Inuit
want the outside world to understand that the country
foods we obtain through hunting and fishing are vitally
important to our physical, cultural and economic health.
The age-old bond between our culture and the harvesting
of wildlife resources from the land, sea and fresh waters
has, over the course of our history, survived many different
types of threats. Today, however, we are dealing with
a new and very unexpected threat; a threat created by
the presence of northern contaminants that are being carried
into our region from faraway industrial, agricultural
and military sources. Of particular concern is the fact
that some contaminants are found in unexpectedly high
levels in animals at the top of the food web and in Inuit
ourselves. It is for this reason that the primary goal
of ITC and the Northern Contaminants Program (NCP) is
to work toward the elimination of contaminants from country
foods, and to provide information to assist Inuit in making
informed decisions about the consumption of our country
foods.
Maintaining
a Traditional Diet
Over
the past five thousand years, we have developed and constantly
refined the technology, skills and knowledge needed not
just to survive, but to flourish as northern hunters.
One of the common myths or stereotypes about Inuit culture
is that we are almost always experiencing hunger, if not
actual starvation. People from the outside world have
a difficult time understanding that an environment that
looks so empty can actually offer great abundance in every
season of the year.
There
have, of course, been times in the living memories of
our elders when hunting was not successful and hunger
was present, at least for a short period.Most everyone
has encountered difficult times, but these make the best
stories to tell. We seldom tell stories about the day-to-day
reality in which everything seems to be okay. Sometimes,
even a very good hunter can have very bad luck. The wind
can blow for days or the ice can push against the shore
or floe edge to prevent the movement of people and animals.
Equipment can break down when hunters are far out to sea
or a great distance inland. Any of us who hunt on a regular
basis have had to face these experiences. Not too long
ago, sickness, brought to our land from the outside, created
great problems because it took away the health that hunters
needed when searching for food.
Skills
and knowledge are what it really takes to be a good hunter.
Our knowledge about the movement and behavior of animals
helps us to get to the right places at the right times,
and our ability to read and understand the many signs
of nature enables us to know what is going on and to make
plans. It is from our skills and knowledge that we know
how to walk quietly and to always stay downwind of the
animals we are stalking. We know how to cut a small hole
through thick freshwater ice, spot fish moving below,
and then thrust our fish spear in the right direction
at exactly the right time. We know how to find the breathing
holes of seal in the winter sea ice, and we can tell which
holes are being actively used. We have the patience to
wait without moving in frigid temperatures, and we know
when a seal is preparing to breathe and when to drive
a harpoon accurately into the breathing hole. We have
the skills to sneak up on walrus at their hauling-out
spots, and when the time is right, to rush toward them
and thrust a harpoon; or get a quickly killing shot with
a rifle.
We
know to be on watch in exactly the right location when
the beluga or narwhals pass by close to the land in the
fall, or along the floe edge in winter and spring. We
know exactly where to go and what to do when we lower
ourselves through cracks in the thick winter sea ice at
low tide, so that we can search the tidal zone under the
ice for a mid-winter meal of mussels, clams and seaweed.
We have the skills and knowledge to find caribou when
the population has declined and they are no longer moving
about in large groups. We can find the small, well-hidden
nesting sites of ducks so we can collect their eggs and
gather down from the nest. We have the skills to lower
ourselves down the sides of steep cliffs by ropes made
from the skins of bearded seals to collect the eggs of
the cliff-dwelling murres. And of course, when we encounter
the polar bear, we have the skills and knowledge to return
to our camp or community with the meat and skin. When
we make a map of our land use, it looks quite simple.
We simply say we go here or we go there to harvest the
animals we need. But it is not simple. And it is very
hard work to get the food that remains special to all
Inuit.
Even
though things are much different in the way in which we
live today, most Inuit still prefer to eat our own food.
Today
we have what is referred to as a "mixed economy." This
means that sometimes we earning a living through employment
and activities such as carving or guiding tourists. Other
times we are actively pursuing a hunting way of life.
