Moving forward is a way of life for women

Women tend to be where they are needed. It is not necessarily in elected posts, but the leadership is visible wherever it is about preserving and sustaining culture. It might not be so visible in formal institutional areas of governance, but in the Inuit women’s workshop, leadership was assumed by my dear friend Annie. 

My thinking is that women play an integral part in governing our communities and even our society as a whole. In the case of Inuit women, it is evident that they are the repository of the past linking it to the future. As such, they carry culture. They promote health; they teach language. They pass on traditions by teaching, caregiving and child rearing. 

Those are the necessary and most fundamental ingredients required if a society is to survive.  

Rapid changes in the Inuit way of life turn the lives of some of their children upside down

Rapid changes have modified the Inuit nomadic way of life

The well-being of the Inuit, both physical and mental are a result of many factors including but not limited to the fact that rapid changes have modified the Inuit nomadic way of life over the past last 50-100 years. Two generations have passed since the Inuit in Canada were moved into permanent settlements; it is not considered a long enough time to change the ways of a people.

Inuit confront the highest cost of living with the lowest national income 

Traditionally, women were responsible for maintaining their families and social order while the traditional roles of men as hunters and providers made them derive satisfaction for being able to take care of his family. The rapid changes in their lifestyle have accentuated the erosion of traditional culture, knowledge, practices, lifestyles and roles within the family and community. Despite significant progress made in communities, Inuit continue to confront the highest cost of living with the lowest national income. 

Inuit combat the issues of alcohol and drug abuse 

While their nomadic lifestyle on the tundra represented many challenges and times of great hardship, strong bonds of kinship and greater equality between the genders, the Inuit knew they could turn to one another in times of hardship. Today’s Inuit have to combat the issues of alcohol and drug abuse and the unfortunate events that are products of that abuse, including misuse of firearms. Kinship is taking a second place as their traditional family structure is disrupted, robbing parents of their authority, replacing Inuktitut with English, and leaving young people aimlessly stranded between English and Inuit cultures.

The aim of parenting is to nurture, protect and observe 

Children are still revered by their families and communities. It is a rejoicing event as they bend their heads over the little ones and kiss their cheeks avidly. One fascinating aspect of raising children within the communities is that the Inuit are not anxious like we are. The children are in their mothers’ amauti until the end of their second year. Inherent in the process of raising children are a set of role expectations for those connected with the child. In the Inuit way, the aim of parenting is to nurture, protect and observe so as to create a path in life that is uniquely fitted to that child.  

The dislocation into modern facilities, our western models of governance, the introduction of the wage economy, the imposition of an education and health and social service delivery, has many men and women feel expropriated from their traditional roles.  

Many Inuit have had the experiences of forced attendance at Residential Schools. This forced education away from their homes has prevented those children from learning about positive parenting from their own parents and therefore many have experienced difficulty parenting their own children as adults. 

Major factors such as inadequate and overcrowded housing, high rates of unemployment and poverty, low educational attainment, food insecurity and problems such as substance abuse, the high rates of suicide have contributed to Inuit regions having the highest rates of violence in Canada. Abusive behavior takes many forms: verbal, mental, physical. The domestic violence, the inequalities between men and women, the lack of employment opportunities and training are all factors which contribute to a heightened rate of depression, trauma symptoms and self-harm of mothers and children. Should anyone live in such circumstances, the experience of a loss of control in mothering would appear difficult to do at best, and totally distressing at times.

My project aims at raising awareness of the unique circumstances and priorities of Inuit women. In the Nunavik communities, the mothers who have children have to work around the fact that they often live in a house with 10-15 people and are viewed as responsible for the safety of their children. Think about it: how do you think raising children would evolve if we were to live in such a crowded space?

In that context, there are various risks factors. The Inuit mothers meet challenges and difficulties associated with these circumstances. Inadequate living conditions as in overcrowding (12-15 people in a two-bedroom unit) fuel other social conditions. Women, and children, who are experiencing violence and abuse in their homes seldom have another place in their community to seek safety. 

Many communities across Northern Quebec do not have a safe shelter for women, and often the homes of family and friends are also overcrowded. 

A plane ticket to another community may cost thousands of dollars, which is out of reach for most women particularly in times of crisis. For Inuit women, this can mean there is literally nowhere to go to find safety, and many women have lost their lives to family violence. Some have hit skid row after coming south with nowhere to go either. When that happens, the lives of their children are turned upside down.    

Given the interconnectedness and interrelatedness of the people of the northern communities, what one experiences, all may experience. The lives of many people in the Northern communities are also adversely affected by the unemployment situation. Money issues can spark other stresses. Children are caught in a cycle of actions and reactions, based in anger or despair, drawing them in and affectively continuing the cycle into the future.

