Inuit Social and Historical Context
Allison Crawford, MD, FRCPC
Map of circumpolar peoples
Source: https://www.itk.ca/publication
Cultural Origins – Migration Map
Source: https://www.itk.ca/publication
Arctic People in Canada
Virtual Museum: http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/ edu/ViewLoitCollection.do? method=preview&lang=EN&id=10028
!
Map of Inuit Nunangat
Source:
Map of Nunavut
Source:
Knud Rassmussen Early 1900s
Umiaks 1875, C. Rassmussen
Inuit Oral History
“Southerners don’t want to understand Inuit ways. They’re ignorant about our culture, don’t consider our opinion and treat us like we know nothing. Inuit culture is oral and we keep knowledge in our minds. Even without text, our culture is full of wisdom”
Rita Nashook, Iqaluit quoted in Keavy Martin
Richard Harrington, 1949 /Library and Archives Canada/PA-140582
Inuit Oral History
"I have been asked by many people about how long the Inuit have lived in our lands. I tell them that I don’t have to know the answer to that question because we have been here from the beginning. That is what our stories are all about, and it is how we were taught to understand our world." " T.Q. Kanaksuk, April, 1979 http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/edu/
Nunavut Qajanartuk. Kenojuak Ashevak, 1992
Inuit Oral History – the Epic of Kiviuq One of the oldest mythic stories, told by Inuit across the arctic for thousands of years, is the epic of the great shaman Kiviuq.
Explore the story as told by Nunavut elders: http://www.unipka.ca/ Kiviuq_Story.html
Contact and Colonization 1500s
CONTACT European explorers
1700s 1800s
Whaling" " COLONIZATION with establishment of permanent whaling stations
1850
Decline of whaling
Late 1800s
Missionaries Fur trapping economy established
1909
Hudson Bay Trading Co expands posts into Arctic "
This 1715 map is highly suggestive of European attitudes towards the polar regions. It is completely surrounded by scenes from the Arctic whaling industry, a reminder of the fortunes to be made in this inhospitable land (Library and Archives Canada, NMCÂ 21059)
Contact and Colonization early 1900s
RCMP established posts"
1950s
Settlement
Social Welfare credit
Education, including residential school"
1953
Government-sponsored relocation to Grise Fiord in High Arctic
1955
Relocation to Resolute Bay
Medical treatment in southern facilities (TB)
1951, Craig Harbour, NWT [Nunavut]. Source: Library and Archives Canada, Wilfred Doucette, National Film Board of Canada, PA-176633
Mobility and Settlement
Thomas Kublu Source: http://www.qtcommission.com
Relocation
Emily Takatak Source: http://www.qtcommission.com
Schooling
July Papatsie Source: http://www.qtcommission.com
Children in school in Iqaluit (then Frobisher Bay), summer 1959
Inuit Power Curve
Source: Nunavut Sivuniksavut
Nunavut: Land Claims Process and Self Government 1960s Inuit and Eskimo Association " 1971
Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (“Inuit will be united in Canada�) founded by Tagak Curley "
1976
Inuit present the Nunavut proposal to federal government "
1982
NWT referendum supports creation of Nunavut"
1993
Canadian parliament passes the " Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act " and Nunavut Act" Establishment of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc (NTI) " to ensure land claims agreement is upheld"
1999
April 1, territory of Nunavut " joins the federation of Canada Nunavut Coat of Arms
Medical System under colonialism Introduction of disease – shortly after contact, likely by whalers. " Charles Francis Hall, Arctic explorer, Frobisher Bay area, 1861-1862" wrote about the health conditions that Inuit had to confront and predicted that Inuit would not survive: "
"The days of the Inuit are numbered. There are very few of !
them left now. Fifty years may find them all passed away, ! without leaving one to tell that such a people ever lived." "
Geraldine Moody, Inuit men and boys aboard whaling ship, Erik Cove, Ungava, 1904
Missionaries as first “southern� health practitioners Missionaries were used by the Government of Canada to provide both healthcare and education. One missionary wrote: " "Medical work helped a great deal in building up an influence which afterwards became a dominant factor in turning people to Christ. They readily saw the value of proper treatment for disease, and even their conjurers came to the missionaries when suffering. Afterwards many of them reasoned that since the teachers were there to do good, their religion must be good too."!
