Climate Change And Health And Well-Being In Canada's North: Report On A Public Health Planning Workshop On Climate Change And Health & Well-Being In The North - July 6-7, 2002, Yellowknife, NWT

July 7, 2002

Presentations

Where do we go from here?

• Michael Sharpe, Acting/Manager,
  Climate Change and Health Office,
  Health Canada

Mr. Sharpe opened the day by indicating that it would be useful to have some discussion of current communications and partnering on climate change and health issues at the international level. Lessons may be learned in this regard at the national level for managing climate change and health issues in Canada's North.

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami

• Pitsey Moss-Davies, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami

Ms. Moss-Davies opened her remarks by providing an overview of the mandate and goals of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK). The translation of ITK means "Inuit Team Builders of Canada". This organization is the national body that represents the Inuit of Canada. There are four Inuit regions in the ITK. Each region has an elected president who sits on the board of directors of the national organization. ITK receives its direction from the regions.

The Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) is the international representative body for the Inuit of Canada. The ICC is a permanent participant on the Arctic Council, is involved in relevant United Nations negotiations and activities, and has brought the Inuit perspective on Kyoto to international negotiations.

Ms. Moss-Davies noted that it is generally accepted that climate change will impact the North more than other regions. Discussions and studies thus far on the effects of climate change on Canada's North have tended to focus on documenting the changes to local climates and ecosystems, rather than on how communities can adapt to these changes. In partnership with Environment Canada, Health Canada, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Laval (CHUL) and others, ITK has been involved in research projects to document these changes, but also to begin development of adaptive strategies and needed indicators. For example, much more research and consultation with public communities needs to be completed to continue efforts to address this problem.

Ms. Moss-Davies then provided an overview of ITK's general climate change activities. In particular, this organization is developing a pan-Northern Inuit specific strategy, and is cooperating with others on completing needed research. With respect to the pan-Northern strategy, ITK is currently cooperating with Aboriginal partners (e.g., Dene Nation) to establish a community-based climate change monitoring network.

The ITK believes that a coordinating mechanism for climate change issues in the North is urgently needed, particularly for the Inuit to have meaningful input into current discussions. Currently, no coordinating mechanism exists. There are numerous research projects that are not being coordinated with the threat of duplication of research efforts and a poor use of research funds. There has also not been an identification of research gaps and research priorities. Ms. Moss-Davies indicated that ITK will provide a facilitative forum and will begin by coordinating activities in Inuit regions. It currently has secured funds fromNEI for an upcoming roundtable on Inuit and climate change. Further funds are being sought to make this initiative permanent and to develop a management committee to oversee such projects. In this regard, a funding proposal has been sent to Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC).

The need for an Inuit specific response to the Kyoto Protocol was highlighted during recent national consultations in June 2002 on the Federal Discussion Paper. In the view of Ms. Moss-Davies, these consultations were flawed. They were very exclusive; there was not enough Inuit representation at the consultations. It was also indicated that these were not real consultations given that the federal government simply outlined the four options presented in the Discussion Paper. At the Ottawa consultations, Scott Nickels of ITK recommended Inuit specific consultations on the Kyoto Protocol in Fall, 2002. ITK recommends ambitious greenhouse gas reductions targets for addressing climate change.

An Education and Communications component of the ITK activities was also discussed by Ms. Moss-Davies. She brought to the attention of the participants the ITK newsletter and their recently updated website which contains information on environmental contaminants, cancer and information on various pieces of legislation relevant to Inuit communities.

ITK is currently engaged in research activities with a number of partners such as CHUL, INAC, McGill University and others. Through the McGill partnership, ITK is hoping to launch a centre for research, education, and capacity building for environmental change and health in the circumpolar north.

Questions

During the discussion, one participant indicated dissatisfaction with the National Climate Change Process stakeholder consultations which occurred in 14 cities across Canada in June, 2002. He participated in the Whitehorse discussions and was dismayed with the predominance of lobbying from the gas and oil people from Calgary. They generally dominated the sessions and there was very little input from others, including Aboriginal groups. In his view, the consultations were very unproductive.

Another participant noted that at the Yellowknife stakeholder consultations, there were very few Aboriginal groups in attendance. He was shocked with the strictly economic focus that Alberta gave to the presentation. A number of ENGOs in Yellowknife were very critical of the presentations. It was also the view of one participants that the summaries of the consultations posted on the National Climate Change Process (NCCP) website do not accurately reflect the obvious dissension at the meeting.

One participant noted that this issue is difficult for the Inuvialuit because they want to put a pipeline down the Mackenzie Valley which could be in conflict with the intent of the Kyoto Protocol.

Another participant asked if any of the members of the group raised human health issues at the national stakeholder consultations on the Discussion Paper, held in June 2002. It was indicated that few people had time to do the preparations and the proper consultations with local communities before participating in the stakeholder consultations. ITK plans on preparing in this fashion for the set of upcoming consultations and it is very likely that local communities will raise health issues. One participant noted that for this round, the focus of the discussions was on the economic questions surrounding implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. It was noted that some provinces have asked for analysis of the costs of inaction (e.g., health and environment costs). Health Canada has begun this type of analysis through expert panels organized by the University of Ottawa and Laval. The University of Ottawa Report will be released in the Fall of 2002.

Facilitated Discussion

How can participants collaboratively present the climate change and health issues of the Canadian North to the National Climate Change Process and the international initiatives and organizations, such as the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) and the Arctic Council?

