1. Elders in the Canadian Arctic
Ulaakut
My name is Jennifer Dickson and I am the Executive Director of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada the national organization dedicated to serving Inuit women and our families. Though the Pauktuutit office is in Ottawa, all our work takes place directly in Arctic communities across Canada’s true north.
Today I will briefly describe Pauktuutit and its strengths as a partnering NGO that can help address critical Inuit social and economic challenges. I will then discuss the circumstances facing elders within Inuit communities and we can wonder together how this can exist in one of the richest and most socially advanced countries in the world.
The Special Senate Committee on Aging Monday, May 14th, 12:30 p.m.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

2. About Pauktuutit Vision
Pauktuutit’s vision is to be a dynamic, visible, influential organization, supporting Inuit women and providing leadership, voice and excellence for the betterment of Inuit women, their families and communities.
Courtesy Avataq Institute – 1920
Mission
Pauktuutit fosters greater awareness of the needs of Inuit women, to advocate for equity and social and economic improvements, and encourages the participation of Inuit women in the community, regional and national life of Canada.
Pauktuutit was created in 1984 as the national non-profit charitable voice for all Inuit women in Canada. The organization is directed by a highly motivated Board of Directors comprised of fourteen Inuit women directly elected from ten Arctic clusters of communities, two youth and two urban representatives.
Our mandate is to address a broad range of social, economic and health issues at the community, regional, national, and international levels. Priority issues include:
1. gender equity,
2. many forms of abuse,
3. Health matters,
4. protection of cultural and traditional knowledge and
5. economic development.
Other important areas of advocacy and program include many files that directly impact Inuit Elders, for example:
1. The legacy of residential schools,
2. Sexual health - HIV/AIDS/Hep-C,
3. diabetes,
4. tobacco cessation,
5. suicide prevention
6. respite for care-givers.
Addressing these issues is a challenge given the extent and nature of the poverty that exists throughout the North.
Pauktuutit’s strength is in its ability to put into practice solutions that meet the needs of Inuit. The organization is recognized as a good partnering NGO that has the confidence of Inuit community members. As a national Aboriginal partner, Pauktuutit offers the expertise of being part of Inuit traditions and culture, knowing the local organizations, and knowing the people to contact at the local level. Pauktuutit can effectively facilitate the implementation of programs, initiatives, and research activities.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

3. Inuit in Canada
Approximately 47,000* Inuit live in Canada, primarily in six Arctic regions.
Inuit live in 53 isolated and remote communities.
One half of Inuit live in Nunavut. Up to 85% of Nunavut’s population are Inuit.
Many communities offer limited economic opportunities.
The majority of Arctic Inuit speak or understand Inuktitut.
* 2001 census – expected to be 60,000 by 2010
The Six Inuit Regions
Now let me describe some of the conditions and circumstances of the aged in the North.
Over the last 50 years, Inuit have experienced an unparalleled rate of cultural change. It would be difficult to overstate the impact of this change. The shift has been from isolated, family-based economic groups that relied on subsistence hunting and fishing and seasonal relocation, to populations that now live in permanent settlements and rely, in large part, on a wage economy.
It must be understood that Inuit Elders do not necessarily measure wealth the same way as in the South. Traditionally, wealth was not viewed as the accumulation of goods, but rather, as the absence of bad fortune. This included illness, strife, and injury. Wealth is measured in terms of well-being and good fortune.
Today, Inuit constantly hear bad news. Health and social indicators are gathered along with other statistics and are reported back to the Inuit. This assault of bad news may not be the best way to instil change. Reporting on the good news and placing less emphasis on the bad is the Inuit way.
The majority of the Inuit in Canada live in 53 remote Arctic communities extending from the Alaskan border to the eastern shores of Labrador. The communities are accessible only by air and this is an important factor with respect to access to medical services and consumer goods. Social and medical facilities are limited in many communities.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

