Values, knowledge and vision: how Inuit skills can strengthen northern economies
How can Northern economies grow through Inuit skills and community priorities? This primer explores job sectors in Inuit Nunangat where values, traditional knowledge, and strengths thrive.
Document Highlights
- Inuit want employment and business opportunities that reflect their values, traditional knowledge, and community-based strengths.
- The Inuit arts economy has a strong foundation, but also untapped potential. Cooperatives and social media platforms continue to open new opportunities, while unreliable Internet and cell connectivity and a lack of marketing and e-commerce training are obstacles to equitable market access.
- Inuit land-based practices play a pivotal role in emerging conservation-sector activities—including environmental monitoring, resource stewardship, ecotourism, and climate change research.
- Inuit land-based activities also have untapped potential to strengthen local food security and sustainable livelihoods in Inuit Nunangat.
Key findings
Inuit want employment and business opportunities that reflect their values, traditional knowledge, and community-based strengths.
The arts and conservation economies are both promising sectors where Inuit values, traditional knowledge, and strengths can thrive.
These sectors have the potential to empower Inuit knowledge, craftsmanship, and ingenuity by building on and adapting skills that have sustained Inuit culture for millennia.