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October 28, 2005

NTI explains its residential school lawsuit

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. is taking the Government of Canada to court to try to obtain compensation for all Nunavut beneficiaries who attended residential school.

The Government of Canada signed a political accord with the Assembly of First Nations on May 30, 2005 to resolve the First Nations residential school legacy.

NTI is taking legal action to make sure Nunavut beneficiaries receive the same compensation First Nations people may receive for loss of culture, language, and family environment, and for any abuse that may have been experienced during the years of attendance at residential school.

If you attended residential school, it is very important that you contact NTI to obtain a copy of the form we need former students to fill out. NTI requires this information because we are negotiating with the Government of Canada to ensure fair treatment for Inuit who attended residential schools.

We need this information so we can determine the number of Nunavut beneficiaries who attended residential schools. We also need to make sure we have an accurate list of all the residential schools that Nunavut beneficiaries attended. This form is different from other forms that may already have been filled out.

The information provided in this form will be kept strictly confidential. When the form is filled out, please place it in the envelope we have provided and return it to your Community Liaison Officer or send it directly to NTI.

Any compensation that is received will not go to NTI. Because the legal action we started represents all Nunavut beneficiaries who attended residential schools, there is no need to sign any agreement with a lawyer at this time. If former students are approached by a lawyer to sign a document, we suggest that the students first contact NTI for advice and additional information.

As part of this process, NTI will seek to recover any legal costs from the Government of Canada.

Remembering things that happened at residential school may bring back painful memories for some people. NTI very clearly understands that dealing with residential school issues can be a traumatic experience. This is why we have made sure former residential school students have a number of different people to approach for counseling to talk about these experiences.

If former students wish to talk to someone in the community, contact the local health centre, or the local social worker to talk to trained professionals.

Help is also available from the Nunavut Kamatsiaqtut Helpline. The Helpline answers calls every night of the year from 7-12 p.m. (EST). Former students can call the Helpline at (867) 979-3333 or toll free at 1-800-265-3333.

Former students can also call trained counselors at the National Residential School Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419.

NTI is doing everything we can to make sure we provide the necessary services to former residential school students who may need help.

Because the Government of Canada’s negotiating process is expected to end by March 2006, NTI needs these forms filled out right away. Please call Margaret Kusugak for assistance at NTI in Iqaluit at 1-888-646-0006.

Paul Kaludjak
President
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

October 28, 2005

NTI residential school lawsuit too little, too late

I was quite surprised, to say the least, when I heard that NTI was planning to go to court on our behalf.

Where have they been for the last 10 years?

We have been working on this for quite some time and I think we were getting somewhere without the sudden involvement of NTI. I even asked the question whether or not the move by NTI would help.

It seems to be more of jumping on the bandwagon rather than the genuine desire to help. I hope in the end it helps, but it seems to me a case of too little, too late.

Jack Anawak
Ottawa

October 28, 2005

We’re not involved in lawsuits, ITK claims

I would like to clarify an important point for your readers regarding the issue of residential schools.

Recent headlines published in Nunatsiaq News are incorrect and misled the public into thinking that ITK is also engaged in legal action on behalf of Inuit beneficiaries who attended residential schools. We are not.

Jose Kusugak
President
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami

Editor’s note: Mr. Kusugak’s clarification is noted. However, a press release last month announcing a residential school lawsuit against the federal government, launched by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, appeared on ITK letterhead.

October 28, 2005

Radioactive plutonium in Thule is disturbing

It’s very disturbing to hear officials disclose information like this, finally, more than 30 years later.

Both the Inughuit of Thule, and the Inuit who live across in Canada have suspected as much and questioned authorities to learn if there was any danger from radiation, because we’ve known about what happened before. But nobody seemed to know what we were talking about.

Now, too many years later, the officials finally admit accidents had occurred before with aircraft carrying bombs with warheads during the Cold War. This does not give us much confidence in our so-called guardians whom we are supposed to believe.

