{"id":91,"date":"2006-01-07T02:47:08","date_gmt":"2006-01-07T07:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=91"},"modified":"2026-01-28T00:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T05:05:09","slug":"robert-paine-%e2%80%93ed-patrons-and-brokers-in-the-east-arctic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=91","title":{"rendered":"(Robert Paine \u2013ed.) Patrons and Brokers in the East Arctic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p><div id=\"attachment_9783\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?attachment_id=9783\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9783\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9783\" class=\"size-large wp-image-9783\" src=\"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/06-01-07-READ-Robert-Paine-\u2013ed.-Patrons-and-Brokers-in-the-East-Arctic-pic-1-1024x673.jpg\" alt=\"An un-named Naskapi family at DAvis Inlet, Labrador, 1961. [Photo by Barbara Hinds, a Halifax journalist]\" width=\"620\" height=\"407\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/06-01-07-READ-Robert-Paine-\u2013ed.-Patrons-and-Brokers-in-the-East-Arctic-pic-1-1024x673.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/06-01-07-READ-Robert-Paine-\u2013ed.-Patrons-and-Brokers-in-the-East-Arctic-pic-1-300x197.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/06-01-07-READ-Robert-Paine-\u2013ed.-Patrons-and-Brokers-in-the-East-Arctic-pic-1-768x505.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-9783\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An un-named Naskapi fam\u00adi\u00adly at Davis Inlet, Labrador, 1961. [Pho\u00adto by Bar\u00adbara Hinds, a Hal\u00adi\u00adfax journalist]<\/p><\/div><!--more-->\n<p>When this col\u00adlec\u00adtion of papers came out, in the 1970\u2019s, stud\u00adies of \u201cpatrons and clients\u201d were in vogue in <span style=\"color: #000000;\">social anthro\u00adpol\u00ado\u00adgy. The edi\u00adtor begins by express\u00ading some doubts about the valid\u00adi\u00adty of the ter\u00admi\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy. He is well aware of the ambi\u00adgu\u00adi\u00adties involved in defin\u00ading a \u201cpatron\u201d role, with its pre\u00adsump\u00adtion that one par\u00adty is the social supe\u00adri\u00ador of the oth\u00ader, and the dif\u00adfi\u00adcul\u00adties of deter\u00admin\u00ading just who is behold\u00aden to whom in any social exchange. The stud\u00adies in the col\u00adlec\u00adtion are most\u00adly from the Cana\u00addi\u00adan Arc\u00adtic (in some cas\u00ades, com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties with which I have some famil\u00adiar\u00adi\u00adty). The soci\u00adety in these north\u00adern com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties has changed a lot since then. Most arc\u00adtic and sub\u00adarc\u00adtic com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties had lit\u00adtle inter\u00adac\u00adtion with the Cana\u00addi\u00adan gov\u00adern\u00adment until after World War <span class=\"caps\">II<\/span>. A hand\u00adful of mis\u00adsion\u00adar\u00adies, the Moun\u00adties, and Hudson\u2019s Bay Com\u00adpa\u00adny fac\u00adtors had formed a thin lay\u00ader of out\u00adsiders for gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions. But after World War <span class=\"caps\">II<\/span>, the <span class=\"caps\">HBC<\/span>\u2019s role was dis\u00adplaced by the Provin\u00adcial and Fed\u00ader\u00adal Gov\u00adern\u00adments, and those Gov\u00adern\u00adments were deter\u00admined to trans\u00adform and man\u00adage \u201cnative\u201d life and society.What both\u00aders me about all of these papers is that they con\u00adsis\u00adtent\u00adly talk about how the Naskapi and Innu\u00adit peo\u00adple were being exposed to \u201cthe val\u00adues of Euro-Cana\u00addi\u00adan soci\u00adety\u201d and \u201ca mar\u00adket econ\u00ado\u00admy\u201d. Now, this