4. Inuit Demographics
Inuit population growth rate: 12% between 1996 and 2001.
The Inuit population is young. In 2001, 57% of Inuit were under 25 years of age.
In 2001, 39% of Inuit were under the age of 15.
Life expectancy is 10 years shorter than southern Canada.
Teen pregnancy rates are high. In 2000, the rate was up to four times higher than the rest of Canada.
Inuit youth commit suicide at rates thirteen times the national average.
Between 1996 and 2001, Canadian Inuit experienced a population growth rate of 12 per cent – this is four times the rate of Canada’s non-Aboriginal population. This growth is due to high fertility rates and an increasing life expectancy. Nonetheless, Inuit can expect to live about ten years less than people living in southern Canada.
Compared to the rest of the country, Inuit families are younger and larger. Census data indicates that over half the Inuit population is less than 25 years of age. In comparison, only 32% of Canada’s non-Aboriginal population is under 25. Inuit now have an average age of just 20 years. For Canada’s non-Aboriginal population, the average age is about 38 years.
Inuit women are having children at an early age and tend to have large families – larger families than either First Nations or non-Aboriginal women. In the Baffin region, for example, the age of first birth is falling below 16 years. Teen pregnancy is a very real and serious problem. In 2000, in some Inuit regions the pregnancy rate for young women aged 15 to 19 was over four times the national rate. Soon the cultural and geographical heritage of Inuit will be in the hands of our precious youth.
It is clear that Inuit families are facing challenges that are extremely daunting. Not all have access to nutritious food, adequate and safe shelter, or properly equipped and staffed health care facilities – services that are readily available in southern Canada. The costs for these goods and services are also extreme.
Though average income levels may suggest good wages, this is not a fair measure of economic well-being. For example, a review of year 2000 income levels reported by Statistics Canada for all persons with a job indicates that for the whole of Canada the average income was just under $32,000. In Nunavut the average income is just over $28,000 which is higher than for the Atlantic region, and for Manitoba and Saskatchewan. But this income is off-set by the high cost of living.
Overall, unemployment rates among Inuit are far above the national average. In 2001, over 40 percent of Inuit men in rural areas were unemployed. Yet in Inuit regions, job opportunities abound in the larger communities, but they are generally filled by other Canadians or immigrants, because Inuit cannot meet the job qualifications.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

5. Implications For Ageing Inuit
promoting active living and well being;
housing and transportation needs;
financial security and retirement;
abuse and neglect;
health promotion and prevention and
health care needs, including chronic diseases, medication use, mental health, palliative care, home care and caregiving.
promoting active living and well being;
housing and transportation needs;
financial security and retirement;
abuse and neglect;
health promotion and prevention; and
health care needs, including chronic diseases, medication use, mental health, palliative care, home care and caregiving;
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

6. Rapid Cultural Changes
Nomadic way of life to a modern industrialized society;
Fewer Inuit now live solely off the land;
Many Inuit have become dependent on the limited job opportunities in the communities and
Social assistance within a wage economy.
Cash and goods that were brought into the household are considered more and more outside the realm of sharing.
There have been remarkably rapid changes to life in the north during the last half-century. Each generation alive today has had vastly different life experiences. Elders still remember the old ways from their parents and grandparents. The residential school generation have their own experiences — they were taught southern ways in southern schools.
The Movement into Permanent Settlements
The transition from seasonal movements to life in permanent communities brought drastic changes to Inuit culture and social structure. In the early settlements Inuit were encouraged to trap for furs, continue hunting for country food, and to participate in seasonal employment. Inuit values and beliefs were suppressed by the dominant influences of the church and the market economy
At the political level, the transition into settlements altered the role of the nuclear family as the basic unit of governance. The settlements artificially brought together the extended family into the community. On top of this, unrelated family groups were brought together for the first time with potentially different cultures, dialects, and religions. The wage economy also altered customary relationships. Cash and goods that were brought into the household as a result of the fur trade or wages were considered more and more outside the realm of sharing.
Harvesting of country food largely continued within the sphere of sharing and thus continued to reinforce the kinship‑based network of family solidarity. However, as the wage economy increased there was a greater burden on hunters who brought food home to share with the entire social network. This obligation was not reciprocated with wage‑earners who adopted a more individualistic, market‑orientated value system.
Consequently, elders and youth alike feel as if their roles are unclear. This uncertainty of purpose and identity is particularly challenging for youth, who are taught to appreciate the hardships of their parents or grandparents raised on the land, but feel weak themselves because they cannot succeed in either the traditional or the modern world.
Inuit youth thus experience social exclusion in both worlds. They are struggling to find a meaningful way to participate within their communities with few prospects for employment and no apparent need for traditional skills or knowledge. One elder writes, “As a result of not knowing what to do, many [young people] turn to alcohol and drugs to feel good” (Wexler, 2006: 2941).
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

