Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Billson, Janet Mancini (2006) Shifting gender regimes: the complexities of domestic violence among Canada’s Inuit, Etudes/Inuit/Studies 30(1): 69-88     

Keywords: gender, Pangnirtung, resettlement, violence

This article examines how the Canadian government’s enforced resettlement of Inuit peoples in the 1960’s caused a shift in gendered power balances. The author argues that this alteration to gender regimes is directly related to northern communities having the highest domestic violence rates in Canada (p. 70). The data are from interviews conducted with Inuit in Pangnirtung between 1988-2001.

In the 1960s and 70s the Canadian government relocated Inuit living in camps of 40-50 people to settlements and hamlets of a few hundred to thousands (p. 71). Billson asserts that Inuit women are doubly marginalized by being female and Aboriginal, and are therefore, likely to have low income and poor housing (p.73). The author’s proposed solution to reducing domestic violence against women includes social programs that reduce dependency on government subsidies (p.82).