is non\u00adsense. First of all, the eco\u00adnom\u00adic arrange\u00adments forced on them by the var\u00adi\u00adous gov\u00adern\u00adments had absolute\u00adly noth\u00ading what\u00adso\u00adev\u00ader to do with any \u201cmar\u00adket econ\u00ado\u00admy\u201d. Quite the oppo\u00adsite. What was new\u00adly imposed on them was a cen\u00adtral\u00adly direct\u00aded, State-owned and oper\u00adat\u00aded Com\u00admand Econ\u00ado\u00admy. For exam\u00adple, the Naskapi who came under the aggres\u00adsive social engi\u00adneer\u00ading of the New\u00adfound\u00adland Gov\u00adern\u00adment (which oper\u00adat\u00aded Labrador more or less as a dis\u00adtant colony), sud\u00adden\u00adly found that import\u00aded goods were avail\u00adable only through the gov\u00adern\u00adment-run \u201cstore\u201d. The store-keep\u00ader was a civ\u00adil ser\u00advant, whose pri\u00adma\u00adry func\u00adtion was to con\u00adtrol and deliv\u00ader wel\u00adfare pay\u00adments and oth\u00ader gov\u00adern\u00adment ser\u00advices. Nobody could com\u00adpete with him, and there was no incen\u00adtive or reward for him to, for exam\u00adple, improve ser\u00advice or stock what peo\u00adple want\u00aded. Invari\u00adably, he saw his \u201ccom\u00admer\u00adcial\u201d func\u00adtions as mere\u00adly part of his role as a wel\u00adfare offi\u00adcer. The tea and tobac\u00adco that peo\u00adple pur\u00adchased with their earn\u00adings were essen\u00adtial\u00adly re-clas\u00adsi\u00adfied as just more \u201cgifts\u201d from the gov\u00adern\u00adment. Such offi\u00adcials usu\u00adal\u00adly felt they had the right to pass judg\u00adment on peo\u00adples\u2019 choic\u00ades and pur\u00adchas\u00ades, and to pre\u00advent pur\u00adchas\u00ades they dis\u00adap\u00adproved of. To describe this kind of thing as the Naskapi being \u201cintro\u00adduced to a mar\u00adket econ\u00ado\u00admy\u201d is just plain sil\u00adly. It is dou\u00adble non\u00adsense to talk about it as the intru\u00adsion of \u201csouth\u00adern\u201d or \u201cCana\u00addi\u00adan\u201d val\u00adues. Out\u00adside of pris\u00adons, ordi\u00adnary Cana\u00addi\u00adans are not sub\u00adject\u00aded to eco\u00adnom\u00adic process\u00ades and rela\u00adtion\u00adships even remote\u00adly like&nbsp;this.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_9784\" style=\"width: 502px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?attachment_id=9784\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9784\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9784\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9784\" src=\"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/06-01-07-READ-Robert-Paine-\u2013ed.-Patrons-and-Brokers-in-the-East-Arctic-pic-2.jpg\" alt=\" traders gathered Naskapi traders outside the Hudson's Bay Company post in Davis Inlet, August 1903\" width=\"492\" height=\"382\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/06-01-07-READ-Robert-Paine-\u2013ed.-Patrons-and-Brokers-in-the-East-Arctic-pic-2.jpg 492w, http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/06-01-07-READ-Robert-Paine-\u2013ed.-Patrons-and-Brokers-in-the-East-Arctic-pic-2-300x233.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 492px) 100vw, 492px\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-9784\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Naskapi traders out\u00adside the Hud\u00adson\u2019s Bay Com\u00adpa\u00adny post at Davis Inlet, August 1903<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In fact, there was noth\u00ading alien or sur\u00adpris\u00ading about a \u201cmar\u00adket econ\u00adomy\u201d to the Naskapi when the New\u00adfound\u00adland gov\u00adern\u00adment barged in, in the 1950s. In the win\u00adter, the Naskapi lived pri\u00admar\u00adily by hunt\u00ading big game in the inte\u00adrior. To do this, they scat\u00adtered across the land\u00adscape, in micro-bands and fam\u00adily