Challenging the “mother blaming” culture

I expect all my blog readers including my french readers to be as curious as I am about the Inuit and their culture. Please share this interest with as many people as you can.

The safety of the children

In the Nunavik communities, the mothers who have children have to work around the fact that they live in a house with 10-15 people and are viewed as responsible for the safety of their children. Think about it: how do you think raising children would evolve if we were to live in such a crowded space?

Various risks factors

In that context, there are various risks factors. The Inuit mothers meet challenges and difficulties associated with these circumstances. Inadequate living conditions as in overcrowding (12-15 people in a two-bedroom unit) fuel other social conditions. The domestic violence, the substantial alcohol abuse, the lack of employment opportunities and training all contribute to a heightened rate of depression, trauma symptoms and self-harm of mothers and children.

Challenging the “mother blaming” culture

I want to challenge the “mother blaming” culture. Should we live in such circumstances, we would certainly experience a loss of control in our mothering, and supporting our children would appear difficult to do at best, and totally distressing at most.

Repercussions that last a lifetime

As a psychotherapist for many years and then in the last few years as a social worker, I've seen first-hand the deep hurt and devastation that chidren feel when their attachment to their parents is compromised. When a child is removed from his home, the sensation of abandonment over time changes to discouragement, then resignation, and may times, to rage, therefore potentially perpetuating the cycle of violence.

Violence leaves traces

Children live recklessly following a pattern of self-destructiveness

Our streets are full of children who live recklessly following a pattern of self-destructiveness when parents are overwhelmed by the weight of their roles as teachers, protectors and providers. In the context of violence, it becomes almost impossible to play the parental roles in a way that makes sense for the mothers. 

Children cannot be expected to grow with outstanding values

When women experience violence, their heart is discouraged and it is most difficult to care for their children in a manner that is not self-involved. When a parent cannot walk his children through their young lives and be a visual representation of what a good person is expected to do, children cannot be expected to grow with outstanding values and they risk more heartache and desolation. 

It should not matter where you reside to live a good life when you are a child

The reasons for violence and abuse are complex but they are generally related to the effects of

poverty, high rates of unemployment, substance abuse, overcrowding and other socio-economic

factors. Addressing the issue of domestic violence and abuse is a priority for this project because not only are the women affected but even more so their children. 

The foundation of my Nunavik project

I expect all my blog readers including my french readers to be as curious as I am about the Inuit and their culture. Please share this interest with as many people as you can.

A few years ago, I travelled to Nunavik. It was an event that had a profound impact on my life.

Elders are perceived as role models

When I first met the Inuit, I was able to communicate with them almost immediately even if I did not speak Inuktitut. They came to me easily, maybe because they considered me an elder. In the Inuit culture, being an elder counts. “Elders” are considered culture-bearers. Respect is not only a matter of one’s chronological age: elders are perceived as role models who serve as advisors, philosophers and professors. I learned to respect their ways and to understand that they knew what their problems were. I met with their Justice committee and found that they were really trying to help their community. Quinuitaq is a value the Inuit have developed and it is an indicator of their resilience.

A lifetime of observations

Due to health reasons, I wasn't there as long as I thought I would be and it was a hard decision not to go back when I felt better. As I was later writing a yet unpublished book about my experience, it seemed like I packed a lifetime of observations. When I finished writing this very serious book, I decided to write a children's book. The girl in my book asks a lot of questions about what is happening to her community. For example, how come, when her little friend is abused, she has to go to court and the charge is rejected. From what Luisa understands, her friend is not smart (a psychiatric evaluation) enough to be trusted to say the truth. My book heroine cannot understand this logic provided the defense lawyer. This 12-year old has a privileged knowledge of her community, but it is mostly questions concerning her friends that bother her. What she does know is that everyone lives one on top of the other in small spaces and things do happen.

My project is around the problems she points to. Hopefully, Luisa’s generation will have taken the situation into their own hands so that their children will have another destiny. Overcrowding has an incidence on the issues of safety and protection.

My personal experience in Nunavik

I expect all my blog readers including my french readers to be as curious as I am about the Inuit and their culture. Please share this interest with as many people as you can.

Earlier on in the year, as I was speaking to a friend about my project, I was asked why I deemed it so important to do this project. My answer was that I felt that I had not accomplished what I wanted when I was there in 2009 and so, I have a task, unfinished, with and for the Inuit. At this point, I cannot predict my results but I am acting in such a way that things happen to give my project its own life.

