Climate change poses health threats in Arctic

I was pleased to contribute to this article highlighting the ways in which climate change is posing challenges to the health and well-being of Canada's Northern populations, and I thank Ms. Rynor and the CMAJ for bringing these important issues to public attention.

As one of the researchers quoted in this article, I would like to add further nuance to some of the statements attributed to my research in order to avoid any misunderstanding around correlations between climate change and suicide rates or incidences of violence, drug, and alcohol abuse.

Since 2009, I have been working as part of a transdisciplinary team on a multi-year, qualitative, exploratory case study in an Inuit community in Nunatsiavut, Labrador. Through this research, many people expressed that climate change was an additional mental health stressor, and was in many ways compounding other issues and trauma; that is, participants identified that climate change is another important contributing factor to mental health and well-being, which also interacts with complicated social, mental, emotional, and historical processes and events in the community.

Preliminary findings and participant reports have indicated that recent changes in weather, snow and ice conditions and extent, wildlife and vegetation patterns, and the inability to travel on the land for hunting or going to cabins have led to emotional and psychological reactions, such as sadness, distress, anger, frustration, and anxiety about future changes. Participants also reported that from their perspective, being unable to access the land for hunting and cabin travel was also potentially leading to more family stress, and also potentially increasing the likelihood of people opting to use drugs and alcohol. In addition, some participants shared that due to the disruptions in livelihoods and culture caused by changes in climate, there was also the potential for increased suicide ideation.

It is important to note, however, that this research is exploratory, and the first such case study conducted within an Inuit context (and one of the first globally), and as a result, larger extrapolations cannot be made from these findings at this stage. These results certainly cannot and do not correlate climate change to higher suicide rates or increased domestic violence, alcohol or drug abuse--although these potential linkages are important areas for further research. It is simply too early to tell what the full extent of climate change on mental health will be within Inuit communities, or to make definitive statements, but it is clear that climate-related mental health is an important and emerging area of health consideration and that more research is urgently needed.

Sincerely,

Ashlee Cunsolo Willox PhD Candidate, School of Environmental Design & Rural Development University of Guelph, Guelph, ON

Co-Director, Changing Climate, Changing Health, Changing Stories Project, Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Labrador

Conflict of Interest:

None declared