Promoting Healthy, Sustainable Schools
in Nunavut
The Assignment...
Review:
The Health Promoting Schools (HPS) resources for Nunavut, from the Joint Consortium for School Health (JCSH
The Physical and Health Education Canada (PHE) resources
The current (2020) ParticipACTION report card for Canada
The most recent documents available about physical activity levels of children & youth in Nunavut
The only Nunavut-specific data I could find was from the Inuit Children’s Leisure Time Activities Fact Sheet, (Statistics Canada, 2008), but this report is based on data collected from the Aboriginal Peoples Survey from 2001, making it 20 years old! Yikes.
Frustrastions
in completing this assignment for Nunavut
The Nunavut document on the JCSH website has not been updated since 2009 (despite claiming an update was done in 2013, the document is identical in content to the 2009 version)
The information in the document is largely obsolete.
Almost all programs and documents mentioned have been replaced, which I only knew from personal experience as a long-time Nunavummiut educator. This meant I had to do a significant amount of additional research to chase down the actual current resources.
For example: the Government of Nunavut's Annirusuktugut: A Suicide Intervention and Prevention Strategy (2007), which is what the JCSH document claims was current as of 2013 was in fact replaced by the Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy in 2010, and now we have an additional Inuusivut Anninaqtuq (United for Life) Action Plan for 2017-2022.
This signals to me that there is no meaningful and living partnership between Nunavut and the JCSH, despite the fact there seems to be on paper.
2. The 2020 ParticipACTION report card had "data unavailable for Nunavut" (p. 42), (p. 60). We were the only province/territory missing this data, which further illustrates the paucity of research we have to draw on as Nunavummiut.
Nunavut Supports for Health Promoting Schools
Nunaliit Aulajut: Nunavut’s Sport, Physical Activity, and Recreation Framework (2020)
The Government of Nunavut's 10-year plan, which is founded on Inuit Societal Values and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (traditional knowledge) & includes 5 goals which I see as in alignment with the 4 pillars of Health Promoting School, as defined in Bassett-Gunter, Yessis, Manske, and Stockton, 2012.
Goal #1: Active Lifestyles (HPS Education pillar)
Goal #2: Programs and Services (HPS Education pillar)
Goal #3: Leadership and Capacity (HPS Evidence pillar)
Goal #4: Connect and Collaborate (HPS Everyone pillar)
Goal #5: Spaces and Places (HPS Environment pillar)
Our Minds Matter: A Youth-Informed Review of Mental Health Services for Young Nunavummiut (2019)
This report is from the Office of the Representative for Children and Youth, Nunavut. This is a body outside of the Government of Nunavut that exists solely to advocate for, and support children by holding government accountable to provide for the physical and mental wellbeing of young Nunavummiut.
Although this report delivers what I would call a scathing critique of our territorial government's mental health resources (or lack thereof), it represents much needed data for Nunavummiut (the HPS Evidence pillar), which allows a clearer view of what resources and programs can help most, moving forward.
Nunavut Food Guide & Accompanying Documents
Inuit in Nunavut live on the Arctic tundra. This biome has no trees, the ground is permafrost, and snow and ice cover Inuit Nunangat for up to 10 months of the year.
As such, Inuit traditional country food is predominantly animal based, and Nunavut has created its own food guide and learning resources to promote nutritional health in a culturally relevant way for Inuit:
Nunavut Food Guide: Educator's Handbook (PDF)
These resources also available in Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, and French, and are the Nunavut-based analogue to the PHE Canada Healthy Eating Education Activities.
Inuusivut Anninaqtuq (United for Life) Action Plan for 2017-2022
This document is from the Embrace Life Council, which is an organization in Nunavut that was created in 2004 through coordination and in partnership with: the RCMP, the Government of Nunavut, and Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated* to work to address the incredibly high suicide rates in Nunavut.
They create, participate in, and support initiatives to help Nunavummiut struggling with suicidal ideation and self harm, as well as those affected by loss of loved ones to suicide (which is most Nunavummiut).
There really is no analogue I could find to either the Embrace Life Council itself, its resources, or this action plan in the JCSH or PHE resources. I am thankful this isn't such a pressing need for all youth, but I think most Canadians could benefit greatly from the frank and open way we discuss suicide and mental health struggles in Nunavut.
_____________________________________________________________
*Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI) is the Inuit organization that represents Inuit Nunavummiut and works with the territorial and federal governments on the responsibilities and obligations set out in the Nunavut Agreement.
Positive things my school/community
is doing...
1. Intramural & Recreational Sports
The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology recommends that all youth ages 5-17 get 60 minutes per day of moderate
to vigorous physical activiy, as well as several hours of light activity (2016).
