Northern communities working together is an edited volume that brings together the research of scholars that participated in the Social economy research network of northern Canada (SERNNoCA). The SERNNoCA was one of six regional research centres across Canada that formed part of the Canadian social economy research partnerships between 2005 and 2011 (http://socialeconomyhub.ca). The stated objectives of the SERNNoCA were to learn more about the importance of the social economy of Canada's north, how social economy organisations help their communities and the challenges these organisations face.
This collection, edited by Chris Southcott, is admittedly my first exposure to the concept of the ‘social economy’- As a result, I was depending on the definition and background about this term provided in his introductory chapter. Intuitively, I assumed that the social economy offered an analytical approach to more effectively marry economic and social forces – similar in spirit to the well-established term ‘socio-economic’. Instead, chapter 1 (Southcott) explains that the core of the concept of social economy traditionally refers to organisations that ‘include economic activities that are neither state driven nor for profit’. Organisations that ‘do not aim to obtain a return on capital’ and ‘enterprises are created by and for those with common needs accountable to those they are meant to serve’ (page 6). Based on this definition, I am led to understand that the concept of the social economy is best compared to the well-established concept of a ‘third sector’. In contrast, Southcott goes on to present an alternative discourse concerning the ‘social economy’, which focuses on the unique features of the indigenous communities of the north and their subsistence economies. It is this alternative conception of ‘social economy’ that more closely aligned with my intuitive idea of this concept – introducing a holistic counter-narrative to dominant understandings of the relationship between the social and economic functions of society.
The research presented in in the book is diverse and introduces an interesting collection of focused case studies – from land claim organisations in Nunavut and Nunavik (chapter 5) to recreational groups in Whitehorse (chapter 6) to Innu Hunter Support Programs (chapter 9). Southcott explains that the contributions in the book are organised into three sections; although, perhaps in acknowledgement of the loose ties between the chapters under the umbrella of the northern ‘social economy’, he admits that the organisation and sequence of the chapters is somewhat arbitrary. The four chapters that make up the first section are intended to provide a broader look at aspects of the social economy of the Canadian north; while the second section looks at specific ‘classic’ social economy organisations (e.g. cooperatives and volunteer-run organisations) and how they have been adopted in the northern context; and the final section includes chapters focused on the unique features of the social economies of indigenous communities in Canada's north.
The first section begins with a comprehensive analysis of northern social economy organisations (chapter 2, Southcott and Walker). This overview serves to highlight the role of these organisations in the development of the north and their continued importance. The authors draw on a rich data set generated through surveys; however, the chapter also highlights the challenges of collecting information from the region's social economy organisations and cautions readers about the resulting limitations of their findings. In chapter 3, Parlee focuses on the relationship between social economy organisations and resource development in Canada's North. She looks at the effects of resource development on social economy organisations and the contribution of these organisations to resource development. The author provides interesting insights on the mitigation role that these types of organisations can play. Parlee argues that realising the opportunities of resource development and coping with its negative effects depends on the strength of communities and their social economy organisations.
Abele (chapter 4) considers the relationship between the federal government and the social economies of the north. She focuses on the power the state has exercised and continues to exercise in the north and the key role that it subsequently plays in the region's social economy organisations. She is the first author to introduce us to the unique features of the indigenous communities of the north and the unique nature of the social economies of these communities. Rodon (chapter 5) goes on to look specifically at the role of land claim organisations (LCOs) and their role in the social economy. Like Abele, his attention is focused primarily on the social economy (and by extension land-based economies) of the region's indigenous peoples; however, in contrast to Abele's focus on the social economy as a means to mitigate the impact of federal policies, Rodon draws our attention to how LCOs recognise and leverage the social economy as a key feature of the region's economic development.
The second section of the book includes contributions that draw on the ‘classic’ social economy discourse and the nature of social economy organisations. These chapters focus on the adoption of externally generated ideas and activities of the social economy and how effectively these types of organisations have been integrated in Northern communities. In chapter 6, McClelland and Johnston focus on the role of volunteerism in the social economy in Whitehorse Yukon in outdoor recreation. They use this specific case study to explore the important role that social economy organisations can play in engaging individuals in their community and they argue that using the paradigm of the social economy exposes the value of otherwise immeasurable functions within a community. MacPherson (chapter 7) and Lionais and Hardy (chapter 8) focus their attention on cooperatives in Canada's north. MacPherson takes on the ambitious task of tracking the introduction and development of cooperatives in Canada's North. He argues that while cooperatives originated as an idea imported from the South, their development in Canada's north has a taken on a uniquely northern design and approach with strong ties to the indigenous communities that they serve. MacPherson concludes with many questions about the future role that cooperatives will play as either the defenders of indigenous traditions or agents of change. In contrast, Lionais and Hardy seek to explain the notable absence of cooperatives in the Yukon. They conclude that over time the Yukon has lacked the infrastructure necessary to support cooperatives.
Chapter 9 (Natcher et al.) is the first piece in the final section of the book dedicated to an alternative conception of the social economy derived from the values, norms and culture of Northern indigenous communities. Using Hunter Support Programs as a focal point, Natcher et al. effectively breakdown the artificial boundary constructed between economy and culture to expose the value of institutions that understand and foster a holistic conception of social economy. Chapter 10 (Boutet et al.) takes on a very different, but equally fascinating, effort to capture the complex and fluid relationship between industrial mining activities and indigenous subsistence economies in Canada's north. While they acknowledge the role that mining has played in breaking down traditional economies and cultures, they also demonstrate that mining activities in the north are often designed to accommodate and even depend on subsistence economies.
Bennett and Lemelin (chapter 11) take on the very different task of introducing environmental issues into the social economy discourse. They argue that with the shift from a discourse of conservation to sustainable development, a more complete conception aligned with indigenous worldviews would be ‘eco-social economy’. In this context, they argue that environmental non-governmental organisations could provide an important link between the classic third sector social economy and the social economies of northern indigenous communities. The final contribution to this section of the book is perhaps the most ambitious and inspiring. Simmons et al. (chapter 12) outline an ambitious research agenda of articulating a unified concept of indigenous social economy intended to guide policies that address the needs and aspirations of indigenous communities. This chapter stands out in the collection for its effort to challenge the academic and functionalist exercises of analysing the social economy of Canada's north and instead take on the task of articulating how the world can learn from and be enhanced by a northern conception of social economy.
Although Southcott (chapter 13) does an impressive job of drawing out critical observations from the collection, the book does not convince me that the concept of the social economy, as classically defined, adds value beyond the more commonly used ‘third sector’. This collection will clearly be of interest to scholars interested in the third sector of Canada's north. With this in mind, the greatest contribution of the book is its introduction of a northern-inspired alternative. Moreover, the overall impact of the book could have been multiplied by a direct effort to study the marriages and tensions that exist between the two lines of discourse and the types of organisations being analysed. What is the relationship between the social economy groups as classically defined and the indigenous communities of the north? What unique experiences might the rest of the world learn from the social economies of the north?.
