I Will Live for Both of Us

A History of Colonialism, Uranium Mining, and Inuit Resistance

Joan Scottie, Warren Bernauer, Jack Hicks

• Publisher: University of Manitoba Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780887552656
• eBook ISBN: 9780887552670
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Born at a traditional Inuit camp in what is now Nunavut, Joan Scottie has spent decades protecting the Inuit hunting way of life, most famously with her long battle against the uranium mining industry. Twice, Scottie and her community of Baker Lake successfully stopped a proposed uranium mine. Working with geographer Warren Bernauer and social scientist Jack Hicks, Scottie here tells the history of her community's decades-long fight against uranium mining.

Scottie's I Will Live for Both of Us is a reflection on recent political and environmental history and a call for a future in which Inuit traditional laws and values are respected and upheld. Drawing on Scottie's rich and storied life, together with document research by Bernauer and Hicks, their book brings the perspective of a hunter, Elder, grandmother, and community organizer to bear on important political developments and conflicts in the Canadian Arctic since the Second World War.

In addition to telling the story of her community's struggle against the uranium industry, I Will Live for Both of Us discusses gender relations in traditional Inuit camps, the emotional dimensions of colonial oppression, Inuit experiences with residential schools, the politics of gold mining, and Inuit traditional laws regarding the land and animals. A collaboration between three committed activists, I Will Live for Both of Us provides key insights into Inuit history, Indigenous politics, resource management, and the nuclear industry.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. Growing Up on the Land
• Chapter 2. Qablunaat, Moving to Town, and Going to School
• Chapter 3. Uranium Exploration, Petitions, and a Court Case
• Chapter 4. Kiggavik Round 1: The Urangesellschaft Proposal
• Chapter 5. The Nunavut Agreement and Gold Mining near Baker Lake
• Chapter 6. Uranium Policy in Nunavut
• Chapter 7. Kiggavik Round 2: The AREVA Proposal
• Chapter 8. Protecting Our Land and Caribou
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgements
• Appendix. Why Nunavut Needs a Public Inquiry into Uranium Mining—A Position Statement from Nunavummiut Makitagunarningit
• Abbreviations
• Notes
• Glossary of Selected Inuktitut Terms
• Bibliography
• Index