7. Residential School Legacy for Seniors
Canada’s residential school experiences created a rift between elders and youth.
It damaged the intergenerational exchange of traditional knowledge, cultural values, parenting skills and language that is crucial to healthy relationships and identity formation.
Physical, sexual and mental abuse of pupils was also not uncommon in residential schools.
Cultural repression, assimilation, and abuse combined to make that generation of Inuit feel ashamed.
Although the residential school system essentially ended in the mid-1970s, it is often cited as a source of trauma that affects Inuit seniors health and mental well-being today.
The impact of Canada’s residential school experiences created a rift between elders and youth, inhibiting the
intergenerational exchange of traditional knowledge, cultural values, parenting skills and language that is crucial to healthy relationships and identity formation. Physical, sexual, and mental abuse of pupils was also not uncommon in residential schools. Cultural repression, assimilation, and abuse combined to make some Inuit feel ashamed of their identities, alienated, and disconnected from their families.
(Wexler, 2006; Kirmayer et al.,2003; Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1995).
Although the residential school system essentially ended in the mid-1970s, it is often cited as a source of ‘community ‘trauma’ that continues to affect Inuit seniors health and mental well-being today.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

8. Governance & Social Organization
Inuit Qaujimajatuqanginnit (IQ).
holistic, dynamic, and accumulative approach to knowledge, teaching, and learning
observing, doing, and experiencing, passed down between generations
the exchange of goods and services, and the transmission of ideas, values, knowledge and skills occur within the context of kinship structures
Elders are the only ones who have experienced this knowledge.
Seniors/Elders as role models
Sharing
Relationship to Environment/Importance of Spirituality
Equality and Consensus
The Inuit way of knowledge is referred to as Inuit Qaujimajatuqanginnit (IQ) {qau yee ma ya two ca ngit}.
It offers practical teachings and insights about society, human nature and experience, passed on orally from one generation to the next. It is learned through experience out on the land with Elders serving as role models of proper behaviour. It is knowledge of the country that includes the weather, seasonal cycles, ecology, wildlife, and inter‑relationships. It is practical common sense that is holistic and interrelated with people, spiritual health, culture, and language. IQ is a system of authority with rules governing the use of resources, respect, and an obligation to share.
IQ may not be quantitative in nature but it can be very precise. It is a holistic, dynamic, and accumulative approach to knowledge, teaching, and learning that is done best by observing, doing, and experiencing. It is passed down between generations. IQ is constantly in a process of evolution and adapting to new circumstances and conditions.
With IQ the exchange of goods and services, and the transmission of ideas, values, knowledge and skills occur within the context of kinship structures. Individuals, families, and society are linked by this structure.[1]
Today it is recognized that Elders are the only ones who have experienced this knowledge and that it must be transmitted to Inuit youth in order to revitalize and preserve Inuit culture.
[1] See Jaypetee Arnakak, What Is Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit? Using Inuit Family and Kinship Relationships to Apply Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, Nunatsiaq News, April 25, 2000.
Sharing
The harmony and survival of the group was key. Sharing and co-operation was held to be of utmost importance. Hospitality was important. Within the complex rules of kinship bonds existed many rules about sharing such things as food and labour. All group members benefited from the division of game (Mitchell 1996: 31). With the sharing of food within the kinship network was the loose expectation of reciprocity. Sharing was, therefore, another form of inter-dependence that linked kinship and group members together.
Relationship to Environment/Importance of Spirituality
The relationship to wildlife and the spirit world was a key component of Inuit social order. Wildlife was critical to survival. Every portion of an animal was used. Prior to the introduction of Christianity, a social order that did not reflect the integral relationship to game and the spirits would have made no sense.
Equality and Consensus
Among Inuit there is a strong sense of personal independence as well as responsibility to the community. One’s ability or character could dictate a position of influence. Inuit society was largely egalitarian with no formal authority structure. The basic system of making decisions for the group was by consensus. The adults discussed major decisions. The ones who appeared to be the most knowledgeable about hunting could be the most influential, especially in times of scarcity.
Traditional laws are embodied in maxims, and oral traditions, retained and passed on by the Elders (RCAP Vol : 121).
There can be a number of seniors in a community but they may not all be Elders. Inuit tend to think of Elders as people who have wisdom, experience and good judgement. It is a term that is not accredited to someone just because they hit a certain age. The Elders had great authority and continue to be very respected. When they thought people were not behaving correctly they would counsel them. Advice from Elders held great weight and no decision was made without their consultation. Often they were viewed as the community leaders. Even if a camp leader went astray the Elders would not hesitate to counsel them.
When there was a crisis the Elders got together and talked to the person causing the problem.
“Today, that doesn’t happen anymore. Even when we talk to our children, they think we are just scolding them. They don’t realize we are trying to correct their lifestyle. They think we are getting angry at them. We are not. We are passing on wisdom. Today we seem to be scared to talk to our leaders about their behaviour because we feel they are not going to listen.”
Lucassie Nutaraaluk, Iqaluit, Interviewing Inuit Elders, Vol. 2, pg. 121
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