I once watched a Warner Bros. cartoon where Daffy Duck and Porky Pig were on a mission to find new planets in space to conquer.

While busy planting earth flags on behalf of earthlings, they met a rival conqueror. A war broke out. As a result, they blew a planet to bits until there was nothing left to conquer.

The North is no longer a place of desolation where you superpowers, such as the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. and other nuclear countries, can play your cloak and dagger games. The North is our home. We live up here and have done so since anyone can remember. It’s time to clean up the mess and the endangerments you brought to our land and lives.

Who knows how many more “accidents” have taken place that we don’t know anything about.

Larry Audlaluk
Grise Fiord

October 28, 2005

Hospital staff shouldn’t blab about confidential patient information

On Saturday, Sept. 10, 2005, while I was out having fun with my friends, one of the staff at the Baffin Regional Hospital started telling every one about all of my confidential information during my doctor’s visit.

You are not to do that. If you are one of the staff at the hospital that is not professional. Doctors don’t talk about their patients outside work. But the interpreter likes to embarrass people who have just had surgery talking about why they had the surgery.

I know that because I heard her do that to me and I am very angry at the interpreter for revealing all my confidential information from my doctor’s visit.

I am taking this seriously. I also wrote a letter to the Baffin Regional Hospital.

I know I am not the first person who has this problem with one of the staff telling everyone about confidential health problems.

We need to speak up.

Linda Kownirk
Iqaluit

October 28, 2005

Inuit men and violence

I was pleased to read the article by Sara Minogue, “Why Inuit men are falling behind,” Oct. 21, 2005, in which she quotes Archie Angnakak of Iqaluit and Abraham Tagalik of Arviat, who put forward their well-thought out ideas and opinions about the behavioural gender differences between Inuit men and women, as well as effects of the conflicts between Inuit traditional and modern cultures and modes of life.

In the same issue, I read John Thompson’s “Marchers fight violence with chants, candles.” I thought theses articles should have been placed side-by-side in your newspaper because they are inextricably related.

This event shows Inuit women in mourning and sorrow over the overt symptoms of violence against Inuit women in general, as well as spousal assault at the hands of their life-partners and husbands. I believe they are, in effect, mourning the erosion of their men, which this event expresses obliquely.

As the mother of Inuit, I am so happy that a discussion of identifying the problems that beset our Inuit sons and grandsons has begun. The only way that Inuit men will be helped is by the power of their women. Inuit women were aided by feminist movements and the formation of Pauktuutit, the Inuit women’s organization. The importance and influence of this organization is a powerful force for effecting a positive transition from Inuit traditional living to a viable Inuit lifestyle and many Inuit women have benefited.

What equivalent organization exists to help Inuit men in their struggle to bridge the same gap, especially when things go wrong? While there are shelters for Inuit women in Nunavut, where are the shelters for Inuit men? What help exists in communities to assist Inuit men in their daunting struggle to bridge the Inuit traditional and modern lifestyle, especially when they cave in under the stress of it all?

I think it is time to stop the blame. It’s time to do something constructive about the problem.

I believe it is time that Inuit women stand up and not only just “take back the night.”

Inuit women should take their men, their husbands, partners and sons, back out of the night. It’s a tall order, but Inuit women are very strong and I believe they can do it. The future of our Inuit grandchildren depends on it.

Dorothee Komangapik
Ottawa

October 28, 2005

One more stab to the heart of an oenophile

About a year after moving to Pond Inlet in 2000 I went to see the doctor for a check up. My blood pressure was down and so was my cholesterol. “What have you been doing?” she asked. “These results are very good.”

I replied that I had been doing some volleyball coaching and had been drinking red wine relatively frequently, for I had discovered ordering on-line.

What a blessing indeed this was. Simply place the order on-line, give a credit card number and voila! a week or two later it arrives by Canada Post, a well packaged four-litre box of Shiraz or Carmenère, two good choices.

