I Will Live for Both of Us Book Event—Millennium Library

On Monday November 6, join co-authors Joan Scottie and Warren Bernauer for a discussion of their recent book I Will Live for Both of Us: A History of Colonialism, Uranium Mining, and Inuit Resistance hosted by Peter Kulchyski. I Will Live for Both of Us provides a history of Inuit resistance to colonialism and uranium mining from the perspective of Joan Scottie, an Inuk Elder and community organizer with decades of experience fighting to protect the Inuit hunting way of life from the mining industry. In addition to discussing their book, Joan and Warren will also discuss ongoing conflicts over mining in the Inuit homeland.

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.

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 a vital voice for Inuit opposition to uranium mining. Joan is a grandmother and avid hunter.

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

Peter Kulchyski is a Full Professor. He is originally from Bissett, Manitoba, and went to the government-run residential school Frontier Collegiate in Cranberry Portage, MB. He has taught in Native Studies departments at the University of Saskatchewan and Trent University.   He joined the Department of Native Studies at the the University of Manitoba in 2000.