The prized Inuit cultural value of independence, the lack of a written language, and the harsh reality of surviving in the unforgiving Arctic environment were ill-suited to any centralized political structure.

Increased Political Awareness and Activism In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the increasing numbers of educated Inuit youth returning to their settlements energized the Inuit, particularly with regard to regaining traditional territories with their abundant natural resources. A main focus of the Inuit's emerging political activism was to ensure they would have greater involvement in the decisions surrounding the disposition of the land's resources, particularly in the energy sector, and to obtain a greater measure of economic stability and prosperity through the processing and sale of these resources. Throughout the late 1900s, the Inuit were generally successful in reaching settlements with national governments granting their claims to large expanses of their traditional territory.