Well the jig is up. The authorities have now discovered this government money grab opportunity and breach of bureaucratic procedures and are sure to shut it down right away.

My heart sinks and I’m saddened but moreover I’m angry. I’m angry that we’re double-taxed on the already inflated price of freight and goods we buy in Nunavut and I’m angry that the GN wants even more money on that bottle or box of wine which isn’t even available from the Nunavut Liquor Commission.

This isn’t just about the health benefits of wine and it’s not about my right to enjoy wine in my own house. It’s not about the problems and damage caused by over-indulgence of alcohol and it’s not about the fact that dope is the substance of choice in most Nunavut communities where alcohol is hard to get.

It’s not about the bootleg bottle I can buy anytime of the day in Iqaluit and it’s not about people who drink their faces off when they get to Iqaluit from a dry or restricted community and then go home and vote for no booze in their community. It’s not even about the bottle of Aqua Velva chased down by a cola or the hairspray and 7-Up.

It’s not about Iqalungmiut having to pay gratuitous freight charges on their purchases of beer from Rankin Inlet and vice-versa when there is a warehouse in both communities and it’s not about all that money going to the airfreight companies.

It’s not about the liquor inspectors, many new to the North, who sit in licensed establishments gawking at Inuit women waiting to write them up for that little-too-loud laugh, nor is it about waiters cutting off the Inuk man after two beers while ignoring the white man’s revelry.

Maybe it’s about all of the above.

Nunavut needs to put in place liquor laws and policies that will encourage education and responsible drinking. Quasi-prohibition doesn’t work any better than prohibition. It only makes the problems worse.

Duncan Cunningham
Pond Inlet

October 21, 2005

Thanks from the Uvagut volleball team

The Pond Inlet Uvagut Women’s volleyball team would like to thank those who contributed towards our fundraising efforts, which ultimately made it possible to attend the fifth Laura Gauthier Memorial Volleyball Tournament in Rankin Inlet.

We would like to thank the following: The community of Pond Inlet, for continued support of the team; the Pond Inlet district education authority for giving us the gym when we needed the practice and for always supporting our fundraisers; Baffinland Iron Mine in Toronto; Hamlet of Pond Inlet and council; Sport Nunavut; the department of culture, language, elders and youth in Baker Lake; Logos’ N Stitches in Ottawa; the Department of Community and Government Services in Baker Lake; First Air; Nunasi Corporation; Salummaqsai of Pond Inlet; Black Point Lodge of Pond Inlet; Cedar Lodge B&B in Pond Inlet; Toonoonik Sahoonik Co-op in Pond Inlet; Arctic Cooperatives Limited in Winnipeg; the Nunavut Planning Commission in Cambridge Bay; the Qikiqtani Inuit Association in Iqaluit; Kivalliq Arctic Foods in Rankin Inlet; Fur Harvesters Auction Inc. in North Bay; Kenn Borek Air Ltd in Resolute Bay; Metro Pelletier in Val-d’or; Jim Kocsis in Pond Inlet; Polar Sea Adventures in Pond Inlet; Inuit Art Foundation in Ottawa; and the community of Rankin Inlet for both hosting the tournament and the hospitality we received.

Finally a big thank you from the Uvagut team: Terri-Lynn Chiblow, Janet Krimmerdjuar, Eleanore Arreak, Joni Kyak, Tracy Kyak, Rosanna Arnakallak, Jane Flaherty-Lambe, Leslie Qammaniq, Jennifer Kautainuk and our coach David Lawson.

Leslie Qammaniq
Pond Inlet

October 21, 2005

Sapummivik’s front-line workers got no support from bosses

As a former employee of Sapummivik Youth Rehabilitation Centre in Salluit, I was sorry to read about the Quebec Youth Rights Commission report recently.

