Panglossian Notes

Suicide in Nunavut - Update

Update: I thought I'd re-post this note written back in 2007 because of the editorial in the G&M regarding the new Suicide Prevention Strategy the Government of Nunavut (GN) recently table, in its Legislative Assembly. The Globe is optimistic and urges the GN to implement the recommendations in the document ASAP. It's good, I guess, to be optimistic and I hope that this new attempt by the GN et al can have some effect on this particular problem though I've yet to see any real analysis as to why the killing of oneself is so much more a Northern phenomenon in Western jurisdictions. One good thing, from my perspective, is that this latest document reference articles by people such as Dr. Laurence Kirmayer the director of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill. Kirmayer is one of the individuals front and centre in chapter 4 (link is to a summary) of Ethan Watters' book "Crazy Like Us"" which deals with suicide in Japan; the drive by pharmaceutical companies to introduce anti-depressants into Japan; and the impacts of, in effect, what I think of as culture imperialism when it comes to mental illness. Kirmayer seems well aware that different cultures have evolved unique ways of dealing with mental stress and trauma which I hope maybe a sign that this prevention strategy could have some success.   

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I dare say that anyone who has spent anytime in the North, the Arctic North, knows people who have committed suicide. It is also likely the case that people who live outside the North also know people that have done it. The difference is that in the North you won't just know one suicide, or even two, you'll likely know a slew of them.

In the North the odds are that some of your fellow workers will have killed themselves. You're also likely to work with people some of whom have had kids, brothers, sisters or parents, either one, who have killed themselves.

It is not an uncommon occurrence in the workplace to have a fellow worker abruptly leave in a panic because a friend, kid, brother, sister or parent can't be contacted. False alarms at the best times, but other times, and these seem, I remember, to come in rashes, to find a loved one or friend hung in a closet (the preferred way to go, it seems) or to see their legs sticking out from the back of the house or shed and find them on the ground dead from a gunshot wound.

It's maybe that Northern communities are very small in terms of population and isolated so that you are more aware when someone is gone than you would be in a Southern town.

Suicide statistics, similar to most mortality indicators, are usually provided on the basis of deaths per 100,000 of population. For Nunavut, an area which accounts for just about a fifth of Canada's mass and contains 26 communities, if you count the "summer camp" at Bathurst Inlet, measuring things in the 100,000 seems strange. The population in the territory now is just over 30,000 or about 1/10th of 1 percent of the population of Canada. Some ways to go yet to the 100,000 mark. Yes, I do know the 100,000 is just a datum, but using it for Nunavut makes the suicides seem more of a fantasy to me then a real event.

In land mass, a really, really, big place, but in people terms hardly a blip within the country as a whole. The table below shows a comparison across the major administrative jurisdictions in Canada of suicides per 100,000 of population and for me, to make the statistic seem just a bit more real, per 10,000 of population.

Nunavut certainly stands out relative to the other politically defined sub-divisions of the country, though the worst area, based on the Statistics Canada 2001 data, is actually Nunavik, a Northern sub-division included in the province of Quebec and not shown separately in the Table above. Nunavik's suicide rate, at about 133 per 100,000 of population, dwarfs even Nunavut's.

As I said in the beginning, the average Northerner has had personal experience with the impact of suicide and is generally aware that more people kill themselves in their jurisdiction then in other jurisdictions in the country.

Those outside the North may simply know that there are more suicides "up there" then in their region, if they are aware at all of the suicides and jurisdictional comparisons.

A number like 80.2 per 100,000 compared, to say, a much lower number of 7.7 per 100,000 certainly would give the casual observer an indication that there are differences in the average number of people killing themselves in locations across the country. But, also, anyone that can do simple arithmetic has already figured out that the absolute numbers of suicides for Nunavut are small: 8 suicides per 10,000 of population, Nunavut's population is roughly 30,000 people, so (30,000 / 10,000) X 8 = 24 - i.e. an average of 24 suicides in 2001. Easier to forget this way because though higher than other jurisdictions it's still a relatively small number.

Let's put the statistics into some context that maybe has a more dramatic effect by trying to actually convey the real impact that a number like 80 suicides per 100,000 of population would have in Canada and two of its largest urban centres (I know these type of comparisons are flawed but they service well, I think, as an illustrative tool).

I've pick Toronto - the GTA - and Vancouver as the urban areas. The following table shows the number of suicides if the rates that occurred in Nunavut and Nunavik had been the rates for the country and the two cities in 2001. You'd not exactly have to be wary of bodies falling on you as you strolled around downtown Toronto but, then again, 10 to 17 self-inflected daily deaths by hanging, poisoning, gunshot, or other means would likely cause some concern amongst the more empathetic proportion of the population. Least I'd hope so.

