The urban Inuit today are undergoing dramatic cultural changes and transformations when they move to an urban environment from their regional areas. Traditional beliefs and values are more difficult to maintain in the urban areas. Inuit must learn to navigate a new way of life while facing misunderstandings of culture and discrimination. Additional barriers to access of services for urban Inuit include economic, physical, social, and language considerations. A lot of Inuit have Inuktitut as a first language rather than English.
With respect to the risk factors, a lot of our urban families face economic challenges similar to that of other first nations groups. They come from lower-income families. This alone creates barriers that increase the risk of type 2 diabetes as well as childhood obesity. Being economically challenged reduces or eliminates the opportunity for children to participate in organized activities. A lot of recreational activities now have a fee, rather than being free services. A lot of the activities require transportation. Although we do live in urban centres where transportation is available, if you don't have the funds, you can't get to where you need to go. A lot of our children don't even have enough to eat to physically participate in any activity. If they can get to the activity, they are hungry and they don't have the physical stamina to keep up with other children.
Food insecurity is an issue. Parents are often accessing food banks to try to meet the basic needs of their families, let alone having nutritious snacks. A lot of the time they are dealing with having substance rather than nutrition.
As I was saying earlier, language is a barrier for a lot of urban Inuit, and that contributes to the risk factor. The primary language is Inuktitut. Instructions that are given for physical activities or clubs...even food preparations, recipes that we follow every day, are misunderstood or may be interpreted in a different way. There's a lot of misunderstanding.
Our children living in urban centres are undergoing a lot of peer pressure. Living their Inuit culture is not cool any more. They need to drink the right drinks, wear the right clothes, hang out with the right people, and look the right way. Deviating from that and keeping up their tradition is frowned upon. They want to fit in.
Awareness and understanding of healthy eating habits and food preparation is actually a learned skill for urban Inuit. It's not something that's learned from the area they've moved from. Urban Inuit have to re-learn this skill. Traditional knowledge was passed down from grandparents to the young. The knowledge used in the north is not relevant in the urban centres. When a family moves to an urban centre, they actually have to re-learn what is nutritious and how to feed their families. The whole game is changed.
Again, traditionally, the Inuit were subjected to cycles where food was in abundance and then there were shortages. You had to get food while you could. It meant you were moving a lot. You had to travel long distances just to get your basic needs met. There was no sedentary lifestyle. A sedentary lifestyle is a new thing for Inuit in urban centres.