Climate change is one of the most pressing public health issues of our time. Some of the most rapid and transformative climate change is occurring in regions of the Circumpolar North, with important implications for Inuit health, wellbeing, and ways of living.

My doctoral thesis project contributed to ongoing climate change adaptation strategies led by Inuit in Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Labrador.

Emergent from community needs and priorities, the central goal of my thesis was to work with Rigolet Inuit to characterize the contributions of Inuit knowledge, values, perspectives, and lived experiences in influencing and enhancing processes involved in monitoring and responding to impacts of climatic and environmental changes on Inuit wellbeing in the Circumpolar North.

Through a collaborative, multi-year, qualitative case study conducted in partnership with Rigolet Inuit, we explored why monitoring climatic and environmental conditions is important for supporting Inuit health and wellbeing, and how values, beliefs, cultural contexts, ways of knowing, and land-based activities can influence reasons, motivations, and priorities for monitoring in the context of climate change.

Rigolet inuit said monitoring was important because…

…monitoring can strengthen relationships among Inuit and the land…

…monitoring is part of a shared responsibility to take care of the land, and contribute to reciprocal Inuit-land relationships in Rigolet…

…monitoring is a way to learn and share knowledge about the land, and is something Rigolet Inuit have always done to protect and promote their culture and ways of living…

…monitoring supports Inuit self-determination over ensuring current and future responses to climate change in Rigolet were in line with Inuit values.