9. Health Challenges Social determinants of health include acculturation,
productivity, income,
housing,
education,
food security,
health care services, social safety net,
quality of early childhood,
addictions and
the environment.
A significant health gap exists in Canada between Inuit and non-Inuit Canadians. Inuit suffer much lower life expectancies than other Canadians, comparatively high rates of infant mortality, the highest suicide rates of any group in Canada, and disproportionately higher rates of chronic illness and infectious disease, heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory illness. Existing research suggests that this health gap in many respects is a symptom of poor socioeconomic conditions in Inuit communities which are characterized by high poverty rates, low levels of education, limited employment opportunities, and inadequate housing conditions.
The socioeconomic factors most relevant to Inuit health form the basis for discussion and include:
• acculturation;
• productivity;
• income distribution;
• housing;
• education;
• food security;
• health care services;
• social safety nets;
• quality of early life;
• addictions; and
• the environment.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

10. Food, Nutrition, & Food Insecurity
National Archives PA ; Pond Inlet 1951
Access to a healthy diet is a major issue.
The consumption of junk food is widespread.
Poor diet contributes to heart disease, diabetes and tooth decay.
The cost of nutritious food is prohibitive.
Country food is a recommended alternative.
National Archives PA ; Pangnirtung, 1949
Sample Prices in Pond Inlet, Nunavut (August 2005)
Ocean Spray Cranberry Cocktail (1.89 litres) = $41.99
McCain’s orange juice (1 litre) = $21.69
Kool-Aid crystals (for 26 litres) = $52.49
Quality food can be very expensive in the North. Junk food is cheaper because it is often lighter and therefore less expensive to ship. Manufactured and processed foods also have a long shelf life. In Paulatuk, a small community in the western Arctic, food prices have been calculated to be 470 percent higher than in Ottawa.
A 2005 Statistics Canada survey found that 56 per cent of Nunavut respondents stated that they – or someone in their household – had lacked the money over the past year to eat the quality or variety of the food they had wanted, had worried about not having enough to eat, or had actually not had enough to eat. We all know that insufficient food — either quality or quantity —leads to nutritional deficiencies, and to serious, chronic health problems for seniors.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

