Corporations control everybody

It’s almost impossible to find a poor or working-class community that has only one problem. Can you imagine a small community where there are simply no jobs for people to work at but where everybody in the South lives in a nice house?

Living in the North is very expensive, especially when you have to buy food and clothing and household items. I’ve lived in Montreal for five years now. I grew up in Puvirnituq and I know exactly what I’m talking about.

We have two big stores, we call them the co-op store and Northern store, owned by wealthy people living in the South. I call these corporations, wealthy individuals, factory owners, landlords, business people and investers, “oppositions.”

The “oppositions” control us and our lives in a number of different ways. The power is exercised through control of resources. Ownership of factories and businesses gives power over people’s jobs and job security. Ownership gives the power to set prices, to ensure higher profits, to control supply and demand, to make the necessities of life scarce. The GST for shipping and handling is no excuse.

We are paying a lot of money to the “oppositions” for nothing. They sap energy and destroy morale. The Inuit government or Inuit organizations should think reasonably because our tax will never be cut and our provincial governments are not much of a help.

I believe that Inuit can make a tremendous business by themselves, but they need to get education. Problems can be solved if people learn to act collectively. Because tax policies have concentrated more wealth in the hands of fewer people, more people are finding themselves increasingly economically disadvantaged.

We need to wake up and learn about the politics because our social problems are caused by the new political economics.

Raingi Uqaituk
Montreal