It’s not because I was surprised, it’s because again it took a lot of time to report what is wrong with the youth protection system and again it will most likely take longer to fix the problems. Until then, many of Nunavik’s youth will suffer because of the lack of appropriate help.

It’s not fair.

What I will write is mostly about the “rehab” centre. I can say that most of my former Inuit and qallunaat colleagues really wanted to help and to do their best. I have invested more than 15 years with youth: from teaching to coaching, helping to mentoring. Nevertheless, I am proud to say that I have worked with very good people there in Salluit and some are still my friends today, even though I moved out some time ago.

I could say that 90 per cent of the problems were not from the front-line staff but from the top (starting at the coordinator’s level). How can you give 100 per cent at your job when you can’t get support from the bosses?

As in your editorial, I can also provide random examples:

• Some coordinators were hired without experience or knowledge about Inuit culture (actually, it seemed that “no experience with Inuit culture” was an unwritten prerequisite for the job);
• A very high turnover rate for qualified staff, mostly due of the many obstacles “provided” by Ungava Social Services and HR (it seemed that the more you liked your job as a qallunaat, the worse some qallunaat at the top would treat you);
• No resources in cultural activities to help with the healing and getting in touch with the Inuit ways (well, they had some for a brief period and the kids really improved);
• A coordinator who thinks and says loudly that “they had what they deserved” (I wouldn’t like this coordinator as a neighbour either).

For a brief period, there was a coordinator who made a difference for the young clients — the exception! This Inuk coordinator introduced a lot of culture-based activities, she bought sports gear, she bought new clothes and blankets, etc. The youth really felt safe and welcome. Unfortunately, most of what she accomplished was cancelled out by the next coordinator.

I have no mind-reading abilities but it really seemed that somebody, somewhere at the top of the food chain, doesn’t want the rehab centre to work...

Of course, it’s difficult to hire qualified people in the North, but it’s always possible to provide them with on-site appropriate training, especially the front-line workers. As I wrote above, there were a lot of good people with the will and passion to help make the rehab work.

I believe there are still some today, over there, working at the top of the hill, only hoping to have more resources to make a difference. This job is not easy and it really gets tough sometimes. Even the male staff — big guys like me — were sometimes afraid to intervene in very difficult situations. I have seen staff getting hurt or too stressed to go on.

But we must not forget the suffering of the rehab’s young clients or other young people who need help from a system that was broken. How about giving them more for healing, protection and support?

Sapummivik: it should more than a simple shelter from pain — it should be a place to heal, to get your life back and to prepare for the next challenges in life!

I would ask that you withhold my name and where I am from, as I am still employed in an Inuit community and I work with many organizations. Nakurmiik!

(Name withheld by request)
Nunavut

October 21, 2005

Thanks from the daycares

We would like to send a big thank-you to Canadian North for their generous donation of return tickets for our bingo that we held on Sept. 9.

Being non-profit organizations, we depend on our minimal income and fundraising to help offer the best we can to the children we care for.

A donation such as this really helped make our bingo a success. It is wonderful local businesses care and help us out the way they did. Thank you to all the wonderful donations provided by so many businesses in Iqaluit. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Thank you for all your support.

Pairivik and Kids on the Beach Day Care
Iqaluit

October 21, 2005

Walking the best solution to Iqaluit’s traffic problems

I was interested to read the article concerning the traffic jams in Iqaluit, and the proposed solutions outlined in the story in the Sept. 16, 2005 edition of your paper.

I was disappointed but not surprised to see that no one proposed that more of the residents of Iqaluit walk to and from work, school and so on.

Some of the newer developments in the city are a few kilometers from most of the office buildings, and residents of Apex would not be expected to trek to and from Iqaluit each day. However, for most of the Iqalungmiut, the walk to and from work or school would not take more than 20-25 minutes, even with bad weather.

The article suggested that staggering lunch hours for even 10 per cent of the drivers would have a significant impact on the traffic at Four Corners.