Just something personal

I did before Christmas track someone I use to know in the North by CP press releases - yes I've come to that:

No sign of Nunavut woman who didn't return from walking her dogs

(CP) – Dec 12, 2009

IQALUIT, Nunavut — There's no sign of a missing 39-year-old woman in Nunavut who didn't return from walking her dogs.

RCMP Sgt. Jimmy Akavak says searchers on foot and on snowmobile have been looking for Lindsay Hudson ever since her roommate called to report her missing.

Akavak, who is the search-and-rescue co-ordinator, says Hudson hasn't been seen since about noon Friday when she left Iqaluit with her three animals.

She was heading to a small community about three kilometres away, but police fear she may have left the road and wandered onto the open land.

Akavak says Hudson had a backpack, but it's not known if she was carrying anything that would help her keep warm.

Environment Canada's website says the temperature in Iqaluit dropped to a low of -20 C. overnight, but gusting winds would have made it much colder.

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Jeez how can you go missing walking to Apex? You go off the road and twist an ankle, a blizzard comes in you're dead. But no blizzard, cold so what not enough to kill you I'd think, so what the ... .

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Frozen body of missing northern woman found; dogs still at her side

(CP) – 5 days ago

IQALUIT, Nunavut — The frozen body of a Nunavut woman who didn't return from walking her three dogs has been found.

The RCMP in Iqaluit say Lindsay Hudson's body was found on a road outside the territorial capital Saturday afternoon. Her two German shepherds were still at her side; a smaller dog had returned on its own.

Hudson left her apartment Friday at noon and the RCMP were called by her roommate when she didn't return after several hours.

Dozens of searchers on foot and on snowmobile looked for her throughout the night as temperatures dipped to -20 C. before the wind chill.

Police say an autopsy has been ordered, but no foul play is suspected.

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What the f is going on?

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Woman found frozen this week in Iqaluit was upset, left note for family: RCMP

(CP) – 4 days ago

IQALUIT, Nunavut — RCMP say a woman found frozen to death outside of Iqaluit this week with two of her dogs at her side was upset when she left home and may have been drinking.

The Mounties say 37-year-old Lindsay Hudson left a note for her family and friends, but they are not disclosing what the woman wrote.

Hudson took her three dogs walking Friday afternoon in temperatures around -20 C and the two largest dogs were still with her when her frozen body was found a day later.

RCMP Sgt. Jimmy Akavak says the dogs were in relatively good shape when they were found with woman.

The smallest dog had returned home Friday at around the time that the woman's friends and family were alerting police.

Akavak says up to 40 volunteers were involved in the search along with about a dozen snowmobiles, but they were hampered by darkness

As suspected and confirmed by a mutual Northern friend yesterday, but I was really hoping not, Lindsay committed suicide. I've lost track of how many good people I've known who have killed themselves in the North. She was a charming woman when I knew her and I wish I could have been out for a jont on the land and seen her poping pills then laying down to die. I'd have stopped it dogs or not.

Arctic, Nunavut

Arctic Sovereignty Canada Struggles?

Just mention the Arctic, then add that tricky word sovereignty and you are bound to get lots and lots of media coverage particularly in the global warming adjusted dog days of summer. Most people haven't, nor will they ever, see the Arctic, hey, in the summer who would want to, and as for sovereignty - doesn't that have something to do with .... I don't know royalty, so a recipe for something kinky maybe? All eyes and ears start twitching.

So, when our illustrious, "new", Prime Minister, Harper. announced that he was going to create an Arctic fleet to defend Canada's claim on its forgotten frontier, by having his spinners pass the word around that "Steve was standing up for Canadian Sovereignty in the Arctic" you'd hardly need to wonder why so much attention, I guess.

(Remember Stevie went up to see the place, the Arctic, last summer and once a Canadian conservative has been someplace they are experts on every detail of it. But, you do remember, I know you do, he was in the Arctic to avoid having to go to the AIDs conference in Toronto. Yes, it was a year ago now, that time before he had his conversion. He now understands that AIDs isn't passed on by a handshake and that Global warming maybe a problem outside of Alberta.)

A Google search netted me about 330 articles on Harper's BC announcement. Gads even The Guardian had a piece on the PMs vitality called: "Canada flexes its muscles in scramble for the Arctic". I guess we have to use it (???) or we'll lose it. I have to think about that one for awhile - if you've seen some Arctic communities in the summer you might just want to lose them but that's another note.

