Born at a traditional Inuit camp in what is now Nunavut, Joan Scottie has spent decades protecting the Inuit hunting way of life, most famously with her long battle against the uranium mining industry. Twice, Scottie and her community of Baker Lake successfully stopped a proposed uranium mine. Working with geographer Warren Bernauer and social scientist Jack Hicks, Scottie here tells the history of her community’s decades-long fight against uranium mining.

Scottie's I Will Live for Both of Us is a reflection on recent political and environmental history and a call for a future in which Inuit traditional laws and values are respected and upheld. Drawing on Scottie’s rich and storied life, together with document research by Bernauer and Hicks, their book brings the perspective of a hunter, Elder, grandmother, and community organizer to bear on important political developments and conflicts in the Canadian Arctic since the Second World War.

In addition to telling the story of her community’s struggle against the uranium industry, I Will Live for Both of Us discusses gender relations in traditional Inuit camps, the emotional dimensions of colonial oppression, Inuit experiences with residential schools, the politics of gold mining, and Inuit traditional laws regarding the land and animals. A collaboration between three committed activists, I Will Live for Both of Us provides key insights into Inuit history, Indigenous politics, resource management, and the nuclear industry.

Joan Scottie is an Inuk Elder living in the community of Qamani’tuaq Baker Lake, Nunavut. Joan was born and raised on the land at a traditional Inuit camp. Since the 1980s, she has been an important spokesperson for Inuit opposition to uranium mining. Joan is a grandmother and avid hunter.

 

Joan Scottie's profile page

Warren Bernauer is a postdoctoral fellow at the Natural Resources Institute and the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of Manitoba.

 

Warren Bernauer's profile page

Jack Hicks worked for Inuit organizations for more than thirty years. He is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan.

 

 

Jack Hicks' profile page

• Runner-up, Environmental Community’s Organizer ‘ECO’ Award, Environmental Studies Association of Canada
• Short-listed, J.W. Dafoe Book Prize

“Scottie, senior co-author, provides a narrative history of her experience as an Inuit member, particularly in the voice of Inuit women, to the resistance of colonialism and what is now recognized as environmental injustices against her community. This book succeeds in achieving the seamless blend of solid historical documentation contributed by co-authors Bernauer and Hicks with the authentic voice of the community.”

Pacific Historical Review

"Besides being an excellent piece of academic scholarship, it is a very comprehensible, poignant good read. I recommend this book to the general public from Indigenous and non-Indigenous backgrounds, and to activists and experts in the field... The book shows how long-term and everyday politics and policy-making affect the spaces and environment in which Inuit people secure their livelihoods, values, social relations, and culture.

The Northern Review

“I Will Live For Both of Us shows the dynamics of ‘resource colonialism’ through the life experiences and struggles of an Inuit leader. As such, it draws invaluable political conclusions while providing an inspiring narrative of resistance.”

Counterfire

“The authors bring detailed insights into the context of neoliberal resource extraction and ongoing processes of colonial dispossession, making the book of great interest for Inuit, Canadian, and international audiences, alike. The text, dynamic and accessible without forsaking depth, will certainly lend itself to research, classroom and popular reading. And its focus on historical and contemporary Inuit resistance will provide inspiration—and, indeed, a suite of tactics—for community organizers.”

Canadian Journal of Development Studies

"This book is a fascinating look into a little-known struggle, presented in a format that is deeply personal and emotionally engaging, but also analytical and informative. The specific political and institutional critiques are crucially important to anyone working in or trying to understand the part of the Arctic claimed by Canada."

MiningWatch Canada

“I Will Live for Both of Us is exemplary in balancing in-depth research and personal narrative to produce a consistently critical and intimate look at the topic. The text is altogether generous, thorough, and timely. This new work should be considered essential reading for anyone interested in the negative impacts of mining, Arctic governance, or the relationship between colonialism and resource extraction.”

Native American and Indigenous Studies Association

“I Will Live for Both of Us is a tremendous work of oral history that intersects with critical studies in environmental history. This book will appeal to researchers, instructors and students interested in history of the North, Indigenous histories, and resource extraction internationally. This story of mining, colonialism and resistance will resonate with other Indigenous nations around the world.”

Oral History Society

“I Will Live for Both of Us is a well-written and engaging examination of Indigenous struggles to protect culture and land within and against a colonial and land claims framework. The book tackles internal contradictions and disconnections between community interests and representative Inuit governing bodies, and provides a detailed but very accessible account of the real impact of environmental governance in the north.”

NiCHE

"This book should be read, first and foremost, by young activists who want to read, learn from and perhaps be inspired by a David and Goliath story; by northernists and those interested in the politics of northern development; by environmentalists concerned about how their concerns are dealt with at the extraction end of world; by students of modern treaties and Indigenous rights and culture who want to know what happens after a treaty is settled."

Canadian Dimension

"Scholars and students in history, Indigenous studies, environmental studies, and geography, among other disciplines, as well as the general public, will find this a compelling glimpse into Inuit resistance, both before and after the establishment of Nunavut."

Canadian Historical Review

“A formidable problem mining in Canada’s Arctic has been facing is not below ground but above it—a resolute granny named Joan Scottie. The Inuit elder in Nunavut’s Baker Lake is not just a thorn in the side of the mining industry, she’s the whole bush.”

Winnipeg Free Press