Image retrieved from: <https://cmajnews.com/2018/05/30/language-barriers-restricting-access-to-health-care-for-indigenous-populations-cmaj-109-5613/
Tansi Nîtôtemtik,
Yesterday, we opened our week-long focus on Inuit governance by laying out the history of Nunavut, the traditional land of the Inuit people of Canada and a territory founded on the principle of Inuit self-governance. Today, we turn to consider the unique challenges faced by Inuit communities and their governance.
Canada’s Inuit population is spread across four northern regions in Canada: Nunavut, Inuvialuit (in the Northwest Territories), Nunavik (in northern Quebec), and Nunatsiavut (in northern Labrador) – collectively known as “Inuit Nunangat.” Living in such northern parts of Canada comes with unique issues and challenges for Inuit communities. Such challenges include food insecurity, a lack of infrastructure and services, and language barriers.
Food Insecurity
Food insecurity has become a crisis for Canada’s Inuit population. Food security “exists when a person does not have physical or economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. This can range from not having the ability to afford a balanced diet, to not being able to eat culturally acceptable foods, to missing meals or not eating for days at a time.”[1] Almost 70% of Inuit homes in Nunavut are food insecure – this is 8 times higher than the Canadian average. It is also higher than any other region in Inuit Nunangat. Nunatsiavut, for example, reports food security in 46% of Inuit homes, while the number is 43% in Inuvialuit.[2]
Such food insecurity is largely a result of extraordinarily high food prices in the north. The Facebook group “Feeding My Family” documents just how high prices can be.[3] Some food is subsidized though the federal Nutrition North program,[4] but in reality this does little to help families.[5] Traditional and sustainable hunting of caribou, seals, or whales is essential for combatting food insecurity, but the investments required to access country food are also high, and hunting practices are still strongly campaigned against by non-Inuit persons.
Infrastructure & Services
Northern communities do not have access to the same infrastructure and services the rest of Canada enjoys. This creates limitations for community development and economic opportunities for communities.
According to the Inuit advocacy organization Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, no Inuit communities are connected to the North American power grid. Rather, Inuit communities rely heavily on diesel fuel for electricity, heating and transportation to basic resources.[6]
Effective transportation is also lacking in the north. While some road networks are developed, all-season road access between communities is limited[7] and geography creates high average travel distances.[8] Transportation by plane is heavily relied upon by most communities, especially for transporting goods and supplies, but the long-distance travel creates prohibitive prices for products.[9] Marine transportation is more cost-effective and relied upon for natural resource development, but is not accessible for land-locked communities, and existing infrastructure is “often barebones and rudimentary.”[10]
Provision of key services such as healthcare is also limited due to the geographical isolation of the north. Most Inuit peoples have no choice but to fly south in order to access healthcare.[11] Educational infrastructure is also limited, with few high schools and colleges across the regions, although “land claim agreements across the regions of interest provide important frameworks for the development of post-secondary support services” in certain communities.[12]
Finally, there is a “particularly acute” shortage of “affordable, adequate, and suitable housing” for Inuit populations in the north.[13] Water distribution, meanwhile, relies heavily on trucking rather than piping,[14] while telecommunications and internet access is highly dependent on satellite transport facilities.[15]
Language Barriers
The isolation faced by Canada’s Inuit goes beyond the geographical. Inuit communities and Inuk individuals have trouble accessing what services are available in their native dialects of Inuktitut. This language barrier ultimately bars participation in, and understanding of, the judicial and medical systems.[16]
Until next time,
Team ReconciliAction YEG
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[1] “Background on Food Insecurity”, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, online: <https://www.itk.ca/nuluaq-mapping-project/inuit-food-insecurity-canada-background/>
[2] See Nunavut Food Security Coalition, “Rates”, online: <https://www.nunavutfoodsecurity.ca/Rates>.
[3] Feeding My Family, online: <https://www.facebook.com/groups/239422122837039/>.
[4] Nutrition North Canada, online: <https://www.nutritionnorthcanada.gc.ca/eng/1415385762263/1415385790537>
[5] See e.g., Katie Pedersen, Greg Sadler, and David Common, “Why millions of dollars in federal grocery subsidies haven’t lessened food insecurity in the North”, CBC News (29 March 2019), online: <https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/north-food-prices-nutrition-north-marketplace-1.5074520>
[6] “National Inuit Climate Change Strategy Priorities”, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, online: <https://www.itk.ca/national-inuit-climate-change-strategy/priorities/>
[7] Centre for the North at the Conference Board of Canada, “Study on Addressing the Infrastructure Needs of Northern Aboriginal Communities” (December 2014) at 18-19, online: <http://www.naedb-cndea.com/reports/northern-infrastructure-report.pdf> [“CNCBC Study”].
[8] Ibid at 21.
[9] Ibid at 22.
[10] Ibid at 24.
[11] See e.g., CBC News, “Health care often inaccessible to Inuit: report”, (3 December 2008), online: <https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/health-care-often-inaccessible-to-inuit-report-1.759107>.
[12] “CNCBC Study”, supra note 7 at 40.
[13] Ibid at 42.
[14] Ibid at 45.
[15] Ibid at 33.
[16] See e.g., Catou MacKinnon, “Language barrier makes court baffling for many Inuit, justice workers say”, CBC News (20 November 2018), online: <https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/inuit-language-barrier-court-1.4912044>; Paul Webster, “Language barriers restricting access to health care for Indigenous populations”, CMAJ News (30 May 2018), online: <https://cmajnews.com/2018/05/30/language-barriers-restricting-access-to-health-care-for-indigenous-populations-cmaj-109-5613/>.