Dave at The Galloping Beaver was out the gate almost immediately with a note on Harpers latest announcement followed up closely by Boris who maybe coming highly suspicious of the "new" Prime Minister and his antics.

We have moved quite quickly for us Canadians, winter is long gone and most should be feeling finally limbered up by now, I know, but the speed we paint hauls is amazing to me (defense of the North has moved from the Coast Guard to the Canadian Forces - the Canadian navy went the way of the tot long ago.) We maybe have missed our true calling as a nation. We are all ships painters. I, myself, prefer the Coast Guard red to the battleship grey of the "forces" vessel but whose to question the "new" Prime Minister, eh.

I'm waiting to hear where the planned new naval base may be. Harper during the election campaign said Iqaluit which had to be one of the dumber of his party's promises. A base about 1,000 to 1,600 km as the crow flies from the Northwest Passage, good idea very useful. The people in Iqaluit would love it but, I don't think, it makes any sense whatsoever.

O'Connor, the Canadian Defense Minister, said last summer, during his tour of Nunavut, that he would announce the location of the new base before the end of 2006. I guess he got too busy trying to figure out where the Afghan detainees went and had no time to think of the North.

The Nunavut government has provided the feds with 7 suggestions, all existing communities in the territory including Iqaluit, Kimmurit, Cambridge Bay - I'm not sure what others.

Neither Iqaluit or Kimmurit make any sense. Kimmurit is about 60 miles South of Iqaluit on the other side of mega incognito facing Northern Quebec. Maybe if we needed to protect our claim on Hudson and James Bay it would be reasonable to station something in the place. How about a big gun, but not a Northern naval base.

Resolute Bay would be the most sensible place (it maybe on the territorial governments list of recommended sites) - it's sort of the midway point in the NW Passage, with potential large oil fields in the neighbourhood, an airport with a gravel runway that can handle 737's fitted up for the purpose, C-130's of course, good hotels and accessible by ocean going vessels for re-supply in late summer (Desgagnés Transarctik, NEAS or maybe Woodward) but no existing docking facilities. In fact there are no docking facilities for any of the 26 Nunavut communities, even though, all but one - Baker Lake - is, in effect, a seaside community

If someone had decided the North was more urgently important sooner, a base could maybe have been situated at the old Polaris mine site on Little Cornwallis Island just a stones throw from Resolute. DND could have used and expanded the existing docking facilities connected to the mine site. But, see the pictures below everything has been reclaimed, now, and Cominco the mine operator, looks like it did a pretty complete job - it cost about $68 million to restore the site.

There is still the mine site at Nanisivik and its dock, buildings and tank farm which I think the Coast Guard still uses. It also has a paved jet port up in the mountains which I don't think is used now the mine is shut down. The Nanisivik mine site is at the eastern start of the Northwest Passage - i.e. at the top of Baffin Island, close to the community of Arctic Bay. Contamination might be an issue, but from the last pictures I saw of the place, on the surface, at least, didn't look too bad for a high Arctic community, see here for example.

Just to orient anyone unfamiliar with the communities in the high Arctic here are 3 maps which show Resolute, Little Cornwallis, Nanisivik and Bathurst Inlet:

If I was given a chance to pick a place for the new naval base, I'd pick Bathurst Inlet . It has a natural deep water harbour and it is, I think, close enough to the deep water Northwest Passage (the St Roch's 1944 route from East to West) route to serve the purpose of routine patrolling. With a port in Bathurst the whole Northwestern part of Nunavut would be open for exploration and development. Some people would be pretty unhappy, most I think from down South, but the Inuit in Cambridge Bay, Gjoa Haven, Taloyoak and Kugluktuk would likely be overjoyed. Western Arctic Inuit are the most hard headed practical aboriginals in the country. They don't want their land damaged but they want some of the economic benefits buried below the tundra and a port facility in Bathurst Inlet would open up the whole of the Northwest part of Nunavut. Pipe dreaming I know. Also one of the interesting clashes you see in the North between some aboriginals and Southerners. It isn't always clear who is pro or con regarding development.

Knowing Harper, and the DND crowd, likely want to avoid controversy, I hope, then that "common sense" wins and Resolute gets the nod for the base.

PS

Bathurst Inlet, though it is only really a summer camp for some Inuit, is supplied with fuel etc. during the summer sealift season because a few Inuit winter there. In Bathurst's case a barge comes in from the sea but it originates in Hay River the start of the summer highway into the Western Arctic on the South shore of the Great Slave Lake.