Tuberculosis Community settlement life starting in the late 1940s-1950s created the conditions for rapid spread of infectious disease, particularly tuberculosis. Beginning in 1946 the Canadian Government started screening Inuit for tuberculosis to try to control the epidemic Large-scale evacuation of people suspected of having TB and other serious conditions was implemented. By the mid-1950s 7-10% of Inuit had been hospitalized with TB in southern Canada Screening and evacuation to southern sanitoria " occurred on Canada Coast Guard Ships," such as the C.D.Howe
" http://www.cmaj.ca/site/100/thousand_words.xhtml
C.D. Howe Many people sent south were exposed to severe culture shock, stigma and racism, linguistic isolation, and estrangement from their families
Thomas Kublu Source: http://www.qtcommission.com
Inuit woman looking past tupik and qarmat towards C.G.S. C.D.HOWE anchored in Pangnirtung Fiord, July 1951. Source: Library and Archives Canada, Wilfred Doucette, " National Film Board of Canada, Still Photography Division, PA-166461
Inuit board the C.G.S. C.D. Howe, Eastern Arctic patrol vessel for medical examination and eye check, July 1951. Source: Library and Archives Canada, Wilfred Doucette, National Film Board of Canada, Still Photography Division, PA-189646.
Inuit traveling south to the tuberculosis sanatorium in Hamilton, Ontario - note the identification envelopes Inuit were required to wear around their necks (This undated image was published in issue #70 of Inuktitut Magazine in 1989 with photo credit given to Public Archives Canada) Source: https://www.itk.ca
Mountain TB Sanatorium, Hamilton, ON
1955, Local History and Archives, Hamilton Public Library.
Strange Ladies. 2006 Pitaloosie Saila, Cape Dorset
Implications of History Historical trauma – the traumatic consequences on communities and individuals – of these policy decisions will be discussed in a later module. However, the colonial origins of the health system continues to have implications for Inuit in the present day. For some people and families these impacts may include:" - fear of health care and lack of trust in health providers" - avoidance of procedures " - lack of adherence with treatment plans" - a continued power imbalance between health provider and patient" - stereotypes of Inuit that persist
Current Health System Management and delivery of health services in Nunavut is overseen by the Territorial Government - Department of Health, Government of Nunavut. " Regional offices are located in each of Nunavut’s three regions, which manages the delivery of health services at a regional level: Pangnirtung (Qikiqtaaluk region); Rankin Inlet (Kivalliq region); and Cambridge Bay (Kitikmeot region). Iqaluit operations are administered separately. Based on a primary health care model; for example, visits to family physicians, consultations with nurses or nurse " practitioners " 24 local health centres in communities
Pond Inlet, Health Centre
Current Health System continued Specialist services are accessed primarily from referral centres in Ottawa, Winnipeg, Yellowknife, Edmonton and Toronto More that 25% of the department’s total operational budget is spent on costs associated with medical travel ($53,294,450) and treatment provided at outof-territory facilities ($53,853,392)
Current Health Indicators Health Indicators of Inuit Nunangat within Canada 1994-1998 and 1999-2003 • Life expectancy in Inuit Nunangat was an average 12.2 years less than for all of Canada as a whole during 1999-2003, and this gap was shown to have been widening. • Infant mortality in Inuit Nunangat is almost 3 times that of Canada as a whole. • Low birth weight seems to have been increasing for Inuit Nunangat, while dropping across Canada as a whole. • The mortality rate for Inuit Nunangat was twice that of Canada as a whole. • Suicide/self-inflicted injury, respiratory disease, and unintentional injury are among the highest causes of death in Inuit Nunangat. • Deaths due to cancers and suicide/self-inflicted injury rose over these periods, and were some of the highest causes of mortality in Inuit Nunangat." https://www.itk.ca/publication/health-indicators-inuit-nunangat-within-canadian-context
Social Determinants of the Health of Inuit These health indicators are not the result of some innate biological disadvantage, they result from health inequities caused by social determinants of health (SDH). Health inequities are the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries; the result of a failure of public policies SDH will be reviewed in the next module.
Resources Further Reading ITK Social Determinants of Inuit Health in Canada, 2007" http://ahrnets.ca/files/2011/02/ITK_Social_Determinants_paper_2007.pdf
Internet Resources