Meeting the Inuit

When I first met the Inuit back in 2009, I was able to communicate with them almost immediately even if I did not speak Inuktitut. They came to me easily. Maybe it was because they considered me an elder. Being an elder counts in the Inuit culture. “Elders” are considered culture-bearers. Respect is not only a matter of one’s chronological age: elders are perceived as role models who serve as advisors, philosophers and professors.

It would be a lie to say I’m in charge of this project. My perception is that I will need to meet with as many Inuit elders as possible to guide me in this work. They know their people; I have less than basic knowledge of the Inuit. It would help me to participate in all kinds of activities that are organized by various Inuit organizations and community groups. I need to participate in forums and happenings that concern them. I would like to learn the language to understand their way of thinking better. Although I am very lucky to have an Inuit friend, my project is for them that need it.

The Inuit mothers’ competences

Let me tell you what I know about them.  You will need to read this very interesting report to make your own mind concerning them.

The Inuit history promotes pride in the Inuit identity

The Inuit history promotes pride in the Inuit identity and that is good. The Inuit are part of their land: they know how to use the resources of their land. Solidarity is an Inuit value. They have a community freezer in each community and are quite generous with their community and family members.  The meat left in the freezer by the hunters and the fishermen is free and easily accessible for anyone needing it.

The relationship between the generations is evident amongst women

Belonging is important to the Inuit. So the young women learn from their elders how to sew, how to make traditional clothing, and while the work is being done, they discuss. The relationship between the generations is evident amongst women.

Collaboration is habitual

When I visited and participated with the women at the women’s workshop, I noticed a high degree of collaboration among them as they went about scraping the skins, preparing a pattern for kamik and pualuk. Some women were natural leaders and the others rallied as a cohesive group to work on such projects such as sewing or knitting hats with a special pattern.

They have competences that can be used by each community to ensure that the community is alive and well. From my point of view, they simply are not invited to develop skills to help their children to become stronger people. I know there are efforts in that sense, but there are many obstacles.

The attachment factor

In fact, Inuit mothers do a lot of things right. Starting with their coats, called amauti . The amauti, also amaut or amautik, plural amautiit is the parka worn by Inuit women of the eastern Canadian arctic. Up until about two years of age, the child nestles against the mother's back in the amaut, the built-in baby pouch just below the hood. The pouch is large and comfortable for the baby ((Wikipedia). I have seen 3 year-old tots being carried still. The mothers habitually show a lot of caring for their children.

Terms of  Endearment

Because time does not mean the same thing for the Inuit as in my culture, there is time for the children, time to watch them play cards, time to nap with them, time to sing, time to let them be who they are. They illustrate quinuituq.

Children are shown by example

Responding to a human need for emotional and physical comfort from others, they often huddle together to share a cigarette or a meal. One can sense that they are comfortable with one another.

Children are shown by example. They eventually imitate their parents. It was with wonder that I would observe the children on Sundays in church services. They wormed their way over and under the seats while parents watched on serenely.  Inuit children learn by example.

Those are the strengths I was able to observe while I spent time in different communities. Surely it is surely the basis of any community-based project.

Resourcefulness is a kind of thinking

Their ability to be resourceful, to seek solutions and use resources creatively demonstrates adaptability and flexibility in response to their rapidly changing world. Their skilled perseverance contributes to a collective level of wisdom which is nurtured from infancy.

Quinuituq means deep patience

I expect all my blog readers including my french readers to be as curious as I am about the Inuit and their culture. Please share this interest with as many people as you can.

My plan for the near future is to share myself in conferences about the Inuit culture. I also want to hold pictures shows to give people a fair idea of where and what the Inuit go through and do readings of Inuit legends in parks and events along my 8000 kilometers walk.

This blog “quinuituq.org” is an Inuit address meaning “deep patience”. From my own viewpoint, deep patience means to envision something that is meant to happen as a long-term project, such as when one plans a trip around the world. It is something that will happen in time.

Closer to me are all the thoughts that have gone through this coming project. I came back down from the North in late 2010 and I have been planning this project since, but because I wasn't sure of the form the project would take, there was a need to think it through. Deep patience was a necessary asset in this case.

This project for which I have had to develop deep patience concerns the welfare of the Inuit mothers and their children. There are many things about the Inuit situation I would like you to know a lot more of.

Many factors contribute to the social problems of the north: the housing situation, the employment picture, the birth rate. The statistics are enlightening: 65.9% of the population is under 30; the cost of household items is 97% higher than anywhere else in Quebec; housing overcrowding has reached an alarming rate of 68%. What and how would we live if we had to contend with 11 to 15 other persons living with us in a two-bedroom apartment?

Therefore, I will refer you to articles written by journalists about those situations. This 269 page report is particularly enlightening.  Since it concerns the people of the north, my project has to be of use to the Inuit.