QIA launches social policy department

After putting five separate departments together into one new one, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association says it’s now better able to speak with a strong Inuit voice on a long list of social, economic and cultural issues.

Called “QIA Parnaiyiit Inuusilirinirmut,” or “Department of Social Policy,” the new group combines the efforts of those QIA employees who are responsible for women, youth, elders, health, culture and policy development.

A QIA news release describes the new group as “an integrated team of activists within QIA who are committed to protecting and promoting Inuit rights and values in relation to a wide variety of social and cultural issues.”

John MacDougall, QIA’s policy analyst, becomes director of social policy within the organization, and head of the new team.

He said the organization recognizes that QIA’s role in the region is to do more than just the narrow, legalistic job of implementing the Nunavut land claims agreement – it’s also to act as a lobby group for Inuit.

“We do recognize that we have a larger mandate than just the land claims agreement, and I don’t mean to trivialize the land claims agreement because that’s a mammoth job in itself, but QIA was around long before the land claims agreement and represented Inuit and advocated on behalf of Inuit to protect their rights and advance their rights,” MacDougall said.

“So we don’t see the land claims agreement as being the sole reason for our existence. We are spreading our horizons and boundaries.”
Doing that means reconnecting with beneficiaries in the communities and recognizing their needs and their values.

“That’s exactly what we want to do, is reconnect and be a voice on behalf of the Inuit,” MacDougall said.

He said each of the current QIA departments responsible for areas such as youth, women, health, elders and so on, will continue to exist.
“We still have our departments, and we still have leaders in those departments who will be setting priorities, but we’re going to be sharing some common goals,” he said.

He said that the idea first came from some QIA employees who had been taking management courses and were looking at ways of making the organization run better.

They brought it to QIA’s board of directors at a governance workshop in Qikiqtarjuaq, and then at the organization’s board meeting last May in Grise Fiord.

“The final approval came through a couple of weeks ago, and the new department was born,” MacDougall said.

Because it’s so new, the social development department is just getting organized.

But MacDougall said QIA’s social development department already knows what one priority will be.

“One we can all identify with and we’ve all targeted as a main focus is suicide and suicide prevention. That’s something we’re working on now. There will be other projects that we will be working on as well, but that’s one that we will be rolling up our sleeves on right now,” MacDougall said.

In “The Seven Qulliqs of Inuit Health Renewal,” a document presented by QIA to the Romanow commission on health care last April, the organization said the quality of mental-health services in the region is the greatest health-care priority for Baffin Inuit, and that Nunavut Inuit need “Inuit-specific” health policies.

Another long-term goal is service delivery, MacDougall said, such as managing the region’s share of special aboriginal health money that the government of Nunavut now manages on behalf of the federal government.

“We would like to get the NIHB, the non-insured health benefits program, as a pilot from the feds, which is currently being offered through the GN’s health and social services department, even though it’s an Inuit program and it’s Inuit money, for Inuit.

“That’s the biggest health program, a $15- $20-million program. But it doesn’t take a lot of staff to administer because it’s basically a health insurance program. There’s computer software that can run it quite easily and four or five people up to speed can run that program. So that would be one that we’ve targeted,” MacDougall said.

The scope of the new department’s possible activities extends across many areas of life. Besides youth, women, elders, health and culture, they include education, justice, family, community, disabilities, the environment and economic issues such as poverty, unemployment and consumer advocacy.

The creation of the new department reflects a new spirit within QIA, which has been rebuilt after nearly collapsing last year.

“I see a real change in the spirit here. It’s more of a team effort here now amongst the staff, and we have good relations with the directors, and we’ve got a president who’s a real leader, and we have a good sizable budget to work with, and the potential here is infinite,” MacDougall said.

“It’s now time to translate our words into action.”