The Welfare State North: Early Developments in Inuit Income Security

• Published in: Journal of Canadian Studies
• Main Author: Nixon, P.G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) 1990
• Subjects: History; Cultural Studies; inuit; Northwest Territories
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/jcs.25.2.144; https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/jcs.25.2.144

The general concern of this paper is the role of the federal government in the formulation and implementation of income security policies for the Inuit of the Northwest Territories, from their beginning through the immediate post-World War II period. Three themes dominate the study: that Canadian social policy during this period was moving to the acceptance of more public responsibility for meeting the needs of individuals; that while this was happening in southern Canada the administration of social assistance to the Inuit diverged from this pattern; and that the correspondence of administrators and other policy actors illuminates the historical rationalizations for what can only be regarded as discriminatory treatment in the application of income security policy to the Inuit.