part\u00adner\u00adships. As is usu\u00adal in this kind of hunt\u00ading, the acquired game was dis\u00adtrib\u00aduted through a net\u00adwork of fam\u00adily and part\u00adner\u00adship oblig\u00ada\u00adtions. But in the sum\u00admer, they engaged in fish\u00ading, usu\u00adally singly or in fam\u00adi\u00adlies, and there were no cus\u00adtom\u00adary redis\u00adtri\u00adb\u00adu\u00adtion require\u00adments for the fish. For cen\u00adturies, sur\u00adplus fish and furs were trad\u00aded to the south, at first through the com\u00adplex trade net\u00adworks that had criss-crossed North Amer\u00adica for thou\u00adsands of years, then with French Cana\u00addian and M<\/span>\u00e9<span style=\"color: #000000;\">tis traders. Cash was not involved, but mod\u00adern read\u00aders have an unin\u00adformed habit of assum\u00ading that cash is the sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant fea\u00adture of a \u201cmar\u00adket econ\u00adomy\u201d. In fact, until the mid\u00addle of the 19th cen\u00adtury, \u201cEuro-Cana\u00addi\u00adans\u201d used hard\u00adly any more cash that the abo\u00adrig\u00adi\u00adnal pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion. There sim\u00adply wasn\u2019t much hard cur\u00adrency cir\u00adcu\u00adlat\u00ading, and what lit\u00adtle there was, was usu\u00adally bro\u00adken up pieces of Span\u00adish mon\u00adey, or stray Amer\u00adi\u00adcan cur\u00adrency. Almost all pio\u00adneer-era exchanges were barter, or entries \u201con account\u201d in store ledgers, absolute\u00adly iden\u00adti\u00adcal to the trans\u00adac\u00adtions with the Hudson\u2019s Bay Com\u00adpany that Inu\u00adit and Naskapi were accus\u00adtomed to. Even mil\u00adi\u00adtary offi\u00adcers in colo\u00adnial Cana\u00adda were sel\u00addom paid in cash, but rather with cut\u00adlery and dish\u00ades, reserved spots in church pews, and oth\u00ader perquisites. The exten\u00adsive use of cash trans\u00adac\u00adtions entered \u201cnative\u201d and \u201cEuro-Cana\u00addi\u00adan\u201d cul\u00adture <em>at the same time<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">With reli\u00adgion, it is exact\u00adly the same sto\u00adry. It\u2019s quite wrong to speak of the intru\u00adsion of mis\u00adsion\u00adar\u00adies into the lives of sub\u00adarc\u00adtic peo\u00adples as being the intro\u00adduc\u00adtion of Cana\u00addian reli\u00adgious and social val\u00adues. While the ear\u00adly mis\u00adsion\u00adar\u00adies were sin\u00adcere, and the Naskapi found them help\u00adful, these were soon enough replaced by a hard\u00adened bureau\u00adcra\u00adcy with a pater\u00adnal\u00adis\u00adtic ide\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy and unlim\u00adit\u00aded pow\u00aders, backed by the gov\u00adern\u00adment.&nbsp;Reli\u00adgion, as pro\u00admul\u00adgated by this insti\u00adtu\u00adtion, bore no resem\u00adblance to reli\u00adgion as it was prac\u00adticed in Toron\u00adto, Mon\u00adtreal, or Win\u00adnipeg. In Toron\u00adto, a local min\u00adis\u00adter or parish priest is not in a posi\u00adtion to deter\u00admine whether you get a car loan, or to barge into your home and black\u00admail you into giv\u00ading up drink\u00ading, or mon\u00adi\u00adtor your pri\u00advate behav\u00adiour. Church\u00ades and cler\u00adics in nor\u00admal Cana\u00addian soci\u00adety must com\u00adpete for your inter\u00adest and atten\u00adtion, are not tol\u00ader\u00adated as med\u00addlers, and cer\u00adtainly do not have the pow\u00ader to inter\u00adfere in the eco\u00adnomic life of our house\u00adholds. But that is pre\u00adcisely the kind of pow\u00ader that mis\u00adsion\u00adar\u00adies wield\u00aded in Naskapi and Innu\u00adit com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties, and it was exer\u00adcised relent\u00adlessly and unabashedly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Could a Methodist pas\u00adtor in nor\u00admal