Nunavut’s expectant mothers face added fears over COVID

Travelling out of territory ups risk of exposure

, Nunav ut • In October, Collette Nilaulak gave birth, alone, to her third child in a hospital room about 1,200 kilometres from her home in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut.

Pandemic restrictions meant one person could be with her at Winnipeg’s Saint Boniface Hospital.

But Nilaulak’s partner, who had flown south with her, had to remain at a hotel to watch their two- year- old daughter.

“It was very hard on me. Going through labour alone is hard,” Nilaulak said.

She spent another two days alone in hospital after giving birth before isolating in a hotel for two weeks to fulfil a Nunavut government requirement for anyone returning to the North after travelling south.

In all, Nilaulak, 25, spent over a month in Winnipeg.

“I was away from my oldest for a month and five days. I had no family there. I didn’t know anyone.”

At the time, COVID- 19 cases were climbing in Manitoba, while Nunavut hadn’t been hit by the novel coronavirus yet.

“I was so worried about getting COVID. Worried for me and my unborn child.”

For expectant Nunavut mothers, travelling south to give birth is routine.

The capital of Iqaluit is the only one of Nunavut’s 25 communities that can medically support childbirth. Although Rankin Inlet has a birthing centre, its services were suspended in August after the longtime midwives quit.

Adigii Nukapiak, who also lives in Rankin, said she was told just three days before she was set to fly to Iqaluit to give birth that she was being sent to Winnipeg instead. Health staff told the 20-yearold the Iqaluit hospital had run out of room.

“I was so scared,” she said. The recent case of a Nunavut woman who flew to Winnipeg to deliver her fifth child and died of COVID-19 points to the risks in relying on interprovincial travel for health care, especially during a pandemic.

Silatik Qavvik, 35, died on Jan. 2.

Rebecca Kudloo, president of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, said Qavvik’s death “highlights the urgent need for midwifery services” in every community.

“Every Inuk woman should have access to safe and compassionate pregnancy, birth and postpartum care, and they should not have to leave their homes and circle of support to receive it,” Kudloo said.

Nunavut’s Health Department did not respond to interview requests.

With one hospital and no intensive care unit, many of Nunavut’s 39,000 residents have no choice but to travel south for health care. In its 2019- 2020 budget, the territory estimated it would spend $90 million on medical travel that year.