How Many Times .......
Submitted by Mary Simon on Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Sometimes I wonder how many times we have to read headlines such as “Inuit preschoolers often go hungry” or “Inuit infant mortality three times Canadian average” before significant change take place.
Have these types of headlines now become so commonplace in our country that they have lost the impact on Canadians that they should have?
In a study completed by the McGill Centre for Indigenous Peoples' Nutrition and Environment and published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal we read
Seventy per cent of Inuit preschoolers in Nunavut live in homes where there isn't enough food, a situation with implications for children's development, a McGill University researcher says.
The average Nunavut family with young children is paying close to $430 a week for groceries, double the price for a family of the same size in the south....
Another study published in the same journal reports that
....the infant mortality rate for Inuit babies across Canada's North was 3.6 times higher than the national average.
The underlying causes of statistics that would not be acceptable in southern Canada are well known.
- low education completion rates
- lack of economic opportunity
- lack of adequate housing,
- inadequate mental health care, and
- inadequate physical health care
None of that should be a surprise to anyone. These are things that have been known for a long time. They simply have neither been properly or adequately addressed by Canada. Inuit certainly have a role to play in addressing these issues, and many initiatives are being taken at the grassroots, local, regional, and national levels by Inuit to tackle them head on. Inuit have consistently stated that we are always willing to work with governments to develop and implement solutions, and we continue to be.
Here's something to think about. Next month the financial leaders of the seven most prosperous countries in the world (the G7) will be holding meetings in a part of Canada where adults regularly skip meals so that their children can eat. And the infant mortality rates are near those of third world countries. Do you think those facts are on the agenda Canada is putting forth?
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[...] The reasons for that, and other grim Canadian Inuit statistics are, as I noted here yesterday, well known [...]
Even though Inuit are lacking
Even though Inuit are lacking in a number of areas, I think that Inuit are ALSO prospering along side with that. The prosperity is usually forgotten when thinking about Inuit of the North, not always because the general public is ignorant, but also because they were only introduced to one side of the story.
I had recently watched a talk by Chimamanda Adichi in which she said,
"..And his mother showed us a beautifully patterned basket, made of dyed raffia, that his brother had made. I was startled. It had not occurred to me that anybody in his family could actually make something. All I had heard about them is how poor they were, so that it had become impossible for me to see them as anything else but poor. Their poverty was my single story of them"
In quoting that, I believe this, "The Year of the Inuit", is really important because we, as Inuit, need to let people know that we have a lot more to offer than what is heard in the news and in the papers. That there are two sides to every story, that this year we are going to KEEP telling our story.
Now, the G7 could mean different things to different people. I see it as a way to educate and interest Inuit, that would otherwise probably never get a chance, in more worldly issues. Not only that, but give financial leaders a realisitic picture of what the North is and who lives in it....maybe even help them appreciate the use of sealskin clothing in the cold winter months.
Inuit are a very giving people, take a look at how much they have donated to the Haiti relief efforts.. They have matched and passed that of many organizations/companies in the world, and are STILL raising funds.
Maybe the thing to think about here is, what are Inuit going to do for themselves before they start giving to others?
Karen