If 10 per cent of the drivers and their passengers walked to and from work it would significantly reduce traffic and would have other major health benefits: weight reduction, improved cardio-respiratory fitness levels, reduced pollution, etc. If more residents of Iqaluit walked, it might also persuade the city to install sidewalks, which would be of benefit to everybody.

Obesity and life-style related diseases are becoming a major health problem in Nunavut, as they are in all jurisdictions in Canada. The less physical activity that people have in their everyday lives, the greater the tendency to gain excess weight.

In pre-settlement days, Inuit not only ate healthy country food but also lived extremely physically active lives on the land gathering food and frequently traveling from one seasonal camp to another.

The transition to settlements has brought a sedentary lifestyle along with a plethora of unhealthy “southern” food. This lifestyle change will have many negative impacts on the population just as it has had in other aboriginal populations, as well as in the general Canadian population. This sedentary lifestyle produces increased rates of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and so on, and has already done so across the world.

All of the residents of Nunavut (Inuit and non-Inuit) should take the old active lifestyle of the original inhabitants of Nunavut as a model for our approach to physical activity now.

Walking to and from work or school would be an easy way to incorporate more physical activity into our everyday lives. More regular physical activity would improve our health and reduce the demands on Iqaluit’s overused road network.

Dr. Sandy Macdonald
Director of Medical Affairs
Iqaluit

October 21, 2005

Thanks from the Klengenberg family

It has been well over a month since our beloved mother passed away and we miss her dearly everyday. There is not one day that goes by without thinking about our mother, Lily Angnahiak Klengenberg.

Without the help of our relatives and friends, and expecially the land claims organizations in Nunavut and the NWT, our family would not have been able to get together because of the vast distances the family lived across in Nunavut and NWT.

The bereavement benefit that the land claims organizations put together helped our family tremendously during our time of need.

I would like to recognize Donald Havioyak, president of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association and Paul Kaludjak, president of NTI, for assisting us in bringing our three brothers and two nephews home from Rymer Point, Nunavut. They were stranded due to ice and would not have been able to be with us for the funeral if it weren’t for these two organizations assisting financially. I want to especially recognize Stanley Anablak, employee of KIA, who tirelessly worked to find an aircraft. Koanakpiakohi.

Thank you, Mona Tiktalik of KIA and Ishmael Naulalik of NTI, for working expeditiously to get our family to Kugluktuk through the benefits program of KIA and NTI.

We had family members come in from Yellowknife, Holman, and Inuvik, NWT and without the help of the Inuvialuit Regional Council Bereavement Benefit Program, this would not have happened.

Thank you Nellie Cournyea, CEO and chair; Roger Connelly, chief operating officer; and April Bourke, cooperation and benefits agreement manager; and everyone who I may have missed.

Koana Rosie Kagak, Marion Bolt, Helen Enogaloak, and Millie Kuliktana for being there to help out and console us in our time of need.

We will not forget your generosity.

On behalf of the Klengenberg family,

Helen Kimnik Klengenberg
Iqaluit

October 14, 2005

Former residential student opposed to ITK-NTI lawsuit

I do not support this lawsuit against the Government of Canada by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

I think it undermines the work that has been done to date to settle the claims of individual persons who were students at the residences.

Between 1987 and 1996, the basic work was done in starting the Inuit residential school claims, and obtaining apologies from the church and the government. Marius Tungilik, Jack Anawak and myself were the ones who organized a reunion of the Turquetil Hall and Joseph Bernier Federal Day School survivors, when about 150 people came to heal with us in July, 1993.

At that time we worked with the Roman Catholic church, in particular, to obtain an apology. At that time, the Inuit organizations were not interested in assuming any role in assisting the students. Paul Quassa, as president of NTI at the time, did come to the reunion, spoke briefly, then left.

Like Nicholas Arnatsiaq, and John Illupaalik, I was not consulted by either ITK or NTI, although I am a beneficiary of both organizations and someone who has been active in pursuing claims for individual students. To this day, I do not know what the ITK or NTI lawsuit is for, neither do I know if they are working together or individually.

