The first panel of the ArcticNet scientific conference in on Dec. 5 was a general examination of what now constitutes “a healthy Arctic” in this world of changing climates and fraying ecosystems.
Specifically, “food and water insecurities have emerged as a topic of significant concern,” according to the ArcticNet website panel description. Traditionally, Indigenous communities living in the Arctic have relied on subsistence hunting for food, however, access to traditional and country food sources is now under threat.
A dominant theme that emerged in this conference is the innate understanding Inuit peoples have always had when it comes to their relationship with the Arctic landscape. The Inuit word qaujimajatuqangit refers to the local or traditional knowledge that has always been practised in the Arctic by the Indigenous population. It has sometimes been at odds with “Western” science, but conferences such as ArcticNet exist to bring all members of the scientific community together to engage with each other and share knowledge and resources.
The intention is that all scientists — Inuit and non-Indigenous, Northerners and southerners — might band together with this “impact of different perspectives” to overcome the obstacles everyone is facing from climate change, as well as the sharing of oral traditions passed through the generations.
According to the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB), “There is an increasing expectation that government regulatory agencies integrate local or traditional knowledge with ‘scientific’ knowledge in a number of resource areas. This is partly due to recognition that such knowledge can contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, rare species, protected areas, ecological processes and to sustainable resource use in general. The incorporation of traditional knowledge into regulatory frameworks may also reflect a widespread concern regarding the social and economic sustainability of natural resource-based livelihoods throughout the world.”
The connection to the animals is part of us,” said Dorothy Beale, a masters student at University of Victoria studying social dimensions of health. “The health and well-being of Inuit is tightly linked to the health of animals. [Examining] marine mammals is a good sentinel for health of both the environment and humans. This is central to good nutrition and food sovereignty of Indigenous communities.”
Discussing “country foods,” Beale explains how traditional foods from hunting are not only healthier for consumption, but good for the soul. The innate iron, intake of healthy fats, in addition to a lower level of sodium and saturated fats is physically good for the body.
One study examined the gendered dimension of food sovereignty and climate change, incorporating the passing on of knowledge and quality of community that exists among women during food preparation. Inuit women hold important and specific knowledge about the diverse ways to enjoy Arctic food.
Quoting a female Elder, Beale said, “a lot of people can eat from one walrus. If you eat a lot of store-bought food, you’re constantly hungry.” In addition, eating traditional foods “brings you back home, and the whole body, mind and soul is healed.”
Long before non-Indigenous settlers came to the Arctic, the Inuit were aware of the importance of vitamin C in the diet to prevent scurvy, and that it could be ingested from beluga, which has high levels of the vitamin as well as other natural antioxidants.
However, since the 1970s, there have been enormous changes per capita to Indigenous wildlife intake through diet, as indicated by the ArcticNet panel.
In the 1970s, a single person might ingest 282 kilograms of natural foods procured from the Arctic landscape per year, according to Tristan Pearce, associate professor in the Department of geography, earth, and environmental sciences at the University of Northern British Columbia. By the 2000s, this had dropped to a mere 41 kilograms. This is just one of many statistics and facts that illustrate the drastic changes taking place in Canada’s North and Nunavut.