There is now an extensive body of academic literature examining how the environmental movement contributed to the colonization of Indigenous peoples and development of capitalism in northern Canada. This paper contributes to these discussions by considering how environmental assessment (EA) helped enable hydrocarbon extraction in the Qikiqtani (Baffin Island) region of Nunavut in the 1970s and 1980s. When exploration activities began to threaten the Inuit harvesting economy, communities protested with letters and petitions. The federal government responded to Inuit resistance by referring proposed exploratory drilling and extraction to its new EA process. While Inuit won significant victories during some assessments of proposed exploratory drilling and extraction, federal EA ultimately helped create the conditions for Inuit to consent to oil extraction. EA helped impose material compromises between Inuit and hydrocarbon industries, including preferential hiring of Inuit, a reduction in the scope of proposed extraction, and the rejection of especially controversial proposals for offshore drilling. These concessions, combined with a collapse in the market for sealskins due to international boycotts, persuaded several Qikiqtani communities to support oil extraction in the 1980s. The ensuing extraction and export of oil from the High Arctic accelerated processes of colonial dispossession and reinforced colonial political dynamics.

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产生同意：环境评估如何使努纳武特州奇基卡塔尼地区的油气开采成为可能

现在有大量的学术文献研究环境运动如何对加拿大北部的土著人民殖民和资本主义的发展做出了贡献。本文通过考虑环境评估（EA）如何帮助实现了1970年代和1980年代努纳武特的Qikiqtani（巴芬岛）地区的油气开采，为这些讨论做出了贡献。当勘探活动开始威胁因纽特人的收割经济时，社区以信件和请愿书抗议。联邦政府针对因纽特人的抵制，将拟议的探索性钻探和开采方法引入了其新的EA工艺。尽管因纽特人在对拟议勘探性钻探和开采的某些评估中赢得了重大胜利，联邦EA最终帮助创造了因纽特人同意采油的条件。EA帮助在因纽特人和碳氢化合物行业之间施加了重大妥协，包括优先雇用因纽特人，缩小拟议开采范围，拒绝特别有争议的海上钻探建议。这些让步，再加上国际抵制导致海豹市场的崩溃，说服了奇奇塔尼的几个社区支持1980年代的石油开采。随之而来的高北极地区的石油开采和出口加速了殖民统治的进程，并增强了殖民政治动态。并拒绝了特别有争议的海上钻井方案。这些让步，再加上国际抵制导致海豹市场的崩溃，说服了奇奇塔尼的几个社区支持1980年代的石油开采。随之而来的高北极地区的石油开采和出口加速了殖民统治的进程，并增强了殖民政治动态。并拒绝了特别有争议的海上钻井方案。这些让步，再加上国际抵制导致海豹市场的崩溃，说服了奇奇塔尼的几个社区支持1980年代的石油开采。随之而来的高北极地区的石油开采和出口加速了殖民统治的进程，并增强了殖民政治动态。