Thank you very much.
Ullakut. Good morning. Bonjour. On behalf of our president, Rebecca Kudloo, we thank the chair, vice-chairs, and members of the committee for inviting us today. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to bring forward the issues and priorities of Inuit women across Canada. President Kudloo lives in Baker Lake, Nunavut, the geographic centre of Canada. She was not able to be here with you today.
We hope our testimony and participation will contribute to fulfilling the Prime Minister's commitment to a renewed relationship with first nations, Inuit, and Métis that is rooted in reconciliation. We also appreciate the Prime Minister's commitment to gender equality. We look forward to a demonstration of that.
My comments today are very much linked to the testimony of previous witnesses, although I bring forward a much broader view. Today I'd like to situate for you the relevant issues in Inuit communities in the context of poverty. After providing a high-level view of different types of these prevalent issues, I will then talk about the three most pressing areas of concern: the lack of housing; violence against women, including the sexual abuse of children; and the pervasive and chronic lack of child care—generally not available—let alone the early childhood interventions and range of services taken for granted in southern Canada.
It's also important to note that Inuit are the youngest and fastest-growing population in this country. From the last statistics that I recall, more than 50% of Inuit are aged 25 or younger. That's significant now, and it's significant for the immediate, mid-, and long-term future.
For decades there's been a housing crisis in Arctic communities that is only getting worse with each passing year. It's important to remember that it's only been two generations since Inuit were moved into permanent settlements. Before that they lived a nomadic, subsistence lifestyle based on a traditional economy. Immediately upon moving into communities, people were faced with foreign institutions of governance, education, and justice. There was an immediate and profound cultural disruption and cultural dislocation, still being felt today.
All of these things were well documented by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and touched upon specifically with regard to residential schools by the TRC. We are very pleased that this government is committed to fully implementing the 94 calls to action as well the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The housing crisis, as part of the Inuit experience of colonization, has created and worsened social issues, including violence against women and children, substance abuse, suicide, and significantly poor mental and physical health status. Poverty reduction in Inuit communities, particularly for Inuit women, cannot be addressed in a vacuum. All of these issues must be addressed in a holistic population- and gender-specific manner.
In a recent survey that we did of 130 Inuit women, they identified housing and homelessness as the most serious and urgent issue in Inuit communities. They also noted the lack of child care as being a significant barrier to education, training, and employment opportunities.
When we arrived here, my colleague reminded me that according to Statistics Canada, in 2014 in Nunavut 45% of young children lived in poverty. That's 45%. Inuit women and children also live in the regions of Canada with the highest rates of violence and the highest crime severity index outcomes.
A recent piece on CBC North reminded everyone that for Inuit in Nunavut, a fairly recent Inuit health survey indicated that 52% of Inuit women and 22% of men reported they suffered sexual abuse as children. Considering these numbers, these rates, in relation to the testimony of the other esteemed witnesses here today, I know you can appreciate the magnitude of the urgent need.
There are 53 communities across Inuit Nunangat, the four Arctic regions of Canada. Of those 53 communities, 70% do not have a safe shelter for women and children, let alone things like wraparound supports for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. It simply isn't there.
The majority of Inuit communities do not have access to mental health programs, certainly not to the extent available in southern Canada. They're simply not present. In part, because of these issues and other circumstances raised by other witnesses, there is pervasive unresolved trauma. This year we produced a strategic plan for violence prevention and healing. It's available on our website. I didn't want to take up a lot of time with its very detailed recommendations. We squarely talk about child sexual abuse.
To touch briefly on suicide, the estimated number of deaths per 100,000 in each of the four Inuit regions are as follows. It's 61 in the Inuvialuit region, which is the western Arctic. In Nunavut, it is 120 per 100,000. It is 181 in Nunavik, which is Arctic Quebec. It's 239 in Nunatsiavut, the north coast of Labrador. That's compared with the national suicide rates for the Canadian population of around 11 deaths per 100,000.
As noted, poverty contributes to mental stress and other social issues. Mental health challenges absolutely can prevent individuals from building sustainable livelihoods, whatever that may be for that person according to their own measures of success.
Applying a cultural lens, an Inuit-specific lens, is critical to appropriately understanding and addressing the complexity of the situation and certainly the urgency. As I mentioned, we now have an opportunity for Canada to address these and other issues through a full implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
We had an opportunity to read some of the testimony of witnesses who have appeared before you. Without hesitation, we support the recommendations brought forward by Canada Without Poverty and West Coast LEAF.
Through whole-of-government co-operation, we hope to succeed in developing new and more robust strategies for tackling these challenges to reduce poverty, and particularly those experienced by Inuit women.
I thank you very much for your time. I look forward to and welcome your questions.