At the intersection of institutional, local, & personal perspectives, this paper explores what it means to build a ‘health community’ in a Canadian Arctic hamlet. Neither the dominant concepts of critical theory nor those of institutional health promotion can sufficiently account for the ways in which Healthy Community discourse & values are engaged locally. Instead, a qualitative understanding of social context & everyday practice informs an examination of the health promotion & wellness values of community, participation, & empowerment in the lives of Inuit participants. By destabilizing the apparent consensus in institutional health promotion discourse & by recognizing that there is a multiplicity of meanings & practices surrounding the Healthy Community, the concept can continue to inspire innovation in health strategies. (11 refs.)