11. The Importance of Country Food
# Days / Year
Inuvialuit
Kitikmeot
Kivalliq
Baffin
Labrador
Caribou
94 days
62 days
99 days
68 days
Arctic Char
26 days
47 days
21 days
10 days
Trout
16 days
5 days
Muskox
Cloudberry
Beluga Muktuk
Seal
52 days
Partridge
Narwhal Muktuk
Eider Duck
Goose
Whitefish
Traditional or country food is important to many Inuit households. Not only does it off-set the high cost of southern foods, but the harvesting and sharing activities have important cultural implications. Therefore, as a result of isolation, the inability to fully integrate into the modern wage economy, the high cost of food and basic services, and the importance of harvesting in Inuit culture, country food remains important. In the Baffin Region, for example, it has been estimated that half the food eaten by each person in a year is caribou, fish, muktuk, and/or seal.
Today, Elders are being invited to provide younger women with information on such foods as dried meats and fish stews. Traditional Inuit society once emphasized the importance of sharing to ensure no one went hungry. Even today, when a hunter brings home game, many - if not all households in a community- receive something.
But the reliance on country foods raises concerns about contaminants. Climate change also is affecting the quality and quantity of wild foods. In Nunavik, breast milk has been found to contain contaminants that affect infant neuro- and motor development. The contaminants are from Climate change and contaminants are therefore adding to food insecurity and poor diets. A balance must be struck between promoting the consumption of country foods and ensuring Inuit are informed about the associated risks from contaminants.
Table is adapted from the Canadian Arctic Contaminants Assessment Report II: Highlights, pp. 73. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa, Information was gathered during the fall and late winter and estimates the number of days in a year each food was eaten.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

12. Inuit Housing Crisis
In 2001, more than half (53%) of Inuit lived in crowded conditions.
A substantial proportion of Inuit households contain more than one family.
National Archives PA ; Belcher Islands, N.W.T. 1927
Poor conditions foster ill health and undermine the safety of Inuit Elders and children.
House designs are culturally inappropriate and do not reflect Inuit needs.
Inuit housing is in crisis. Crowding is a major problem. Construction and utility costs are high in the Arctic and employment rates are so low that families often double or triple up. Housing construction costs have been estimated to be three times higher than for similar housing in the South. Ownership rates are one-third the national rate. A recent government study found that more than one-half of Inuit live in crowded conditions. Some 3-bedroom homes are known to house as many as 20 people.
Thus there is an on-going and severely under-addressed crisis that has widespread consequences. A lack of privacy and space contributes to increased stress, increased violence, and low self-esteem. Overcrowding causes much higher incidences of communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, Hepatitis A, pneumonia, and other respiratory diseases among seniors. This results in increased infant mortality and shorter life spans for many Inuit. Inadequate housing also contributes to the high injury rates — especially among Inuit Elders and children. The housing crisis exacerbates social issues. Family violence, child sexual abuse, and substance abuse have been linked to the dehumanizing housing conditions.
Conditions are often sub-standard in what is typically one of the harshest environments in the world. This is true of plumbing and sewage disposal. Air quality and mould are major problems; ventilation in northern homes is poor to non existent. In addition, the design of houses does not take Inuit cultural practices into account. As noted, country food is important in the Arctic - there needs to be space to prepare animal carcasses and to have access to outdoor storage areas. Inuit housing requires wider halls, larger porches, larger common areas bordering kitchen areas, kitchen floors that are waterproof and equipped with drains, and sheltered work areas.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

