Bringing justice to Nunavik

An article by Valérie Levée, science journalist

Before colonisation, the Inuit had their own system of social regulation, often mediated by elders or family providers. Even today, various informal mechanisms help maintain social order, such as denouncing a person's misbehavior on community radio without naming him or her. But with colonisation, Inuit have seen non-Inuit judges and police arrive to settle their disputes. This juxtaposition of two justice systems is the focus of research by Caroline Hervé, INQ-affiliated researcher, professor in the Department of Anthropology at Université Laval and holder of the Research Chair on Relations with Inuit Societies, supported by Sentinel North from 2017 to 2023. 

Caroline Hervé lived in Nunavik for 4 years, where she was the director of Saturviit Inuit Women’s Association of Nunavik. As an anthropologist, she was able to decipher cultural misunderstandings and observe that Inuit practices of social regulation, still in use today, are not recognized by the Quebec and Canadian justice and police systems to which Inuit must adhere. "All this has shaped my view of the reality of the North and the need to support the development of better intercultural relations," says Caroline Hervé. Hence the idea for the Chair, which was created in 2017 with a mandate to better understand relations between Inuit and non-Inuit, particularly in the field of justice. "My research projects aim to identify Inuit legal knowledge and practices that are still alive today, and how they are interwoven at the intersection of constraints and norms imposed by governments," describes Caroline Hervé. 

Two parallel systems 

In these small communities, it's difficult for Inuit to be police officers because they might arrest a family member, and it's frowned upon to act on behalf of the white justice system. As for the court, it is itinerant, and most of the senior positions are held by non-Inuit. The Inuit who work there are interpreters or support workers for crime victims or people returning to their communities from prison. 

"Working with Inuit justice personnel, we've seen that they try to refer to the norms imposed by their work, but that they continue to use knowledge and practices related to maintaining good relations with others," describes Caroline Hervé.

This coexistence of two systems leads to linguistic misunderstandings, as certain legal concepts do not translate well into Inuktitut. Caroline Hervé cites the example of the word justice, which is translated with a term that means "the act of being remembered”. This translation, which refers to the act of a judge asking a person to remember what he or she did on a certain day, is reductive because it excludes the moral concept of justice. 

Justice and social order in Nunavik are not based on the same principles as in the South. 

"Inuit prefer to welcome, integrate and include. It's not punishment that's important, but how to reintegrate an individual into society, how to tell him that he's important to the group. The Inuit literally say that the current justice system is alien to them," says Caroline Hervé. 

They want a justice system that is better adapted to their culture. "We held workshops with them to identify the dysfunctions of the current justice system and what an Inuit justice system could be. These workshops are led by Inuit and conducted in Inuktitut. Our goal is to be as responsive as possible to the needs of our partners and to involve them as much as possible in the various stages of the research," she continues. 

Decompartmentalizing services 

During the workshops, Caroline Hervé identified the practices and knowledge of the Inuit justice system and mapped all the actors involved. These actors are not confined to a single department but are spread across different programs and local organisations. In other words, Inuit justice does not operate in silos, unlike Western societies that separate justice from health and education. .... "The perception of Inuit justice goes far beyond the justice system and touches on well-being, the land, elders…," explains Caroline Hervé. It is these practices that Caroline Hervé and her Inuit partners want to identify, highlight and have recognized as legitimate by the Quebec and Canadian institutions that operate in Nunavik. With a view to decompartmentalizing justice and other services, Caroline Hervé also wants to extend her research to the health sector. "Inuit workers in the justice system support people who have experienced trauma and are facing health issues, and workers in the health network face the same realities. My goal is to bring them together," says Caroline Hervé.