Project News
Inuit health in a changing climate: Presentation to CIHR Dinner in Iqaluit, NU
This presentation was given to guests at a dinner hosted by the CIHR and IAPH in Iqaluit, May 11, 2010.
Read the original article by CTV’s Geoff Nixon here.
James Ford has spent eight years researching the effects of climate change on the lifestyles of Inuit people living in the Far North.
He’s seen evidence that local temperatures are rising and there’s a lot less sea ice floating around, for a much shorter time period each year. Along the Northern Foxe Basin, for example, the ice is taking as much as four weeks as long to freeze than it did 40 years ago, said Ford.
That means it is harder for Inuit people to hunt, fish, and eke out a livable existence, according to their traditional ways.
“Hunting is not just a hobby to Inuit, it’s a way of life,” the McGill University professor explained in a recent telephone interview from his Montreal office.
In places like Igloolik, Nunavut, where a week’s worth of groceries typically cost more than $550 for a small family, there simply aren’t a lot of other options.