Kanguq - Automne / Fall 2013 | Page 8

Nouvelles de la FCNQ / FCNQ News\r\nDe pierres, de peaux, d’herbes…\r\nà Aupaluk, Akulivik, Umiujaq et Tasiujaq,\r\ntoutes les communautés du Nunavik sont\r\nreprésentées au sein de la Fédération.\r\nAtautsikut, Ensemble, sans que personne\r\nne soit laissé pour contre – C’est la devise\r\nque les coopératives fondatrices de la\r\nFédération se sont donnée et qui guide\r\nencore aujourd’hui les dirigeants de son\r\nconseil d’administration dans leur prise de\r\ndécisions.\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd sweat… the efforts of the builders\r\nwho, with vision, courage and perseverance, rallied all the communities of Nunavik around a major community project for\r\nthe very first time. The project was to give\r\nthe inhabitants the tools to achieve economic autonomy and take control of their\r\ndestiny.\r\nOf stone, skin and grass … the available\r\nresources to gather the funds for building\r\nthe first shops and purchasing goods when\r\nthe builders proposed launching the first\r\ncooperatives.\r\nIn 1959, Canadian government agents\r\nposted in Ungava proposed to the people\r\nof Kangiqsualujjuaq to start a cooperative\r\n\r\nWith Stone, Skin and grass\r\nbased on logging. Therefore, instead of a\r\ncompany run by a single owner making all\r\nthe decisions and cashing in all the profits,\r\nall the members of the community would\r\nbe invited to take part by acquiring a share\r\nand having their own say in the matter. Everyone would be treated equally with the\r\nsame right to speak and decisions would be\r\nmade by majority vote.\r\nWord about this new way of doing things\r\nspread quickly among the other communities, who in turn sought to start their own\r\ncooperatives. The people had to manage\r\nwith what was on hand. In Kangirsuk, fishermen grouped together to market fish,\r\nabundant and sought-after in the area. In\r\nKuujjuaq, the talent of seamstresses was put\r\nto good use to create small seal and caribou skin objects and fabric artifacts prized\r\nas souvenirs by tourists from the larger\r\nsouthern cities. On the coast of Hudson\r\nBay, more particularly in Kuujjuarapik and\r\nInukjuak, tall salt marsh grass was used to\r\nmake baskets and figurines. The sculpting\r\nartists of Puvirnituq, Inukjuak, Salluit and\r\nIvujivik turned soapstone into objects of art\r\nthat appealed to collectors worldwide. Soon\r\nenough, in major cities around the world,\r\nincluding Montréal, Toronto, New York,\r\nParis and Tokyo, the artists’ work was recognized and demand rose.\r\nIn 1967, the communications and mutual support network grouping together the\r\nfirst cooperatives had already been created.\r\nThe cooperatives deemed it worthwhile to\r\npool their strengths and create a federation.\r\nDelegates from each cooperative already\r\nestablished in Puvirnituq, Kuujjuarapik,\r\nKangirsuk, Kuujjuaq and Kangiqsualujjuaq met in Lévis for three weeks to determine the workings of their new federation.\r\nThrough time, they began to establish cooperatives in Ivujivik, Quaqtaq, Inukjuak,\r\nSalluit, Kangiqsujuaq and Chisasibi. With\r\nthe creation of the latest cooperatives in\r\nAupaluk, Akulivik, Umiujaq and Tasiujaq,\r\nall the communities of Nunavik are now\r\nrepresented within the Fédération.\r\nAtautsikut/Together— working to develop as a people, leaving none behind. The\r\nfounding cooperatives of the Fédérat ion\r\ncame up with this motto to guide leaders\r\nof the Administrative Council in their decision making, even today.\r\n\r\n