On Sept. 17 and 18, 2005, I attended and spoke at “Facing the Legacy of Indian and Inuit Residential School,” sponsored by University of Toronto. Two major items of discussion at this meeting were the development of a National Day of Healing and Reconciliation and establishing a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, something like the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission chaired by Bishop Desmond Tutu.

The Mission Statement for the National Day of Healing and Reconciliation is a movement of people committed to moving forward collectively within our families, our communities and across Canada for the purposes of healing and reconciliation.

It has three main objectives:

• To celebrate a positive, collective healing and reconciliation movement within our families, communities, churches and government on May 26 of each year;
• To educate ourselves and other Canadians about our collective history;
• To develop commemoration sites and to encourage communities to join in the National Day of Healing and Reconciliation.

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission would allow us to make a presentation about the way we were treated by the church and by governments, in dealing with us as Inuit pupils, which is what the three of us recommended in the first place in November of 1987.

I think we have come a long way, towards healing, with the churches and the governments. Using our Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, we already had clashes with the churches and the governments, but now, let’s work to make peace, using the old Inuit way of finding solutions to problems. I support “nalunaijainiq” for making peace.

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission would allow all Canadians to learn more about how we were treated. All Canadians have a right to know, and have a duty to correct their colonial attitudes towards the First Peoples of this country. It’s the right thing to do for moving forward.

In other countries, such as Australia, Aboriginal people are moving towards a “national sorry day,” otherwise called a National Day of Healing. Perhaps, as an international aboriginal community, we can begin to move to support and collaborate with one another.

Peter Irniq
Iqaluit

October 7, 2005

NTI-ITK lawsuit could harm former residential students

As a survivor of residential school, mainly the Joseph Bernier School and Turquetil Hall in Chesterfield Inlet, I am somewhat in a bit of a quandary in regards to who is representing me, and us, in this residential school legal issue.

If my memory serves me correctly, I recalled at the start of our fumigation of the inhumane, sick and loveless revelations of residential schools, our legal counsel was Steven L. Cooper and Leann B. Vigar at AWOC Barristers and Solicitors. As far as I am concerned, they are still our legal counsel with regards to the residential school issue.

Recently, and much to my surprise, I read in the Sept. 23 issue of Nunatsiaq News that Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. seemed to be launching a class-action suit against the federal government on behalf of the former residential school students.

If in fact they are really representing the former residential school students, how come the former students were not informed of the change of legal counsel?

That is, if they are serious about representing us. They must realize also that they are basically throwing an undesired wrench into the works of our current legal counsel, Steven Cooper and Leeanne C. Vigar of AWOC, who basically have been with us from Day One.

Has NTI even considered that they may very well be setting up another obstacle for us to overcome? And thus prolonging the process further? Most of us are of the view that we have waited long enough and I fear that NTI is prolonging the process by more or less interfering with our legal counsel.

And most importantly, where was NTI when we really needed them at the start of our class action suit?

I do wholeheartedly appreciate NTI’s concern. But don’t they think that this would work better if they worked with our current legal counsel and, most importantly, at least kept us informed of their intentions?

Personally, and as far as my colleagues are concerned, Steven Cooper and Leeanne Vigar of AWOC have been and will be our legal counsel — unless of course we are told otherwise.

Nicolas P. Arnatsiaq
Igloolik

October 7, 2005

Enforce the law against illegal gambling

I was glad to read that letter from Winnipeg last week about Nunavut’s gambling problems.

While all forms of gambling (casinos, lottery tickets, bingos, etc.) are habit-forming, I feel that card games in particular are worse in many ways.

There is the pressure to spend all of your money, the interaction between players, and the promise to pay.