Cana\u00addian soci\u00adety force you to part with your chil\u00addren, and send those chil\u00addren off to a remote board\u00ading school (often to be humil\u00adi\u00adated, phys\u00adi\u00adcally abused and, in some cas\u00ades, raped)? Could he pun\u00adish them for speak\u00ading their fam\u00adily lan\u00adguage, so that they could bare\u00adly talk to their par\u00adents and not at all to their grand\u00adpar\u00adents? Would they be allowed to brain\u00adwash your chil\u00addren into despis\u00ading you and every\u00adthing about their life in your home? Of course, not. Peo\u00adple in nor\u00admal Cana\u00adda would rise up as one and burn every church to the ground if their priests and min\u00adis\u00adters per\u00adpe\u00adtrated such crimes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">These crimes were pos\u00adsi\u00adble because the mis\u00adsion\u00adar\u00adies had a cowed, unsus\u00adpect\u00ading, and eco\u00adnom\u00adi\u00adcally vul\u00adner\u00ada\u00adble pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion in their grasp, on which they could per\u00adform total\u00adi\u00adtar\u00adian social engi\u00adneer\u00ading exper\u00adi\u00adments which are fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtally alien to every\u00adthing Cana\u00addi\u00adans stand for, believe in, and live by. The mis\u00adsion\u00adar\u00adies had the over\u00adwhelm\u00ading pow\u00ader of the State to back them up. Chil\u00addren whom they could not hus\u00adtle into the Res\u00adi\u00adden\u00adtial School Sys\u00adtem by intim\u00adi\u00adda\u00adtion would sim\u00adply have been seized at gun\u00adpoint. The vic\u00adtims were not, repeat <strong><em>not<\/em><\/strong> cit\u00adi\u00adzens of Cana\u00adda. They were \u201cwards of the state\u201d, with\u00adout the right to vote until the 1960s, and stripped of all the nor\u00admal legal pro\u00adtec\u00adtions of Cana\u00addian cit\u00adi\u00adzen\u00adship. To talk of this shit as a form of \u201caccul\u00adtur\u00ada\u00adtion\u201d to Cana\u00addian soci\u00adety is non\u00adsense piled on non\u00adsense. I will not even con\u00adcede that the mis\u00adsion\u00adar\u00adies should be called \u201cChris\u00adtians\u201d\u2026 Their actions were more in line with the thoughts of Chair\u00adman Mao than with any\u00adthing that Cana\u00addi\u00adans would rec\u00adog\u00adnize as Christianity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>con\u00adtents:<br> 14533.&nbsp;(Robert Paine) A The\u00adory of Patron\u00adage and Bro\u00adker\u00adage [arti\u00adcle]<br> 14534.&nbsp;(Georg Hen\u00adrik\u00adson) The Trans\u00adac\u00adtional Basis of Influ\u00adence: White&nbsp;Men<br> .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;Among Naskapi Indi\u00adans [arti\u00adcle]<br> 14535.&nbsp;(Mil\u00adton Free\u00adman) Tol\u00ader\u00adance and Rejec\u00adtion of Patron Roles in&nbsp;an<br> .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;Eski\u00admo Set\u00adtle\u00adment [arti\u00adcle]<br> 14536.&nbsp;(Jean Brig\u00adgs) Strate\u00adgies of Per\u00adcep\u00adtion: The Man\u00adage\u00adment of Ethnic<br> .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;Iden\u00adtity [arti\u00adcle]<br> 14537.&nbsp;(James Hiller) Ear\u00adly Patrons of the Labrador Eski\u00admos: The Moravian<br> .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;Mis\u00adsion in Labrador, 1765\u20131865 [arti\u00adcle]<br> 14538.&nbsp;(Robert Paine) Con\u00adclu\u00adsions [arti\u00adcle]<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[946,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-reading","category-bu-reading-2006"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10342,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions\/10342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=91"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=91"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}