This PS is really just an excuse for me to include one of my favorite map pictures of the North, courtesy of NTCL (Northern Transportation Company Limited). It's a picture not confused by any of the land mass to the South and, I think, any one should easily be able to imagine what the deep water Northwest Passage is by just looking at it.

Where would you put a naval base, ever if it operates for just a few months in the summer - August and some of September?.

Poor baby Okalik, dreaming of being a strong man?

You wonder sometimes about this leader from Nunavut, Okalik and his frustrations.

He told a group of ambassadors at a conference in Whitehorse about his difficult life. Seems his biggest problem may be that someone might ask a question. From the CBC report, he indicated that:

"Using the consensus style of government, with no political parties, means during budget debate all 18 MLAs can ask as many questions as they want, ... ."

For some reason he thinks that this does not happen in a party style parliamentary system.

"It can be frustrating at times," said Okalik [when people ask questions I presume]. "Those days you wish you had party politics."

Blogger's comment in square brackets.

He is supposedly a lawyer, at least he seems to have passed the bar examine in Canada's newest territory Nunavut.

I wonder if he has practiced law? I think he was made the leader of this territory the day he also got called to the bar so maybe that's his excuse for being frustrated, poor baby, no time for any real world experience.

The reason I raised this is that his statements at times seem to make little or no sense and indicated a marked lack of understanding of any parliamentary system whether it be the political party variety or the consensus type.

I would have thought that a graduate of any Canadian law school might know the basics of the Canadian governing system.

Oh well, I guess it's not required if you are, Okalik.

I wonder what party he might dream about forming when he is out on the golf links.

I wonder if he might think that actually developing policy and really leading a party could maybe be just a bit, as he'd clearly think based on his comments to the ambassadors, frustrating.

Why?

Well, of course, because someone might ask a question.

Glad what an idiot. Maybe he needs an internship in a failed foreign state where no one asks questions.

I'd say that stringing this so-called territorial leader's comments together indicates one of the serious problems facing this new territory and it isn't the housing, education or general social issues normally trotted out as dilemmas in this part of the Arctic.

It is that the territory seems to have a completely immature and badly functioning political system and this is underlined and highlighted by the Leader Okalik.

Technorati Tags: Canada, CBC, Democracy, Nunavut, Politicans, Stupidity

I wonder how we ensure our claim?

It seems that some Canadian bloggers maybe waking up to the oil & natural gas (O&G) potential in the high arctic.

The article in the To Star referenced at the cathiefromcanada blog doesn't really go into to many details about the rather large O&G potential in the north. Nor for that matter some of the other interesting things that have been happening while the government of Canada's view was almost solely focused south of 60º.

The Star article makes a guess that PM Harper's comments in the Common's foyer regarding the US ambassador's statement about sovereignty in the north are likely just good PR bluster.

I guess I tend to agree.

I'll bet most Canadians haven't heard of: Pat Broe from Denver. But they might in the future, eh. He's the guy that bought the old Hudson Bay port facility in Churchhill Manitoba for $7 in 1997. Wonder whether he paid for it with USD or CAD.

With natural gas prices seeming to be ever on the rise (even through there are day to day drops in price the trend is up), high arctic projects are starting to look better and better. CERI has updated its report on the Melville Island's Drake Point and Hecla natural gas fields for example.

I think PetroCan has the main interest in these fields. Discovered in the hay day of northern O&G exploration and likely heavily subsidized by Canadian taxpayers either through "super depletion" or the famous Petroleum Incentive Program (PIP) which itself was part of the Alberta hated NEP.

To give a view of what things look like from the to of the world have a peek at this map. It helps to put some things into focus, I hope. PM Harpers is talking about putting a military style harbour facility in Iqaluit - which is a 100 or so miles down the Frobisher Bay from the Davis Strait.

Iqaluit likely made some sense during WWII and part of the "cold war", the former as an airport in ferrying planes to Britain and the latter as a fuel station and radar center, put now who knows. Its the capital of Nunavut but really there is very little economic activity with the city other than government or birth right organization supported.

The US has 2 coast guard icebreakers which are stationed, I think, in Seattle.

If the arctic file heats up, want to bet that they will be stationed closer to the action.

What is that famous Northwest Passage anyways.

It of course has been a number of things but again, thanks to Athropolis, here is a map showing the concept over time.

