Professor Smith leads a discussion on the Inuit
TRADITION, CULTURE, & MEDICAL CARE IN THE ARCTIC REGION
Henry I. Smith, PhD, Professor Emeritus from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, lead a fascinating discussion on the health, culture, and survival of the Inuit people of the Nunavik region of northern Quebec.
Dr. Smith heads to the arctic biannually to lend his hand to one of the bi-products of modernization: tourism. The Leaf River Estuary in Tasiujag is the best fishing for Atlantic salmon and Arctic char in the world. The tundra is also home to caribou, polar bears, black bears, musk ox, foxes, wolves, seals, whales, and willow ptarmigan, which turn white in the winter. All have adapted to the harsh, wintry conditions, as have the Inuit people. While igloos are still utilized when accommodations are sparse, the houses in the Inuit villages are set on stilts due to the permafrost, and the Inuit people continue to hunt and trap for food and furs. In addition, raw Beluga Whale blubber is considered a delicacy, and children learn to fillet and prepare fish at a young age.
Despite the harsh conditions, cultural mores dictate what has been done for centuries. Women do most of the fishing, while the men hunt. The use of meat lockers illustrates the close bond of the communities, where a hunter will take what meat he needs for his family and leave the rest in a communal meat locker for the rest of the community to use. Although dogs are permitted to be eaten on occasion and their fur used for clothing and textiles, wolves are only hunted for their furs and not eaten. Many different types of furs are utilized for outdoor clothing, however, arctic fox fur, which is white, is dyed a darker color because white is considered a feminine color.
Probably the main challenge for the Inuit people in Nunavik is the sometimes harsh, cold, unforgiving climate. In the winter, blizzards can last for days, making transportation very difficult if not impossible. Because of this, Ski-Doos are one of the main forms of transport, with air travel being the other obvious choice. The village of Kuujjuaq is the largest village in the northern Ungava Bay region, with a population of less than 3,000 people. It has a small airport and central hospital with an attached residency, called a transit house, for people traveling from smaller villages. The hospital is equipped with modern medicine, and technology, however, patients are air-lifted to Montreal if necessary. For example, if there is any risk of complications for women giving birth, they are transported to Montreal at great expense.
Preserving tradition and culture can be difficult. The James Bay and Norther Quebec Agreement has helped to solidify Inuit and greater Montreal relations. The Nunavik region elects its local government and has land, hunting, and certain self-governing rights that make them, for the most part, self-sufficient. New technologies such as Facebook has made communication and connecting easier despite which way the wind or snow is blowing. However, dwindling caribou populations, new migratory birds, and new patterns in tree growth suggest more than just technological changes are taking place.
Learn more about the Nunavik region.