Whether on the land, on stage, or in the hospital, Inuit well-being is always central at the Nunavut NEIHR

"Inuit are the experts in Arctic science and research," says Gwen Healey Akearok when asked about the knowledge—Inuit science—that has existed in the North for thousands of years and is shared and taught by Elders today.

"We need the land and antibiotics, seal meat and X-rays," says Healey, the Scientific Director of the Qaujigiartiit Health Research Centre, which conducts health research by, for, and with Inuit in Nunavut.

The Nunavut Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research (NEIHR) Centre takes a systems approach to Inuit health. Rather than focusing exclusively on the hospital, healthcare is viewed holistically, and takes place on the land, on the stage, and in the counsellor's office.

From arts-based programs about relationships and sex ed to an Inuit-specific counselling program to harvesting seals on the ice, the Nunavut NEIHR Centre takes a systems approach to the elements that contribute to Inuit well-being.

The model for health and wellbeing at the Nunavut NEIHR is holistic and inclusive. For example, they engage in partnerships with a young hunter's program alongside organizations leading Inuit counselling programs and performing arts.

The Nunavut NEIHR engages four centres in Nunavut, including the counselling program, a climate-change and contaminants research program, and a theatre in Iqaluit, that are actively engaged in research and is housed at the Qaujigiartiit Health Research Centre (QHRC) in Iqaluit. The Nunavut NEIHR is led by Ceporah Mearns.

The Nunavut NEIHR has, for the past five years, been exploring the impact of the arts on mental health of both established and emerging artists, wellbeing outcomes of land-based interventions, and Inuit pedagogical approaches to teaching, which are based on Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, "an all-encompassing term that refers to Inuit knowledge and practices across time," according to a recent article published by Healey Akearok and Mearns.

"There's this whole system that Inuit have developed over millennia that can be elevated to make our communities healthier, because it had been suppressed," says Dr. Healey Akearok. "There's such a brilliant understanding of the world for Inuit that explains all the dimensions of One Health, public health, and how you care for people."

"Our evaluations have provided evidence to show how land-based programs can be seen as a mental health intervention that is equal to or of greater value than the fly-in/fly-out mental health services that are currently provided."

In short, it's about 'bending the system' and adapting the existing model, originally developed in the 1960s, to embrace pathways to health from the Inuit worldview.

"Being on the land is medicine," adds Dr. Healey Akearok. "Now we have to translate that knowledge for the traditional Western-framed healthcare system."

Inuit science—not just nursing stations, fly-in doctors, or X-rays and antibiotics, but the complex relationship between body, mind, soul, and land—is the foundation of the approach taken through the Nunavut NEIHR.

"We are applying generational knowledge, that still exists, and that knowledge is allowing systems to adapt to our ways. We are working with the Elders to gain deeper understanding of our health," says Ceporah Mearns. "There are values of community care that are taught to us before we're even born."

"At the policy level, at the clinical level, from patient to healthcare provider, we are applying Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, Inuit knowledge and values that are part of our worldview."

At a glance

Issue

The healthcare system in Canada's North is outdated, often cannot meet the needs of Inuit living in remote areas, and does not adequately consider Inuit knowledge and health practices.

Research

Inuit are increasingly leading research by, for, and about Inuit in the far North. The Nunavut Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research (NEIHR), composed of four centres, is leading self-determination in health research, using western and Inuit science to better meet the physical, mental, and spiritual health needs of Inuit in the North.

Distinctions-based healthcare

For more information on distinctions-based approaches, see: What We Heard: Visions for Distinctions-based Indigenous Health Legislation. (2022). Government of Canada. Executive Summary available at: Visions for Distinctions-based Indigenous Health Legislation: Executive summary