaining the "neutrality" of a more familiar, citizenship-based and universal public sphere.

Those against the gender parity proposal did not figure prominently in a re-envisioning of the space of the legislative assembly, rather they iden- tified with and believed in the appropriateness of representation as practiced elsewhere. Supporters of the gender parity proposal, however, engaged in a reconceptualization of the public sphere that drew upon nationalistic, and perhaps also distinc- tively Inuit, images of home. The nation, in almost all its projections, is conceptualized as a home, a territory in which the national "family" can enjoy freedom and security and where national values and traditions are protected and transmitted. Nunavut itself is symbolized as the Inuit homeland - a practice very much in keeping with nationalist rhetoric. While the government of Nunavut is a public one, it is also meant to be a place where the Inuit nation or "family" is to be protected and pro- moted. Thus, the opportunity arose for the incorporation of a gendered concept of "home" into formal politics. Although, as Yuval-Davis (2000) argues, the imaginings of the home incorporated into nationalist discourse are usually highly idealized ones, in which the home as a site of power relationships or potential inequalities rarely figures, perhaps the Inuit concept of home expressed during this debate held potential for rethinking the public political sphere.

Unlike the Western capitalistic experience of the home as a place of private concern outside the spheres of politics and economics, the traditional Inuit experience of home was as a site of subsis- tence and cooperation in which both men and women played important roles and all aspects of group livelihood intertwined. Perhaps this relatively holistic concept of home was a more flexible and resonant resource for challenging the Western public/private divide. For example, John Amagoalik (1997b:9) used ambiguities within traditional political terminology to assert a place for women in the legislature:




There is a good reason why legislatures are referred to as houses. It is because the affairs of the human family are discussed and debated. They are the living rooms of people and nations. When Nunavut 's house opens in 1999, will it be run by a single parent? We believe that most people want to see both a father and a mother. Things just work better that way.

One speaker on the CB radio system, which serves as an open forum for discussion throughout Nunavut, stated that "if the legislative assembly is to be a home, there should be room for both a mother and a father figure" (in Dahl 1997:44). The failure of this line of thinking, evidenced by the rejection of gender parity by public plebiscite, perhaps underscores the enduring nature of the belief that the acknowledgement of difference, in this case gender, in public political spaces is inappro- priate or unnecessary.

Conclusion Nunavut is meant to be both an Inuit homeland and a public government fitting neatly within the Canadian polity. A close analysis of the debate sur- rounding the gender parity proposal speaks to this rather unique positioning, revealing the presence of two prominent vocabularies of political belonging in Nunavut - nationalism and citizenship. Throughout, I have illustrated how political actors strategically and selectively drew upon either or both vocabularies, as well as contested and mal- leable ideas of Inuit tradition and identity, to support their particular positions. In this paper, I have endeavored to highlight the rhetorical resources available to political actors in public debate in Nunavut and to emphasize the importance of exploring the influence of dominant discourses, like nationalism and citizenship, in shaping debate and policy in the indigenous world. This paper points to the need for a more layered and discern- ing understanding of indigenous nationalism, in contrast to the simplified and overly stark definitions that abound in much of the literature on nationalism wherein nationalism, and not citizenship, is the primary source of indigenous political debate and thinking.12

The failure of the gender parity proposal indicates the extent to which acknowledgement and incorporation of difference remains problematic in both nationalist and citizenship discourse. However, the potential flexibility of these political languages, which were used by both those for and against the parity proposal, was demonstrated clearly throughout the debate. The continuing negotiation between Inuit nationalism and Canadian citizenship is evident in more recent political debates as well. For example, in November 2003, there was a controversial debate in the Nunavut Legislative

Assembly over civil rights legislation that, among other things, prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation. Once again, politicians drew upon intersecting, and sometimes contradictory, interpretations of Canadian citizenship and Inuit nationalism to support their arguments in support of or against the legislation. This moment, which merits further study, indicates that the definitions of public and private interests, citizenship-based and national identities, and the locations in which each is to be addressed in Nunavut is, indeed, an ongoing process.

Acknowledgments. I would like to thank Dr. Michael Bravo, Dr. Stephanie Irlbacher-Fox, and Jackie Price for their guidance, the interviewees for sharing their knowledge and experiences with me, and the reviewers for their insights. I would like to acknowledge the following organizations for their support of my research: Keasbey Foundation, National Science Foundation (USA), B. B. Roberts Fund (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge), Worts Commonwealth Scholarship (University of Cambridge) and the International Council for Canadian Studies.

End Notes 1. Prior to Nunavut's establishment, much of the eastern Arctic was part of the Northwest Territories.

2. ITK was formerly known as the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC). 3. Jack Hicks served as a staff member of the Nunavut Implementation Commission (NIC) and John Merritt was legal counsel to the NIC from December, 1993 to January, 1998.

4. At the time of interview, Veronica De war was President of Pauktuutit (the Inuit Women's Organisation), Jennifer Dickson was Executive Director of Pauktuutit, and Maureen Doherty was Executive Director of Qullit (Status of Women Council, Nunavut). 5. Unfortunately, exit polling was not conducted at the plebiscite, so no data on the breakdown of the vote by age or sex are available. However, Dahl (1997) presents a graph of voting statistics by community. 6. While there was an emphasis on constructing a shared identity as Inuit throughout the lands claim process, land claims can also be construed as a rather divisive process as Inuit in different geo- graphical areas (i.e., Nunavut, western Arctic, Nunavik, Labrador) pursued their own negotiations with the Canadian state.




7. The term "First Nations" refers to all the indigenous peoples of Canada, excluding the Inuit.

8. Gender can be defined as the cultural elabora- tion of the biological differences between the sexes and a relationship of power that is negotiated and enacted on a daily basis (Butler 1990). 9. Articles and commentary in Nunatsiaq News, an English-Inuktitut weekly newspaper that has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Nunavut, were the primary texts analyzed for this paper and supplement the interviews I conducted with politicians and policymakers in Nunavut from July-December, 2003. Indigenous media are particularly rich as a resource as information is not "simply relayed through media to a remote public, but is part of a forum in which politicians and leaders engage in a dialogue with the whole community" (Alia 1999:39). The interviews and articles cited in this paper are not an exhaustive list of all interviewees consulted or of all relevant newspaper articles, rather certain articles and interviews are highlighted in this paper for their ability to clearly illustrate and animate central themes.

10. Natsiq Alainga-Kango served as Secretary of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (the Inuit land claims organization) during the gender parity plebiscite. 1 1 . Peter Irniq was a member of the Nunavut Implementation Commission.

12. This line of thought is exemplified by Guibernau's (1999:67) definition that indigenous peoples are "communities [that] define themselves as nations and do not identify with the states within which they are included."

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