• Some of the national, local and regional initiatives and studies in which ITK is involved have been raised to the international level quite quickly.
• The ICC is lobbying to get indigenous knowledge collected so that it can be integrated into the ACIA. Community capacity is needed to conduct these observations.
• At the national level, the ICC draws on the work of ITK, and it has observer status at the Arctic Council.
• The Arctic Council includes 8 circumpolar nations and indigenous associations, such as the Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC).
• The Arctic Council tried to have official recognition of the Arctic region as an important indicator of climate change at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, but this was not well-received. The Arctic Council may make a side presentation at WSSD, and it may use the ACIA project to highlight climate change as an important issue for the Arctic. Members of Arctic Council have indicated that health issues need to be raised strongly in any presentation.
• The Arctic Council has no hard legislative activities that drive the agenda. Ministerial meetings occur every two years. Mary Simon is Canada's Ambassador to the Arctic, and this file is led by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
• The AC includes a number of working groups. Initiatives of interest related to climate change include emergency preparedness. INAC represents Canada on the Working Group on Indigenous Aid and Sustainable Development.
• The Sustainable Development Working Group is involved in a number of activities in the health area. Canada sponsored an initiative (1998) - "Future of Children and Youth in the Arctic", which is building the knowledge and capacity of Arctic communities to impart sustainable development knowledge to future generations. This includes the development of data on the health of children in this region. In addition, there is a project on infectious diseases that was led by the United States and Canada.
• The AAC is getting involved with the University of the Arctic on climate change issues. It relies on resources from the federal government for this work.
• ITK, Dene nation and other Aboriginal and First Nations groups receive $150K per year respectively for their contaminants activities. Core funding is needed to address climate change and health issues.
• Currently, the Minister of Health is engaged on these issues via the activities of ICC. Health Canada is seeking resources for a health conference at the upcoming ICC General Assembly in August, 2002. The proposed focus of the conference is contaminants and environmental change.

What mechanisms exist to engage and educate the public health networks in the North on the issue of climate change and health?

• Northern reporters (CBC) are important for increasing community awareness.
• Community health centres have an important role to play in handing out useful information to the public. Community health representatives - where they exist - are very active in health promotion and communications initiatives (e.g., mental health).
• INAC and NRCan have their Aboriginal Northern Climate Change Program, but this is only focussed on greenhouse gas emissions reductions and very little on impacts and adaptation.
• The Northwest Territories are complex in that there are several aboriginal groups and 8 official languages. As such, there are several networks in the health sector, depending on the issue being addressed.
• NWT Department of Health publishes a newsletter on public health issues a few times a year to increase awareness and encourage discussion and debate on important issues.
• Often, forums for community health networks and representatives involve a range of partners, such as Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC).
• In the Yukon, the Department of Health and Social Services does have a representative on the NCP human health committee for that region. Efforts are being made to spark interest in the issue of climate change and health among the public health community in the Yukon. The media are a very good tool for sparking this interest.
• Smaller communities outside Whitehorse are served by health stations and communicate with the community nursing branch.
• Northern Contaminants Program (NCP) partners frequently desire the participation of health sector representatives for their events and initiatives. Therefore, the NCP is sometimes a forum for discussing broader issues that touch on human health.
• INAC and Dene Nation are co-chairs of the NCP contaminants committee. This committee will address whatever issues are brought to its attention, including those related to climate change and health.
• Regional contaminants coordinators under the NCP give support to the territorial governments, and educate and train the communities based on what is developed by the committee.
• In Nunavik, there is a committee on health and nutrition which began before the NCP and will continue after. It includes directors of hospitals, as well as representatives from aboriginal groups, the territorial government and others, and is trying to provide one window for environmental health issues. This committee is trying to address broader issues and has already started dealing with climate change and health concerns. It is funded by the NCP. If the NCP is not renewed, the committee will still be needed.

Do new mechanisms need to be created to engage and educate public health networks in the North on the issue of climate change and health?

• The NCP does not build capacity in the North for doing scientific research. People could act as adjunct professors to go to northern universities to work on climate change issues.
• Renewal of the NCP is needed, and this message needs to be taken back to F/P/T health and environment ministers. The environmental contaminants committee could quite easily be an environmental health committee - expand its mandate and deal with broader issues that concern people.
• Independent evaluation of the NCP is quite positive.
• Climate change was brought up as an emerging issue in discussions about NCP renewal, but it does not appear that this will be one of the main themes in efforts to extend the program. The main focus will continue to be contaminants. John Stone, of Environment Canada, is a key contact, as he is responsible for the NCP. The NCP is at the Treasury Board preparation stage. The summary report from this workshop should be made available to the NCP.
• The health sector must often compete for the time and attention of people in northern communities because of the large number of issues that exist. One strategy would be to deal with both climate change and northern contaminants.
• Educating people through meetings is very expensive. It is better to adopt the train-the-trainer model, whereby representatives that are trained on climate change and health issues are sent back to their regions to bring about a change in behaviours.
• Any CCHO information toolkit developed needs to be reviewed by health partners in the North to make sure it is useful for local communities. One point to remember is that this region still has an oral history tradition.
• It is important to avoid workshop fatigue. It is more cost-effective to do tours of communities to provide education and seek the latest knowledge/observations.
• It is also important to develop appropriate curricula on climate change issues for schools. As well, the knowledge development activities must be driven by the needs and concerns of local communities rather than by an agenda developed in the south.
• Projects and results should be evaluated and we need to move away from risk assessment and to risk/benefit assessments.
• Health needs to have a larger focus in the next NCCP national stakeholder consultations and public consultations on plans to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.