13. Family Violence
Photo courtesy Avataq Institute
In Nunavut, only 29% of spousal abuse cases are reported.
Nunavut has 6.5 times the national reported spousal abuse rate.
There are a few safe shelters and little in the way of alternative housing.
There are increasing numbers of "hidden homeless" or "couch surfers" in northern communities.
The housing crisis contributes to domestic violence. If a domestic problem erupts, there is nowhere to go — other houses in the community are equally crowded and most communities do not have women’s shelters. Elders, women and children stay in abusive homes because they literally have nowhere else to go. In Nunavut it is estimated that only 29% of abuse cases are reported. Nunavut has 6.5 times the national reported abuse rate — the highest in Canada. You can only imagine the actual numbers.
This is true of child sexual abuse as well. A report prepared by Pauktuutit in the early 1990s indicated that 85% of health care professionals, police, and social workers knew of child sexual abuse cases that went unreported. One shelter worker reported that only 10% of 600 clients had not been abused as a child.
Sexual abuse has many root causes, not the least of which is the legacy of residential schools. The impact on children includes depression, emotional problems, family violence, alcohol and drug abuse, suicide, and further physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. All this affects school performance.
The virtual lack of vacant accommodations and chronic overcrowding, high unemployment, and limited financial resources compound the dilemma faced by abused women. Once an Inuit woman leaves an abusive household, she may lose custody of her children. Child welfare and child custody decisions are made are not culturally appropriate. Inuit mothers are losing custody of their children to non-Inuit parents when they separate or divorce. To prevent this, mothers succumb to the pressure to preserve the family unit and protect the children.
Commisioner of Nunavut address march 07
Prevention of Violence
“One such challenge is the high rate of family violence. All families deserve to live free of violence. Making our communities safe requires the commitment of everyone. We need Nunavummiut and communities to work together because caring communities are healthy communities.
It is in this spirit that the Legislature passed the Family Abuse Intervention Act. This year the government will focus on its implementation. The Implementation Strategy will include community training for elders, frontline workers, Justices of the Peace, police officers, and counsellors.
One of the goals of the Act is to address the high level of family violence by providing the legal tools and resources to prevent all types of abuse, including financial and mental abuse of elders.
The legislation includes provisions for traditional counselling of all parties involved. There are also provisions for emergency protection orders and community intervention orders. The Act supports solutions to violence, based on the values of the community and includes an active role for elders.
The government will also rely on community resources for the delivery of programs to residents of the new correctional facility to be built in Rankin Inlet. Programming will be provided closer to home, including an outpost camp that will be established in the Kivalliq. Counsellors already working in their communities will be able to assist offenders in an effort to heal Nunavut families. “
Women often depend on relatives to put them up for the short-term.
Many must leave their communities to access a regional shelter in order to escape domestic violence.
Inuit women may lose custody of their children when they leave abusive relationships.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

14. Mental Wellness and Suicide
Inuit youth commit suicide at rates many many times the national average.
Issues related to violence and unresolved sexual abuse can be the root causes that can drive youth to take their lives.
Suicide deaths in Nunavut and Nunavik have more than doubled in the past decade.
The suicide rate among Inuit is one of the highest in the world — it is one of the great sorrows of the Elders, as it is particularly high among teenagers and young adults. Inuit youth commit suicide at a rate many times the national average. In some regions the rate has doubled over the past decade. And we know that many suicide deaths are reported as having other causes. The housing crisis contributes to this as does the legacy of the residential schools and the violence they may experience or witness in the home.
Suicide is a demonstrative sign of socioeconomic distress and a strong manifestation of social exclusion, especially in Inuit males between the ages of 15 and 24 where suicide is most prevalent. From 1999 to 2003, the suicide rate among Inuit was 135 per 100,000; four times higher than that of First Nations (24.1) and eleven times higher than the rate for all Canadians (11.8) (ITK and ICC, 2007: 78).
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

