Is Canada’s North a Third World Country?

Today my child came to me and said her best friend’s family could not afford to pay their phone bill, they lost their land line. My child’s friend is an Aboriginal teenager.  Our area is just recovering from a hurricane.  Many of us lost freezers full of food had major repairs to deal with, that just where not planned for.  Our local food banks put out a call for food to feed children that required no refrigeration.  So paying the telephone bill rates low on the needs scale.  It is a mind boggling concept.  I live in a G7 country, how is this possible.

When we look at what is occurring in the north the problems easily quadruple.  The Inuit people use to follow the food and migrate with the herds they hunted and all that has changed.  They have been moved into towns and houses, their way of life completely changed.  These communities may consist of three thousand people; eighty percent are under the age of 19, and 1 in 10 of them will commit suicide.  If they move away from “home” to other major cities all the structures put in place to protect their mental health are unavailable.  They often end up in major trouble such as drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness, etc. in the outside world they face discrimination, exploitation, and they do not have the skills to manage life in our major centers.  The United Nations states Canad's North has a suicide rate that is one of the highest rates in the world.  The homes in the Inuit communities are in need of at least one major repair, many live in a dire state of poverty, and their water supply may be compromised / contaminated.  Modernization has done the Inuit people no favors.  The cost of keeping up to the outside world is out of reach to most.  Everything has to be flown and even staples put a dent in their budget.  Provincial and federal governments have gone to considerable effort of late to increase structures to tackle mental health issues, isolation, education and health, but it is a daunting problem, with no easy answers.

Organizations are working hard to educate, tackle health issues and improve the lives of women in these regions.  Just last week I had a talk with a new family in our church, they adopted two Inuit children while they were living and working in the north.  I asked if the mother had fostered the children, and she said no, they had them since they were babies.  The babies came from poor families that could not manage any more children.  Their natural parents already had nine children and could not manage more.  The idea that “Canadian” families do not have the knowledge about family planning and pregnancy prevention is mind blowing.  The pain of giving up children for adoption is unimaginable.  Women continue to suffer from abuse, deal with sexually transmitted diseases, and the devastating effects of sex trafficking.  Violent crimes against women are still under investigation, crimes of abuse and missing women.

We as Canadians took resources from these people.  How did we let this happen?  Inuit art is common in the market place, are we trading fairly? Or are we still exploiting and discriminating against these people. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fniah-spnia/promotion/suicide/index-eng.php