Collaborative strategy for food security in Nunavik

Mark O’Connor, Resource Management Coordinator, Makivik Corporation

Léa Laflamme, Food Security Officer, Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services

Inuit residents in Nunavik, northern Quebec, are facing various challenges due to climate change. For example, warm weather allows more black bears to migrate to the region and upset local ecosystems by eating food sources like caribou, and damaging Inuit hunting equipment and cabins. It is also difficult for Inuit to access country food due to shrub growth and melting permafrost on traditional hunting trails. As well, warm waters will likely reduce spawning among Arctic char, forcing Inuit to fish for more Atlantic salmon instead.

With the support of CIHR funding, Mark O’Connor and Léa Laflamme are organizing collaborative research discussions with Inuit residents in Nunavik that will lead to a better understanding of the impact of climate change on food security and health in that region. As a first step, representatives from the Makivik Corporation, the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services, the Kativik regional government, and the Nunavik Hunting Fishing Trapping Association will organize a meeting between Inuit from Nunavik’s 14 communities and university researchers. Once Inuit residents have expressed their concerns regarding the effects of climate change, Mark O’Connor and Léa Laflamme will continue to develop a comprehensive and practical strategy with the researchers that addresses key priorities.

“Having a dialogue between researchers and Inuit residents in Nunavik will lead to a collaborative strategy for food security that has both a scientific and community lens,” said Mr. O’Connor. “The conversations with Inuit in that region will continue afterwards using various communication tools, such as social media and FM radio, so that adaptations to climate change can be realized.”

Date modified:

2019-06-11