However, the 2020 ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth states that only 61% of students in grades 9-12 in Nunavut were enrolled in a daily school physical education class. (p. 65)
In my school & community, several teachers and other adults step up to open the school gyms for fun before and after school, and also run intramural sports. Cambridge Bay is known in the territory as having particularly strong basketball and wrestling programs, and many of my kids compete at the Arctic Winter Games (an international competition for the circumpolar North), and also nation-wide!
In our school, you often see student playing Inuit games in Inuinnaqtun, cultural, & physical education classes. Kids will also sometimes ask to play Inuit games in other classes as well... I have lost many leg wrestling matches to students on my science lab floor in the last 13 years! ;)
Current favourites of the kids in our school seem to be:
the high kick (both one and two foot), omingmak wrestling, knuckle hop, the airplane, and leg wrestling.
Our school gym is also in use in the evenings and on weekends for recreational sports that are open to the community. Volleyball, floor hockey, badminton, table tennis, soccer & ultimate frisbee have all been popular in the last decade.
Additionally, our community has hockey and cross country skiing in the winter, and in the spring and summer people spend lots of time hunting and fishing on the land.
2. Breakfast & lunch program
Our school kitchen is used to run a breakfast and lunch program that feeds all students enrolled in our school year-round. It is funded by the Inuit Child First Initiative, and staffed by community members, who are paid to prepare the food, thus creating jobs for Inuit in our school, outside of our educational staff.
Unfortunately to meet the requirements of the funding, our school kitchen is no longer available to staff or students to use, which is a detriment to the programming we can offer our kids. However, in a territory where most children live in food insecure homes, the benefits of providing these meals cannot be understated.
3. Period Poverty Project
Since 2017, I have worked with students to find ways we could fundraise to supply the girl’s washrooms in our school with free menstrual products, as many of my students shared that their families could not afford these products.
In 2020 I was able to create a partnership with a couple in BC that committed to send us enough menstrual products to supply our entire school population for a whole year. In an effort to address the period poverty some of our young women and their family members experience in a more sustainable way, in addition to sending us pads and tampons, we were also able to get a range of reusable options like menstrual cups, washable pads, and period underwear!
While I am so thankful this group has agreed to continue supplying us with menstrual products into 2022, I also feel very frustrated that I have to spend time and energy making this happen at all. Period products are necessities for people with vaginas, and should be free in all public washrooms, just as toilet paper is.
4. LGBTQ+ Advocacy
In 2013 I helped create our school’s first ever “Rainbow day” to help address the desperate need I saw to create safer spaces for LGBTQ+ members of our school and community. At first this was just a day where we all wore bright colours, and I led a school assembly where I shared videos made by the “Out in Schools” project.
This work grew into “Rainbow week”, where I led a whole-school assembly each day, and also went into classrooms to teach about LGBTQ+ topics and facilitate small-group discussions with students.
Now I am proud to say that our school has a group called the “Rainbow Army” where LGBTQ+ students, teachers and allies come together twice a week to just be together in a safe, supportive space.
In June 2021 my student, Onna asked our Hamlet if they would raise the Rainbow flag for pride month for the first time ever in the history of our community, and they said yes! :)
Room for Growth
as a healthy, active, sustainable school & community
Mental Health
More education & resources are needed for both students and staff.
In addition to adopting all 5 recommendations to support mental health in schools from Our Minds Matter: A Youth-Informed Review of Mental Health Services for Young Nunavummiut (2019, p.4)), I strongly believe that we need to listen to our youth when they share with us what they need, in their own words...
“Having a counsellor other than just our guidance counsellor in the school”
“Mental health coming to school and talking to youth in school”
“It would be even better if their [sic] was a mental health worker in the high school”
(p. 21)
I see the desperate need for this every single day in my school. When our youth so clearly express their needs to us, we must listen. Every school in Nunavut needs to have a trained mental health professional on staff.
Ideally, this person should be Inuk, but if not, they should work closely with the Ilinniarvimmi Inuusilirijiit* as a cultural mentor, to have guidance in working to build strong connections to our students and their families.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Every school in Nunavut has one Ilinniarvimmi Inuusiliriji position (formerly called a 'school community counsellor' officially, and in my experience still called that in practice). The person in this position must be Inuk, and their role is to "support, promote, and involve students, parents, and the community as partners in education" (Representative for Children and Youth, 2019, p. 21).
Land Programming
For mind, body, and spirit
Nunaliit Aulajut: Nunavut’s Sport, Physical Activity, and Recreation Framework (2020), recognizes the importance of being on the land, not just for physical activity, but as a way to learn and practice the Inuit Societal Value of Avatittinnik Kamatsiarniq (p. 15).
The Nunavut Food Guide recognizes country food as healthy, while hunting, harvesting and "playing out" are all encouraged as important parts of a healthy lifestyle for Nunavummiut in Nunaliit Aulajut (p. 11).
