All is not right in the Arctic

As Nunavut’s high suicide rate shows, historical traumas continue to have an impact, Larry Audlaluk and John Amagoalik say.

Aboriginal issues, and especially Arctic and Inuit issues, did not get much attention in the long federal election campaign. Few voters live here, but several issues in Nunavut — one fifth of Canada — are of national importance.

All is not right in the Arctic. If Nunavut is to flourish, it is urgent that the government of Canada work closely with us to solve deep seated, long-standing and debilitating social and economic issues that are holding us back, and potentially weakening Canada’s ability to assert Arctic sovereignty.

In the 1950s through to the 1970s, massive change was imposed upon Inuit by the government of Canada. Many of us were relocated to fixed communities and some were taken thousands of kilometres and dumped astride the Northwest Passage, ironically, and in part to assert Canada’s Arctic sovereignty. Our dogs were slaughtered by the RCMP and other officials, destroying our ability to maintain our way of life while bureaucrats took control of our communities. Before the bureaucrats, life was calm; we were independent and self-reliant. After the bureaucrats, life was a storm; everything changed and we became dependent and demoralized.

Historical trauma lives with us still. We experience and live it every day in appallingly high rates of suicide, and in drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, low rates of high school completion and loss of Inuktitut language and culture. We struggle to convey the reality and meaning of suicide to you who live in the south. Think of the gut wrenching scene of Alan Kurdi face down, dead, on a Turkish beach. Canadians were appalled and compelled the prime minister to respond.

Well, what if we told you that last year 27 people killed themselves in Nunavut and that youngest was 11. In 2013, it was 45! Before 1950, suicide among Inuit was almost unheard of. Now it is common. In the midst of the election campaign Nunavut’s coroner recommended that suicide be declared a public health emergency. This created not even a ripple in the southern media.

What can be done? There are no immediate and easy answers, but the link between what is happening in our communities now and the historic trauma of the past must be severed. This does not mean that we should forget the past. Actually, the opposite is required. We must examine and understand what happened to us, why it happened and how we continue to be affected. In 2007 the Qikiqtani Inuit Association established a truth commission to document the impacts of government decisions on Inuit since 1950 and to develop an accurate history of our region.

Drawing from the testimony of more than 350 witnesses and extensive archival material, the commission’ s report—Achieving Saimaqatigi-ingniq (saimaqatigiingniq means reconciliation and forgiveness) — was released in 2013. The commission’s 25 recommendations aim to heal historical injustice and repair the relationship between Inuit and government, and Canadians generally.

We have to do this if we are to design and walk the path of reconciliation that leads to a healthy and productive future. This is the Arctic challenge. If we meet it, we can take full advantage of the 1993 Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and the establishment in 1999 of the government of Nunavut.

Then we can give a lead to other countries struggling with aboriginal issues. If we fail, Canada’s future in the Arctic is bleak.

This does not mean that we should forget the past. Actually, the opposite is required.