the Inuit presented a view of birth as naturally safe, in contrast to clinicians who saw birth as inherently dangerous. [..] The implicit comparison is drawn between the present situation, in which health professionals claim a monopoly over obstetric knowledge and this traditional time when information about childbirth was disseminated throughout the community, passing from one generation to the next. To be without knowledge is to be at risk; to be dependent on others is to be at risk. [..]

"Inuit people do not believe that having a child, being pregnant, birthing is a disease. It's not an illness. It's a way of life, a normal function of a human being. And in the sense that it's not a disease, then they don't think that you absolutely have to be in a hospital... They [the Inuit] have delivered babies before for centuries and centuries."

Risk is not denied, but accepted as a part of the reality of northern life. The underlying philosophical concept is expressed in the following quotation:

"Can you guarantee me my life tomorrow? ... There's always risk. I mean you wouldn't live if you didn't live with risks."

[..] The question is who has the power to define risk and to insist that their view should prevail over those of others.