How a co-op in Puvirnituq is building a thriving future for the next generation
'This is one of the strongest co-ops in Nunavik of the 14 villages,' says former Puvirnituq mayor
*** This is the first episode in our four-part series called Another Country: Change and Resilience in Nunavik.***
During the winter the village of Puvirnituq — an Inuit community on the north eastern shore of Hudson Bay — blends seamlessly with the frozen bay.
"You can see outside the window, there's nothing. That's your thought. There's nothing, right?" said Puvirnituq resident Joanassie Qinnuayuak Sivuarapik, gesturing to the landscape.
"But for me, you got everything you need to survive out there. That's how we came here. That's where my ancestors came from."
Sivuarapik says he, like many Inuit, leads what can be understood as a 'double life.'
"We have two lives that we live every day. I live in a system that was created by the colonizers," he said.
Sivuarapik gestured once again to the window.
"If I want to eat caribou meat well, where do I go? Not going to buy it from here. I'll go where my ancestors went. I'll go out there ... we don't want to forget who we are."
'Working together for themselves'
Sivuarapik is the general manager of the local co-op — the community-owned general store that sells everything from hunting equipment and pelts to fresh fruit and vegetables.
Outside the co-op store there's a sign that reads: "Puvirnitumiut Katujjuiyut Immiguutut," which translates to "the people of Puvirnituq, working together for themselves."
Both autonomy and cooperation are crucial to the history and ethos of this community of just over 2,000 people. Of the 14 communities in Nunavik, Puvirnituq is the only one that has never signed the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.
"Puvirnituq has never and will never sell our birthright inheritance," said Harry Tulugak, a leading Inuit rights negotiator and former mayor of Puvirnituq.
He was also once the general manager of the cooperative. He sees a direct connection between the community's political stance and the success of the cooperative.
"People knowing that they truly can work together in a sustained fashion, that their lives can and will be improved by doing it together," he said.
"And as a result, you can stand on your principles: this land is ours… Too many people from the past did what they could to survive to get us here," said Tulugak.
The co-op was created in the late 1950s, to create an alternative to the Hudson's Bay Company and lay the foundation for self-government. Lisa Koperqualuk's grandfather was one of its founders.
"The co-op was so important to my grandfather that even when he was frail and old, and he'd always put his nasaq, his hat on, and go to the co-op each day. He was so proud of that co-op," said Koperqualuk, who is now president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada.
"The co-op to him and to others in the community of Puvirnituq was the vehicle in which... autonomy, economic autonomy would be gained. And with economic autonomy, there would be gained a government — an Inuit government.
"And that was the principle of the cooperative movement."
Guests in this episode:
Paulusi Novalinga is a former mayor of Puvirnituq.
Lisa Qiluqqi Koperqualuk is the president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada.
Harry Tulugak is the Inuit rights negotiator and former mayor of Puvirnituq.
Joanassie Qinnuayuak Sivuarapik is the General Manager of the Puvirnituq co-op.
*This episode was produced by Pauline Holdsworth, with Nahlah Ayed and Nicola Luksic.
Here are more episodes from Another Country: Change and Resilience in Nunavik:
