Mass communications and Canada's Eskimos

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Mayes, Robert G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1973
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; Canada; eskimo*; Polar Record
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400063622; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400063622

Since the time of first contact with Europeans, the social system of the Eskimos of Canada has undergone a severe alteration in its structure and function.1 Under a generally paternal and directive administration, this process of social change has been very disorderly and has produced a continuing state of crisis in present-day Eskimo society. Indications of this state of crisis are the incidences among Eskimos of poverty, unemployment, venereal disease, drunkenness, and juvenile delinquency at rates that are markedly higher than among other Canadians, taken as a group (Rowley, 1972; Economic Council of Canada, 1968, p 121). Further change in Eskimo society is inevitable, but the speed at which change occurs and the directions it will take are controllable. Recognizing this fact, many Eskimos and non-Eskimos see the need for a new and more enlightened northern administration, one that would enable the Eskimos to cope with, adapt to, and share control of the institutions that now shape their lives.