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Prospects for the northern Canadian native economy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Bruce A. Cox
Bruce A. Cox
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton University, Ottawa, CanadaK1S 5B6
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Abstract

Much ink has been spilled over the future prospects of a Northern native economy based on a mix of hunting, trapping and wage work. Information on the mixed economy appeared during debates over Northern pipeline development which raged during the 1970s; though the native lifestyle came under close scrutiny during that period, sceptics remain unconvinced of the very existence, let alone the viability, of a native mixed economy. In their view a way of life based on harvesting ‘country foods’ is moribund and should give place as soon as possible to a full-fledged wage economy; those who think otherwise, including the authors of pipeline inquiries, are misguided romantics. This paper re-examines the debates over the prospects for a native hunting economy, and comes down on the side of its proponents. The author concludes that, given proper institutional support, a mixed economy should persist into the next century, and shows that the critics of the bush economy have underestimated its contribution to the welfare of Northern natives.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 22 , Issue 139 , January 1985 , pp. 393 - 400
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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