Breast cancer is high among non-Inuit women

This is not about any specific clinics currently in the news.

Mr. Picco’s comments in the Legislative Assembly that there is very low incidence of breast cancer in Inuit women shows a total lack of awareness and respect for non-Inuit women in Nunavut who have a very high incidence of breast cancer in their family background.

This is a public government, so he cannot be allowed to get away with only addressing one part of the population. It also presupposes that the Inuit women in Nunavut who have breast cancer are too few to be concerned about. This in itself is very frightening. Even a small group of Inuit women is way is too many, and their situation, whoever they are, is not helped by comments like this.

We, the general public, are constantly told of the need to be vigilant to protect ourselves and to get regular mammograms, yet there is no way to do so unless you are rich, able to pay your way to the South or are lucky enough to have a travelling job that allows you to stop somewhere in southern Canada to have one done. If you can have any of these lucky things going for you, then the government of Nunavut’s Department of Health will cover the actual cost of the screening itself only.

So, we do have a two-tiered health service already — if you can afford all the expense of travel, meals and accommodation elsewhere, or your employer can, then you can have your breast-screening paid for. If not, too bad for you. This is economic discrimination at it worst. It is completely unethical and should no longer be tolerated.

In Nunavut, we have seen even our banks organize “Run For The Cure” events to raise funds and awareness about breast cancer, yet our own GN has a curious attitude and policies that work directly against people accessing much-needed regular screening tools like mammograms.

I am outraged, as I know of several GN employees who, in the past, have had to leave Nunavut to access services and give up their jobs or suffer silently in them. So even as an employer, the GN lacks workplace wellness sensitivity.

What will it take to push through this veil of ignorance that surrounds this issue?

It appears that only if women in Nunavut already have pronounced lumps and bumps will GN agree that they should go somewhere and fund the whole trip and test — that is not prevention and early intervention — that is a policy that is too little too late.

Wake up Health and Social Services, our needs are no different than women everywhere. For far too long you have been able to hide behind these weak assertions that the incidence is too low to worry about.

Be worried. We women are and we vote.

(Name withheld by request)
Iqaluit