15. Substance Abuse Tobacco consumption is widespread.
National Archives PA ; Padlei , N.W.T no date
Tobacco consumption is widespread.
Passive smoke in the home and the high rates of smoking during pregnancy (62% in 2001) raise the likelihood of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Binge drinking is common.
Reported alcohol use during pregnancy: • Nunavik % of women surveyed; • Nunavut - 18% of women surveyed.
Reliable data on FASD in the north is limited.
Little help available for people trying to stop drinking.
Problem drinking is not addressed even when women have had several FASD children.
Another critical problem for seniors in the North is the various forms of substance abuse. For Pauktuutit, a major concern is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder – FASD. Inuit have the highest rates of FASD in the country.
Alcohol abuse is widespread. Even though some communities are considered ‘dry’ – with all alcohol prohibited – the problem of bootleg liquor consumption persists. Winter weather marks the season where drinking becomes a popular past-time. Women and children are the main victims of related domestic disputes. For Inuit youth, binge drinking is an accepted norm and the consequences are far reaching – money is misspent, domestic violence increases, and young pregnant women are perpetuating a legacy of FASD. The task is to make Inuit less tolerant about alcohol abuse and violence.
Seventy percent of Inuit between the ages of 18 and 45 smoke - almost half (46%) started when they were 14 or younger. Incidentally, the prevalence of smoking during pregnancy in Nunavik and Nunavut has been estimated at around 75 percent.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

16. Additional Problems Diabetes; Heart disease; Respiratory illnesses;
National Archives e ; Clyde River 1944
Diabetes;
Heart disease;
Respiratory illnesses;
HIV/AIDS and STDs; and
Unintentional injuries.
Photo courtesy Avataq Institute
Health delivery systems vary among the 53 Inuit communities.
Medical transportation costs to southern facilities are very high.
Health professionals (doctors and dentists) often provide limited fly-in services to remote communities.
Overall, the health status of Inuit seniors raises concern. Though Inuit tend to self-rate their health as excellent or very good, there are growing concerns about diabetes, heart and respiratory problems, high blood pressure, and strokes. Unintentional injury rates are high. These are all factors that can be linked to poverty in the North.
Another concern is the misappropriation of Inuit cultural heritage. Those non-Inuit who sell Inuit-style art and carvings are undermining small-scale economic ventures in rural and remote Inuit communities. Existing intellectual property right laws fail to protect the cultural heritage of Aboriginal peoples. Inuit culture is a valuable commercial asset but Inuit often do not benefit or have any control over its commercialization. It is a problem that troubles Pauktuutit. This topic, however, is complex and I will not go into details here.
Everything I have touched upon today is inter-related and I could add more to this picture. I hope I have highlighted some of the challenges and problems that exist for Elders across the Canadian Arctic. I am concerned, however, that I may have painted an extremely bleak picture and that this is unfair and pessimistic. I have described to you some of the alarming circumstances that face Inuit. But I also wish to stress is that there are also some very good and positive developments.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

17. Pauktuutit as a Partner
Non-Government Organizations can liaise between governments, agencies, and academic institution and community members.
Aboriginal organizations are important links within the process of knowledge translation.
Photo courtesy Avataq Institute
NGOs often lack human and financial resources.
Partnerships with Aboriginal organizations requires capacity-building.
What I would like to leave with you is the thought that there are NGOs that can help put into practice the theoretical and the academic. I am proud of the work that Pauktuutit has done to put policy and principles into practice. The organization is an important interface between governments, agencies, and academic institutions. Pauktuutit plays an important role in knowledge translation – linking the academic and clinical with Inuit community members. But it must be understood that Pauktuutit – like many other small NGOs – lacks the human and financial resources to fulfil many of the requests to consult and work in partnership. Capacity is a limiting factor. It must be recognized that capacity-building is an essential component of any partnership. Collaboration is a two-way process and Inuit need the support – both financial and human – to solve the problems of poverty for Inuit seniors in the North.
Communication is an important component of any solution. Strategies of knowledge translation must be established to ensure northern residents are fully informed about contaminants, poor dietary choices, proper oral hygiene, the legacy of domestic violence and child sexual abuse, and the full range of other issues that comes with the modern world. Academic and research institutions have a vital role to play in solving the issues of poverty and poor health in the North but they require Inuit partners who can liaise at the community level. Cultural sensitivity is a key to success.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada

18. Thank You PAUKTUUTIT Inuit Women of Canada
56 Sparks Street Suite 400 Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5A
Jennifer Dickson
Executive Director
I thank you for your attention and for your interest in the Arctic.
Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada