FOOD INSECURITY IN THE CANADIAN ARCTIC

According to a study conducted by McGill University and the government of Nunavut, recently published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, 70% of Inuit preschool-age children in that Territory regularly don’t get enough to eat because their families can’t afford to buy food. In some cases children miss meals or don’t eat for an entire day – with many adults trying to stretch food supplies by foregoing meals themselves.

That Arctic families must cope with insufficient quantities of affordable, nutritious food is not surprising. As successive generations become more obsessed with the worst elements of our southern diet, traditional and beneficial food sources – and the methods of acquiring that sustenance - are being abandoned in favour of nourishment from a box and beverages in a can.

Groceries in our far north can cost triple what folks in Canada’s lower latitudes are used to, necessitating cruel choices for a financially-struggling population. Consequently, expensive high-nutrient foods are often passed over for less-expensive, low-nutrient but filling substitutes. Such food choices have expected results – of the children studied, nearly 40% are overweight with another 30% even worse off.

The study was undertaken by McGill professor Grace Egeland, who led a medical contingent to the Arctic during 2007. Working from onboard Canadian Coast Guard Ship Amundsen, Egeland’s group interviewed families and examined children in 16 Nunavut communities to uncover signs of diseases, toxins, physical development, and to learn about struggles with addictions, suicide and other conditions impacting daily Inuit life.

Almost more troubling than Arctic kids going hungry is that it is so pervasive it has its own clinical term - food insecurity - defined as a shortage of food that is safe, nutritious and meets the requirements for a healthy and active life.

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If not now - when? If not us - who?

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