Gambling without a licence is illegal and I, for one, feel it is time to start enforcing the law instead of turning a blind eye. The money is not for charity, but for greed, selfishness and disrespect. There is help available if one cares to look for it.

I would like to remain anonymous, because I find it hard to say no when someone I really care about asks me for help.

(Name withheld by request)
Iqaluit

October 7, 2005

Farewell to Noo Tukiqi

On behalf of my biological mother and Marie Allukpik, I would like to thank NTI for making it possible for us to attend the funeral of Noo Tukiqi in Cape Dorset.

I would like to thank Letia Qiaqjuk and all the other people who offered support, prayers and sympathy. I also give my deepest sympathy to Sheena Enook and to Noo’s family and friends.

Noo Tukiqi was born Dec. 16, 1981 in Cape Dorset, and died on Sept. 3, 2005. She leaves a three-year common-law, a three-year-old daughter and a year-old son. Loved by parents, family and friends.

Tanya Enook
Iqaluit

October 7, 2005

Suicide survivors need long-term support

I write this as a concerned northerner who has lost numerous friends, colleagues, neighbours and loved ones to suicide and seen the devastation and impact on others.

This year, with World Suicide Prevention Day on Sept.10, I want to focus on those who have lost a loved one. Often, as time passes, the depth and intensity of their loss fades from community memory as people go on about their own business. To the survivor, however, this painful reality cannot be as easily forgotten.

Memories are held close and very dear for they are all that is left. They are precious. Pain is experienced quietly and deeply too, as everyone else rushes on by. Often, the number one person on their mind is not spoken of out loud but is the most recurring topic internally. Survivors, along with their suffering, are underestimated and greatly misunderstood.

We know a lot more now than we used to about the hardest and longest grief of all — the bereavement that follows a completed suicide. We now know too, the long-term effects for some if proper intervention, support and follow-up is not provided.

Some will talk to the bottom of a bottle, which becomes their pain medication. At the start, it is unclear to them how this outlet will create even more problems. Some will store up anger from the unresolved grief and lash out at others. Some, whose boundaries have been blurred as their world has been turned upside down, may develop a world view based on the trauma and become overly protective, overly reactive or overly vigilant — afraid for themselves and their loved ones and distrustful of life itself.

All of these conditions may result from trauma of which they usually know very little. As the years go on, life has been altered to the point where they return to normal. Too many people in Nunavut face these challenges every day but do not necessarily link their behaviour, attitude and emotional state to such a loss.

When life has become unbearable the survivors end up feeling alone and invisible. No one in the North deserves to suffer in silence like this in an age where the long-term effects of untreated trauma are known and well understood, when trauma counselling, bereavement support groups and long-term therapy is available elsewhere.

The more we can possibly do to let them know we have a kernel of insight into what they are dealing with, the more helpful we will be. We have an urgent responsibility and an ethical duty to pay great attention to them and provide them with the tools and information to make it through their long journey of grief.

If many of them feel they are “stalled” in this process it is because they ran out of gas in the form of isolation and the forgetfullness of others; they need recognition and on-going support to make it the rest of the way in an arduous process that will demand a lot from them still.

To anyone reading this who is a survivor, do not stay alone with this immense burden. Take the time to take a look at your life and commit to reaching out. We have all lost so many and the tears have flowed for so long; do not be afraid to explain to others what you are still going through.

Community memory can be harnessed too, to identify those who, over the years, have suffered this type of loss; efforts can be made to approach them, remember their grief anniversaries and those they have lost and to regularly check in with them to show your honest awareness and concern and see how they are doing.

We have always demonstrated, in the North, our capacity for being of genuine assistance immediately after a suicide occurs. The house fills up with people, food and a thousand acts of kindness. We shine in these moments, the good caring people that we are.

If we could only work harder to extend that same concern and sense of connectedness over a much longer period of time, it would also go a long way to providing the very valued and necessary post-vention, monitoring and follow-up support that is so desperately needed.

Caroline Anawak
Ottawa

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