SELECTED THESES ON THE CIRCUMPOLAR ARCTIC

This thesis explores two examples of Canadian policy initiatives involving the resettlement of human populations. In the eyes of those who undertook them, these initiatives were intended to relieve the problems of certain existing communities by relocating them. A close examination of these initiatives, however, shows that in their enactment opposing ideas of the meaning of the term 'community' arise. The absence of a universal definition of 'community' has allowed different disciplines to appropriate the term and attach different meanings to it. This thesis focuses on the particular dichotomy between 'ontological' and 'functional' approaches to 'community', and explores the deficiencies of policy making when assessed in terms of this dichotomy. The 1953 relocation of Inuit and Newfoundland's 1965 Household Resettlement Plan are employed as case studies representing opposite responses to similar challenges. While the Inuit were decentralized to promote independence and self-sufficiency, Newfoundland outport residents were centralized into growth centres in an attempt to foster industrialization. In both cases, government perceptions of destitution sponsored intervention. These policy initiatives were premised on functional explorations of community and their rational solutions. The importance of the ontological - sociological sense of having a 'home' as an ingredient in the valuing of community seems to be eclipsed, in the minds of policy-makers, by the rationalized images of community as a nexus of services presented in functional approaches. This points to the need to readdress the sense in which 'community' is used in policy documents. Promoting a synthesis of ontological and functional perspectives provides a greater opportunity for the successful implementation of policy initiatives designed to enrich community life.'