Food Insecurity Among Inuit Women in Igloolik, Nunavut: The Role of Climate Change and Multiple Stressors

The territory of Nunavut has the highest prevalence of food insecurity in Canada, where over 50% of Inuit households are believed to experience difficulties in obtaining sufficient food. This significantly exceeds the Canadian average of 9.2%. Food insecurity is manifest when food systems are stressed such that adequate nutrition is not accessible, available and/or of sufficient quality. Several studies have reported food systems to be negatively affected by economic, social and cultural transformations and climate change. Inuit women have been identified to be particularly vulnerable to food insecurity and more at risk to climate change. Food insecurity can have serious implications for women's physical and mental health, and social well-being resulting in increased susceptibility to infection and chronic health afflictions. This paper examines how climate change might affect Inuit women's food security using a case study from the community of Igloolik, Nunavut, and drawing on a mixed methods approach, including semi-structured interviews with 36 women, focus groups with 19 women, and interviews with local and territorial health professionals and policy makers. Results show a high prevalence of food insecurity with 76% of women skipping or reducing size of their meals in 2008 and 40% reporting not eating enough food when food supplies run out. Multiple determinants of food insecurity operating over different spatial-temporal scales were identified including food affordability and budgeting, food knowledge, education and preferences, food quality and availability, absence of a full time hunter in the household, and the cost of harvesting. These determinants are operating in the context of changing livelihoods, addictions, poverty and climate related stresses, which in many cases are exacerbating food insecurity. The identification of pathways through which climate affects female food security in the context of other stresses is particularly important for policy responses to strengthen Inuit food security.