Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

The harvest, sharing, and consumption of country foods (i.e., foods harvested from the lands and oceans) are very important for the health, culture, and economy of Inuit. However, food insecurity (lack of access to sufficient culturally appropriate and nutritious foods to meet one's needs) is a severe concern across Inuit Nunangat (Inuit homelands) in the Canadian Arctic. Due to the confluence of colonial, socioeconomic, and environmental factors, country food consumption has declined and food insecurity is rising across Inuit Nunangat. Climate change poses an additional threat to country food access and food security, as warming and less predictable weather patterns will have consequences on Arctic species (e.g., whales, seals, walrus, fish, and birds) critical to the contemporary Inuit diet. Our research team has been working in Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut since the 1990s to evaluate dietary changes, nutrition, and Arctic ecology under environmental change. Activities included in this proposal build on the most recent research project, titled "Co-developing innovative approaches with Indigenous partners to foster coastal resilience, food security, and sustainable marine harvests" (hereafter FSMH), to share and mobilize research results with three primary objectives: (1) Develop and share research findings from the FSMH project; (2) Co-develop and co-facilitate an on-the-land knowledge sharing camp; and (3) Organize and facilitate a workshop with community leaders in Qikiqtarjuaq to mobilize research findings into strategic planning, policies, and programs that promote sustainable marine harvests, food security, and economic development