Finally, The Young Hunters Program, (video embedded below) located in Arviat, illustrates the awesome impact that land-based traditional learning can have on building: a positive sense of self, pride in cultural identity, and a strong connection to community, as young people find their place and ways they can contribute to the common good.
All of these things together represent Inunnguiniq which should be our goal as educators in Nunavut.
Land-based education needs to become a formal part of our curriculum in Nunavut. Without this, many schools in Nunavut (like mine), do little else but the occasional fishing trip.
It is positive that the Government of Nunavut shares on their website that the "DOE [Department of Environment] has partnered with the Department of Education and a number of local and regionally-based Inuit organizations to develop and update land-based camp curriculum" and "Two-Eyed Seeing on the Land: A Manual for Educators on Running Land-Based Integrative Science Education Programs (coming soon!)" (Government of Nunavut, Land-Based Camps).
References
Bassett-Gunter, R, Yessis, J, Manske, S, & Stockton, L. (2012). Healthy school communities concept paper. Physical & Health Education Canada. https://phecanada.ca/sites/default/files/content/docs/resources/healthy-school-communities-concept-paper-2012-08_0.pdf
Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. (2016). Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth: An Integration of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour, and Sleep. Ottawa; 2016. https://csepguidelines.ca/children-and-youth-5-17/
Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment. (2009). The International Polar Year Nunavut Inuit Child Health Survey 2007-2008. https://www.mcgill.ca/cine/files/cine/child_inuit_health_survey_aug_31.pdf
Government of Nunavut. (2020). Nunaliit Aulajut: Nunavut’s Sport, Physical Activity, and Recreation Framework. https://www.gov.nu.ca/sites/default/files/td-339-52-en-cgs-spar-framework-smaller.pdf
Government of Nunavut. (2007). Annirusuktugut: A Suicide Intervention and Prevention Strategy for the Government of Nunavut. Government of Nunavut. https://assembly.nu.ca/library/GNedocs/2007/000101-e.pdf
Government of Nunavut. (n.d.). Land-Based Camps. Government of Nunavut. Retrieved September 29, 2021, from https://www.gov.nu.ca/land-based-camps
Government of Nunavut. (n.d.). Nunavut Food Guide. Government of Nunavut. Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://livehealthy.gov.nu.ca/en/healthy-eating/nunavut-food-guide
Inuusivut Anninaqtuq (United for Life) Action Plan for 2017-2022. (2017, June). Embrace Life Council. http://inuusiq.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Inuusivut_Anninaqtuq_English.pdf
Movember. (2019, May 15). Boys of Nunavut [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npCbo-nSkIk&t=55s
National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health. (2010). A Framework for Indigenous School Health: Foundations in Cultural Principles. National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health. https://www.nccih.ca/docs/health/RPT-FrameworkIndigenousSchoolHealth-Tagalik-EN.pdf
Nunavut Suicide Prevention Strategy. (2010, October). Government of Nunavut. https://www.gov.nu.ca/sites/default/files/files/NSPS_final_English_Oct%202010(1).pdf
Pan-Canadian Joint Consortium for School Health. (2013, May). School Health promotion in Nunavut. http://www.jcsh-cces.ca/explore-resources/provinces-territories-and-phac-resources/
Pan-Canadian Joint Consortium for School Health. (2009, June). School Health promotion in Nunavut.
http://www.jcsh-cces.ca/upload/School%20Health%20Promotion%20in%20Nunavut.pdf
ParticipACTION. (2020). The Role of the Family in the Physical Activity, Sedentary and Sleep Behaviours of Children and Youth: The 2020 ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth. ParticipACTION. https://www.participaction.com/en-ca/resources/children-and-youth-report-card
Physical & Health Education Canada. (2020) Healthy Eating Education Activities. PHE Canada. https://phecanada.ca/programs/phe-learning-centre/healthy-eating-education-activities
Representative for Children and Youth, Nunavut. (2019, May). Our Minds Matter: A Youth-Informed Review of Mental Health Services for Young Nunavummiut. https://rcynu.ca/sites/rcynu.ca/files/RCYO_MHReview_EN_Web.pdf
Starseed Media. (2015, February 26). Games Of The North Full Movie [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tA-1r-cdao
Statistics Canada (2008). Inuit Children’s Leisure Time Activities: Fact Sheet. (Report 89-627-X, No. 5). Government of Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-627-x/89-627-x2008005-eng.pdf
Tagalik, S. (2012b). Inunnguiniq: Caring for Children the Inuit Way. Retrieved from National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health Publications: https://www.nccah-ccnsa.ca/docs/health/FS-InunnguiniqCaringInuitWay-Tagalik-EN.pdf