Employment policies and economic restructuring in the Canadian North: Roots of a paradox

There are few economically viable activities upon which wage employment can be based in remote regions of northern Canada. nevertheless, federal policies locate training and jobs as central to northern development Public policies supporting wage employment in the North resulted from peculiar historical circumstances rather than strategic initiatives to manage economic restructuring. Prior to 1945, Canadian policies discouraged Inuit employment and endeavoured to maintain traditional Inuit self-sufficiency. It was only with the collapse of the fur trade, and the increased pressure to assert Canadian sovereignty over the North during the Cold War that federal governments began promoting Inuit employment. Within a few years, the official policy of tolerating Inuit wage employment had developed into a policy actively celebrating wage employment as a means to promote northern development and Inuit welfare. There is a need for creative alternatives to contemporary economic policy for remote areas.