Gender-based Violence and the Inukjuak

• High Rates of Abuse: Significant correlation with health issues and suicide.

• Film Insight: I am Inuk, I am Alive highlights youth suicide and elder detachment.

• Kitigaaryuit Declaration: Promotes culture, education, and economic self-reliance.

• Ongoing Challenges: Inuit communities continue to face high suicide rates.

• Unified Effort: Steps to improve health and well-being, and oppose restrictive classifications.

In the 2002 May edition of the International Journal of Circumpolar Health appears the article “Violence, Sexual Abuse, and Health in Greenland”.  In it the authors produce the results of a survey of 1,393 random Inuit people in Greenland.  “The prevalence of having been a victim of violence was 47% among women and 48% among men,” 25% and 6% of those, respectively, were victims of sexual abuse, while 8% of the women and 3% of the men reported sexual abuse as children.  These figures strongly correlate with “a number of health problems [including] mental health.” (Curtis, Abstract)  Unlike primary motivators in the rest of Canadian society, emotional and sexual abuse are strongly tied to incidents of suicide among the Inukjuak (Branswell, 1).  Watching the film I am Inuk, I am Alive I was struck by the recurring theme of suicide among youth, and their detachment from the elder community.  White teachers and filmmakers stood in as educators and mentors for the otherwise absent elders.  In turn, the elders decried the “laziness” of modern Inukjuak youth and their general disinterest in contributing to community life through work and hunting (Cross, et al 2004).  It is the challenge of bridging this divide to reduce suicide by increasing economic opportunity and fostering self-determination that the Inukjuak and indeed all arctic Fist Nation people face in Canada today.

The “anchoring effects” of western civilization have taken their toll to be sure, so Arctic First Nations in Canada have recently taken measures to counteract these effects.  As we learn in Chapter 3 of Native North America by Mark Q. Sutton these changes have drastically modified the lifeways of the Inuit of Quebec by “resulting in the rapid nucleation of settlements,” (79) and impacting the Inukjuak by making it “difficult to transmit” (80) the migratory and subsistence culture that defined those lifeways for thousands of years.  With the Kitigaaryuit Declaration of 2014 however, the Inuit of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Chukotka reaffirmed their commitments to culture, education and social development, and economic self-reliance.  The horizon for Inuit in situations like that of the Inukjuak looks more clear of obstacles and more full of opportunity than ever.

Inukjuak life today is much the same as it was depicted in I am Inuk, I am Alive.  The women’s hockey team is still a force to be reckoned with.  Unfortunately, though, the same problems with suicide continue to pervade Inuit communities.  Rates among young people are as much as 30 times the national rate in Canada (Branswell, 1).  Luckily, for the Nunavut Inukjuak, the rates are not as high as neighboring communities, but alarming nonetheless.  To work towards prevention, the Inuit in Canada via the Kitigaaryuit Declaration are taking some unusual steps.  In a unified effort, they are opposing the classification of traditional fish and mammals as endangered, as well as opposing the conversion of their ancestral lands to national parks in an effort to encourage sustainable fishing and energy production (ICC, 3-5).  Acting in unison, all of the various First Nations in the Canadian Arctic are presenting a long-term vision for economic prosperity.  On the first page of the Declaration the Nations pledge to use their increasing wealth to “[emphasize] Inuit health and well-being,” and “[recognizing this as] central to addressing a wide range of health issues.” (1)  It is everyone’s hope that as they have done for thousands of years the Inuit people will face this 21st century challenge with resilience and, ultimately, success.

References

Branswell, Helen. "Death, Suicide Rates among Inuit Kids Soar over Rest of Canada." The Globe and Mail. Crawley, Philip, 18 July 2012. Web. 09 Feb. 2016. <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/death-suicide-rates-among-inuit-kids-soar-over-rest-of-canada/article4426600/>.

Curtis, Tine, Finn B. Larsen, Karin Helweg-Larsen, and Peter Bjerregaard. "Violence, Sexual Abuse and Health in Greenland." International Journal of Circumpolar Health 61.2 (2002): n. pag. Web.

I Am Inuk, I Am Alive. Dir. Cross and et al. National Film Board of Canada, 2004. Web.

ICC. "Declaration - 2014." Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada. Inuit, 21 July 2014. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.

ICTMNC Staff. "Nunavik Women’s Hockey Team Documentary Airs on APTN." Http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/. Indian Country Media Today Network, 7 Mar. 2011. Web. 9 Feb. 2016.

Inukjuak Art Blog.  https://inukjuakart.wordpress.com/2014/04/

Sutton, Mark Q. An Introduction to Native North America. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.