Hunger in the midst of plenty in Kuujjuaq

A new study shows two of every three Inuit in Kuujjuaq are in danger of going hungry, and that children and women are at the greatest risk.

“I lived there for several years, and we could see that there are people living in misery there, more than I saw in other communities,” said researcher Marcelle Chabot, who conducted the study for the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services.

Two years ago, Chabot set out to see who is most at risk of going hungry in Kuujjuaq, how they cope, and what could be done to help.

Her 125-page report, As long as I am not hungry: Socio-Economic Status and Food Security of Low-Income Households in Kuujjuaq, Chabot systematically examines “food security” in Kuujjuaq, that is, what it takes to eat and eat well in that community.

She found that 68 per cent of the population were at risk of not getting enough food, a figure that rises to 74 per cent for children and 71 per cent for women.

Although food and jobs may seem easy to come by, Chabot says many people still face hard times in Nunavik’s prosperous administrative centre, because they don’t earn enough, have no control over household’s finances, or simply have too many mouths to feed.

And while you don’t have to be a researcher to see that many Kuujjuammiut are broke, borrowing money, and even going hungry before the monthly government cheques arrive or it’s pay day at regional organizations, it helps to have facts and figures to document what’s going on — and then see what can be done.

Her findings include the following:

* Only a small percentage of Kuujjuammiut are free of worry about what and how they’ll eat because 55 per cent of households live in poverty;
* Poverty is the biggest risk factor for not having enough to eat and reaches “severe levels” in lower-income households;
* Debt and substance abuse put low-income families at even greater risk because drugs, alcohol and gambling sucks resources out of households and hurts the well-being of women and children;
* Poor households spend less on groceries and often resort to food-rationing food and other strategies in order to find or stretch food supplies;
* Low- and and even middle-income households see at least one episode during a year when they don’t have enough to eat.

To stave off hunger, needy Kuujjuammiut may borrow money or food, stop paying their rent, use food from community freezers or food-banks, eat at their friends’ houses, make crafts for sale, go fishing, or ration food.

This lack of food is also a public health issue, since Nunavimmiut suffer from a lower life expectancy than other Canadians, high infant mortality, and anemia.

Chabot’s research found that it takes two well-paying jobs to maintain an “acceptable standard of living.” But households with lower incomes are usually headed by single-parents — making a bad situation worse.

In Kuujjuaq, there’s a large rate of personal debt, high levels of rent arrears and bad debts in stores, and very few people who save their money in the bank.

“An extremely high number of households are struggling to make ends meet,” the report concludes. “In our view, an Inuit family of four receiving employment assistance would be unable to excape poverty.”

Poor people also have less access to nutritious country foods because they don’t have the money to buy hunting equipment.

The harvest of country food around Kuujjuaq amounts to about 242 kg per person – only about 15 per cent of what people need – so Kuujjuamiut are mostly dependent on store-bought food.

The report’s 16 recommendations include:

* higher transfer payments and establishing a guaranteed annual income;
* increasing employment assistance;
* a higher minimum wage and pay equity for men and women;
* recognition of the essential role of hunters, and a stronger hunter-support program;
* More access to public housing, and affordable housing;
* The promotion of good nutrition and country food;
* Community programs to provide goods and material assistance.

Chabot has also looked at smaller communities in Nunavik where there is more redistribution of income between those with money and without it.

“But in a growing place like Kuujjuaq this doesn’t work as well,” Chabot said. “The obligation between people is less strong. Those who have money buy more, they’re more in debt, and they have less to give. The people they know aren’t there, so they give less because they don’t have their relatives near them. In Kuujjuaq, the poorer people are also poorer because they have less support.”

For more an electronic copy of Chabot’s study, contact her at marcelle_chabot@hotmail.com