Almost everything in our communities now costs money,
so Inuit must use money we earn to buy and maintain equipment
that we use for hunting. We also use our money for buying
foods imported from the south. We can now go to the store
at any time of the year to buy these foods. Although this
has created important changes to the way we eat, country
foods still remain the most important part of our diet.
It
wasn't so very long ago that the only imported foods that
would be available to us throughout the year would be
staples like flour, salt and sometimes lard for making
bannock, maybe some powdered milk, and certainly tea and
sugar. These would be brought by the ship that arrived
once a year, in August. The ship would also bring things
like potato chips and soda pop, cookies and candy bars
that everyone would rush to buy. The supply of these items
never lasted long, and usually by Christmas the local
store would be back to offering not much more than flour,
sugar, tea and a few other staples. Things like flour
and tea have been with us long enough to really be part
of what we consider traditional foods.
Inuit
are very surprised by how little is understood by outsiders
about the importance of the country foods that we continue
to harvest throughout the year. During the court case
to try to stop the negotiations around the James Bay Hydroelectric
project, for example, Inuit were asked over and over why
we wanted to look after our land and animals. Everyone
thought that we got all our nourishment from cans shipped
to our communities from the south. They seemed amazed
to learn that this was not the case, and that country
foods are a major part of our diet. When we tried to explain
this, they didn't take us very seriously, so we had to
call in anthropologists and other social scientists to
speak on our behalf. It seems as though the court thought
them trustworthier than our elders. All land claims processes
across our territory seem to show the same thing, but
now attitudes have changed. There is a new understanding
by government, and hopefully industry, about the importance
of country foods.
One
of the ways we have demonstrated the continuing importance
of hunting is by carrying out harvest studies to document
on an almost daily basis the types and amounts of foods
that were harvested by hunters. What these studies show
is that in spite of the fact we can now go to the store
to buy potato chips or even a piece of beef, most of our
food comes from wild animals.
The
kind of country food that we eat varies, depending on
where we live and on the availability of major and minor
species at different places and at different seasons of
the year. Over the year, we probably harvest around 25
to 30 different species for food, including duck eggs,
mussels, seaweed and various types of berries. We eat
many different parts of the animals, including meat, organs,
intestines, bones and blood.
Certain
foods, such as caribou, ringed and bearded seals, beluga
whale, muktuk, Arctic char and even duck eggs are often
eaten raw or frozen. Fish, the intestines of ringed seals,
and slices of meat from seal and caribou can be air dried
and preserved for later use. Polar bear is always cooked,
and frequently walrus as well, because of problems with
parasites. The liver of polar bear and bearded seal are
never eaten because of the high concentrations of Vitamin
A. Ringed seal liver, though, is delicious. The eyes of
seals, the meat inside the nose of caribou, plants found
in the stomach of caribou and already-shelled clams found
in the stomach of are still considered delicacies, at
least for many older people.
The
amount of country food consumed in the north is estimated
to be 90 to 300 kg per person every year. Most of this
is meat and fish. People elsewhere in Canada eat far less
meat and fish, about 67 kg per person per year. Nutritional
analysis of our foods have been carried out at the Centre
for indigenous Peoples' Nutrition and Environment (CINE),
an NCP partner located at McGill University, Montreal.
Findings
show that an average serving of meat or fish from the
land can supply all the recommended daily requirements
of a number of essential nutrients. The importance of
country food is not declining, demomstrated by the results
of detailed and long term research to determine harvest
levels. This research has been carried out on a community-by-community
basis in most of the regions, and shows harvesting wildlife
resources can produce as much as 2.2 kg of edible food
per person per day.
Harvesting
and eating country food is nutritious but also makes good
economic sense when compared to store bought foods. Foods
from the south are less nutritional, and cost much more.
CINE research shows that food to feed a family for a week
could cost as much as $254 in the north. The same, probably
better quality food, would probably cost $110 in the south.
CINE researchers found that in one community, a kilogram
of pork cost $12.00, while the cost of harvesting caribou
was estimated to be only $0.29 per kilogram.
