The Nunavut Research Institute (NRI) is the ethics board that licenses all research conducted in Nunavut, Canada. The NRI is a gate-keeping institution that mediates the interaction of Inuit knowledge systems (presented as experientially based and orally communicated) and researchers (perceived as practicing harsh rationality communicated through inscription). The NRI works to discipline Southern ways of knowing into something more culturally appropriate for the Inuit, but at the same time also disciplines Inuit ways of knowing, creating a paradox even as the Inuit struggle to protect their cultural identity, which has been subject to a history of judgment and cultural appropriation. This article identifies three effects of this paradox on the NRI; the NRI takes on, first, a rigorousness in licensing; second, an emphasis on maximizing benefits to the community; and third, the role of defender of local knowledge.