Notice that until the permanent sea ice actually does melt the passage cuts south of Victoria Island and goes right pass Cambridge Bay - very close to Gjoa Haven also (I think Amundsen ship is still there in the harbour just sunk). Now if you are close to Cambridge bay you are close to Bathurst Inlet which is a natural deep sea harbour.

Technorati Tags: Canada, Nunavut, Politics

Follow up from else where

Just a couple of pictures of ice breakers in the spring in Iqaluit.

Never sure what Harper maybe about with his "armed breakers".

If the ice doesn't go out of Iqaluit by the end of June the breakers are always there. Sea lift starts in July after all, eh.

Then the beautifies, of course, are needed to re-supply Grise, Nanasivik for fuel no more, eh.

We do have a presents in the Arctic. It is the Inuit.

The Rangers are there - ever wonder why so many Inuit can be full/active members of the Legion and don't need to dig up some poor rotted ancestor to have the prevelge of drinking in the Arctic

Because the Inuit do active service all the time with the Rangers.

Whatever, eh, just a couple of pictures to prove the red hulled ships are in Iqaluit in the spring (you try to define spring in the arctic). I think the pictures are from late June 2003 or so. The middle picture is just one of those accidents that ends up looking quite nice, though it is also a great shot of the Iqaluit garbage dump burning - the old days, eh for you Northerners.

Technorati Tags: Canada, Nunavut

ANWR, oh ANWR!

So the axe hasn't fallen yet - Senate Blocks Arctic Drilling. Notice that I haven't said that I was wrong in my last post, I thought the Demo's could not get anything together to block the Defence Bill.

So guess I'm wrong at times. I'm great at apologizes. But

I still think ANWR is ultimately going to be drilled.

And I think maybe the Inuit and Inuvialuit unfortunately have to face this.

So how to control the effects, it's their land and ultimately their culture which will take the big hit if the caribou's migrations and birthings are disrupted.

I don't want anyone to surrender but - what is your fallback situation. At time I don't think the charmers from outside ever consider this for the locals. Strong support until a complete defeat but the Inuvialuit and Inuit do live there. So what to do when you may have lost a battle, eh?

Got to admit the the House of Representatives and Senate politics is a bit more interesting than our HoC. This could be because I simply don't know enough, yet, about it and the various procedural games to be played.

I'm definitely a new boy as I'm still struggling to find my way around both the Houses websites. Great winter entertainment, hmm, need to what?

Technorati Tags: Canada, Economics, First Nation, Nunavut, Resource Revenue

ANWR

So the HR have opened up drilling in ANWR if the Senate approves. This was predicted as I recall.

Least these guys sit late.

"The ANWR provision was attached to a major defense bill, forcing many opponents of oil and gas exploration in the barren northern Alaska range to vote for it. The bill, passed 308-106, also included money for hurricane relief and bird flu preventive measures."

Here's the first news report I read. Many more links.

Everyone should know for sure whether drilling will be opened up by Wednesday. Since Bush has been handed so many slights recently I suspected he'll get a pass on this from the Senate.

The authority to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil exploration — long sought by President Bush, energy companies and Republican leaders — will be attached to a separate fiscal 2006 defense-spending bill that has widespread support in both parties because of its funding for the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rushing to get out of town for the holidays, the House moved toward early-morning votes on both bills.

The Senate could act today on the budget bill and as early as Wednesday on defense spending.

Washington Post

Interesting link to the House Resource Committee re: ANWR

Technorati Tags: Canada, Nunavut, Politics

More strangeness in the Arctic

Strange and a bit unsettling item from the Wall Street Journal.

Seems that US scientists have started to find drowned polar bears off Alaska. Who would have thought that polar bears could drowned? Sounds dumb on my part, I know , since the bears swim around the Arctic so it would only seem probable that some might drowned.

But I've only ever heard of their great swimming ability - you know typical story of bear sightings hundreds of miles from shore - and never of them drowning.

Last year the government of Nunavut increased the quote of bears Inuit in that territory would be allowed to kill because they said that based on traditional aboriginal knowledge the bear population had increased.

The increase was called into question particularly the traditional knowledge component. This component is usually respected by both Canadian and US officials if it can be substantiated.

However if rapid changes are occurring in the Arctic knowledge acquired by observing usual weather and animal patterns over a number of years may be seriously flawed.

There should be an interesting cultural clash if this goes on for any length of time.

Hey speak of the devil, the clash may have already begun.

Technorati Tags: Canada, Nunavut

ANWR

Will's article, Our Fake Drilling Debate, provides a strong indication why I think the US congress will approve drilling in ANWR.

Technorati Tags: Politics, Resource Revenue