Diane McClymont Peace, Environmental Health Research Division, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Health Canada. Presentation at the HOUSING REALITIES FOR INUIT 2012 WORKSHOP organized by Inuit Tuttarvingat of NAHO, February 16, 2012.

1. Climate Change and Health Adaptation
Program for Northern First Nations and
Inuit Communities
Housing Realities for Inuit 2012 Workshop
February 16, 2012
Diane McClymont Peace
Environmental Health Research Division
First Nations and Inuit Health Branch

2. Outline
 Background on Health Canada’s Climate Change
Program for Northern Communities
 Climate Change in Canada’s Arctic
 Climate Change and Housing
 Contacts
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3. Background
 This program aims to build capacity in Canada’s north by funding
northern First Nations and Inuit communities to:
 conduct research on the impacts of climate change on human health,
and
 develop tools and methods to adapt to these changes.
 Communities determine the areas of study that are their priorities,
not those of outside researchers.
 The communities are encouraged to work with associations,
academics, and governments for assistance and expertise.
 These tools/materials are for decision-making for communities but
can be applicable regionally, nationally and internationally.
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4. Proposals for Funding
Proposals are to include the following elements:
 community-based/centred research, which can include one or a
combination of the following:
• identification of health risks including those affecting
vulnerable peoples,
• analysis of the risks to health,
• health risk assessment, exposure and/or modeling data
collection,
 development of adaptation approaches to climate change
impacts,
 plan for communicating results back to the affected community/
communities, and
 incorporation of local/traditional knowledge.
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5. Workshops
 Capacity-building workshops were held to explain the
program and provide training on proposal preparation.
Training included:
 exploring environmental changes,
 determining those related to climate change,
 determining their effect on health, and
 designing research proposals and budgets.
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6. Workshops
 A Pan-Arctic Results workshop was held February 8-10, 2011 to
bring northern communities, who received funding under the
program to showcase their research and results.
 Over 150 attendees, mostly northerners but also government and
non-government representatives, scientists, policy-makers, MPs
and Aboriginal leaders actively participated in the workshop.
 Their participation was a testament to the importance that
communities held for their own research and for sharing
information with others in the hopes of creating further awareness
and policy change.
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7. Guides
Funding application guides and brochures have been
developed and distributed.
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8. 36 Funded Communities - 2008-2011
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
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9. Climate Change in the Arctic
 The Arctic is now experiencing some of the most rapid
and severe climate change on Earth.
 These are contributing to major physical, ecological,
social, and economic changes.
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10. Reduction in Sea Ice
September 2007
x
1979
September 2011
2003
2010
The Fall Arctic ice cap is about 50 percent of its size in the 1950s.
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11. Reduction in Sea Ice
Gaping new cracks in the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, the
x largest ice shelf left in the Arctic, in April 2008.
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12. Loss of Permafrost
A global mean
temperature increase of
2o will hugely impact the
permafrost zone
Although the global average is 0.7o , the average for
Canada’s north has been 2.3o
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13. Erosion
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14. Unpredictable Weather
x
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15. Climate Change and Housing - Permafrost
 Thawing permafrost especially in more susceptible
areas (gullies, shorelines) is shifting houses, especially
those that were build in sensitive areas or do not have
free space between ground and floor.
 Thawing and freezing permafrost is destroying roads
and other infrastructure used for transporting water and
waste in communities, making delivery of these
essential items more precarious.
 Melting ice is making ice roads unreliable and of
shorter duration, which impacts delivery of building
materials where there are ice roads.
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16. Climate Change and Housing - Erosion
 With less sea ice protecting shorelines, and more
frequent and higher winds, shorelines and housing is
being destroyed.
 Along rivers, roads are more frequently washed out
or closed (Clyde River, Pangnirtung bridges)
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17. Climate Change and Housing – Sea-level Rise
 Most Inuit communities are coastal.
 Melting sea ice, melting glaciers, warming oceans, ice-
free coasts, and storm surges are causing and will
continue to cause or destroy houses and infrastructure;
 Some areas will rebound where there is existing ice;
 Canada may see damage such
as that recorded in Alaska.
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18. Climate Change and Housing – Traditional Activities
 Because people are less comfortable going out on the
land or on the ice, they are spending longer periods of
time in crowded houses.
 This trend can increase the transmission of infections,
increase exposure to indoor contaminants, and decrease
physical activity, especially in the winter and shoulder
seasons when people tend to be outside for shorter
periods of time.
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19. Climate Change and Housing - Weather
The following weather factors are affecting housing:
 More violent storms, high winds, dust in summer;
 More extreme temperatures and fluctuations, e.g.,
more freezing rain;
 Warmer summers when houses have been designed
to keep the heat in (Iqaluit in 2009);
 More frequent and more intense forest fires where
there are trees; tundra fires - lightening, methane;
 Unpredictable weather in turn increases the risk of
depression, social stress and interpersonal conflict.
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20. Climate Change and Housing - Illnesses
 Warmer and more humid air is making drying fish less safe, and
thawing of underground food caches is also resulting in food
spoilage. These can increase the incidence of food poisoning
and transmission to other household members in crowded
housing.
 In humid coastal areas, especially Nunatsiavut, there in
increased incidence of mould, which can increase when houses
shift or crack.
 Most houses do not have screens. These would allow more fresh
air in during the summer and keep biting and stinging insects out.
Many are moving north.
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21. The Way Forward
 The Climate Change and Health Adaptation Program is
bringing elders together with youth so they can learn about
and experience the elders’ expertise and culture that have
allowed them to survive for countless generations and to
adapt to a rapidly changing world and environment.
 The physical environment is inseparable from that of their
culture.
 This bringing together of generations is assisting the youth
in regaining problem-solving and self sufficiency skills.
 A focus on strengths, opportunities, potentials, and current
capacities creates for a more positive approach than
focusing on vulnerability, weaknesses, and
shortcomings.
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22. Discussion and Contacts
Diane McClymont Peace
Manager, Climate Change and Health Adaptation
Phone: 613-946-9663
diane.mcclymont-peace@hc-sc.gc.ca
Erin Myers
Environmental Research Officer
Climate Change and Health Adaptation
Phone: 613-957-2490
erin.myers@hc-sc.gc.ca
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