Gary N. Wilson - Böcker

Northern British Columbia has always played an important role in Canada's economy, but for many Canadians it also existed as an almost forgotten place: a vast territory where only a few roads, some railroad tracks, and a ferry system connected small cities, towns, and villages to the outside world. Now, as the global appetite for oil, gas, hydroelectricity, wood, and minerals intensifies, this resource-rich and geographically important region is being pulled onto the national and international economic stages.As debates around pipelines, mines, and hydroelectric projects intensify in local coffee shops, distant boardrooms, and the halls of Parliament, this timely volume examines the connections and tensions between resource communities and global market forces, illuminating how governments, Aboriginal peoples, organized labour, NGOs, and the private sector are adapting to, resisting, and embracing change.

The Canadian federal system was never designed to recognize Indigenous governance, and it has resisted formal institutional change. But change has come.Indigenous communities in the North have successfully negotiated the creation of self-governing regions, most of which have been situated politically and institutionally within existing constituent units of the Canadian federation. These varied governance arrangements are forms of nested federalism, a model that is transforming Canadian federalism as it reformulates the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the state.Nested Federalism and Inuit Governance in the Canadian Arctic traces the political journey toward self-governance taken by three predominantly Inuit regions over the past forty years: Nunavik in northern Québec, the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the western Northwest Territories, and Nunatsiavut in northern Labrador. This meticulous analysis of the regions' development trajectories provides new insight into the evolution of Indigenous self-government, as well as its consequences for Indigenous communities and for Canadian federalism.

This edited volume examines the multiple dimensions of sustainability in the Circumpolar North, a territory facing unprecedented environmental and social challenges at the start of the 21st century. The chapters explore the cultural, economic, political and environmental aspects of sustainability, as well as examples of successful research collaboration with northern and indigenous communities. By examining a wide range of issues and places, the contributions highlight the diversity of the Circumpolar North, the challenges and opportunities it faces, and the ways in which people and communities are adapting to and influencing the changing circumstances of this dynamic region. Contributors include both Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers from eleven different countries and from across the career spectrum. This book will appeal to an academic audience interested in the manifold facets of sustainability in the Arctic and sub-arctic regions of the world.