Autonomy and legal systems of Greenland and Nunavut

• Main Authors: Natalia Loukacheva, Hans Christian Raffnsoe, Chief Judge, High Court Of Greenl
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Greenland; Nunavut; Chukotka; inuit
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.622.9025; http://www.units.miamioh.edu/havighurstcenter/publications/documents/loukacheva.pdf

The scope of Greenland Home Rule or Nunavut governance institutions does not embrace Inuit judicial powers or an independent legal system. At the same time, representatives of Inuit communities and prominent scholars are advocating for aboriginal justice and law reform of the existing legal mechanisms, which are often alien and ignorant of traditional indigenous forms of social control. By using the examples of Greenland and Nunavut and by applying their experience to the Inuit of Chukotka, this paper aims to find out: whether the scope of indigenous autonomy in the Arctic should include the right to an independent legal/judicial system for Inuit and to what extent lex loci- Inuit customary law- can be adjusted to the existing legal systems for the better fulfillment of Inuit aspirations for their governance. When tracing the traditional system of social control within Greenland and Nunavut, it was revealed that there was no legal system of law, as law is understood in “western ” societies. However, the traditional Inuit society carried a number of methods of social control, which functioned as law and created a basis for Inuit natural norms of justice. Currently, these norms are underused or non-existent because of colonial practices and changes in the Inuit livelihood. Therefore there is a need for reconsideration of modern legal systems of Greenland and Nunavut with due respect to the Inuit perspectives on law. Examining the framework of administration of justice and legal systems of contemporary Greenland and Nunavut, it is argued that there is no formal legal obstacle for creation of Inuit justice system within governance models of these Arctic jurisdictions. Though political, social and technical conditions do not favor this, the establishment of Inuit justice would make a positive step forward in the political autonomy of Greenland and Nunavut. Finally, the paper analyses the lessons to be learned by the Russian Inuit of Chukotka in their quest for autonomy.