Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

RANKIN INLET (Sep 08/99) - Although filling it out was detailed and tedious work, more than 300 Kivalliq region residents took time to complete the Inuit Dietary Study.

The Centre for Indigenous Peoples' Nutrition and Environment, based at Montreal's McGill University, prepared the study to document Inuit dietary patterns.

Centre research assistant Amy Ing travelled to five hamlets in the Kivalliq region during the study. She hired people who could speak both Inuktitut and English to deliver the question booklet to community members, and to assist them with the questions contained within.

"We had to make the Inuit community understand that the project benefits not only the community as a whole, but future generations," Ing said.

"If we see there is a problem with the diet, then that information can be used to create programs to promote the consumption of certain foods, and to suggest they limit their intake of other foods if need be."

The study looked at both the fall and spring hunt separately. The questions asked centred on what types of food species are eaten, what parts of the animal, and how often each food is consumed.

People were asked to keep a record of what foods they ate in a 24 hour period, both market and traditional, and to keep a seven day record of only the traditional foods eaten.

There was also a social and cultural component to the questionnaire.

"From what I saw, traditional food was integral to Inuit people's daily lives. If it's not a part of their diet, they feel they're losing a part of their heritage," Ing said.

"They hunt and fish traditional foods, it's part of their children's education, so from that perspective traditional foods are very important. It's an essential part of their culture."

The people who were asked to participate in the study were chosen randomly. Donna Sammurtok was an interviewer in Chesterfield Inlet. Because her community is so small, Sammurtok found herself revisiting many of the same homes in the fall she had been to in the spring.

"When I asked the people if I could interview them, they were very inviting. Many offered caribou and tea," Sammurtok said.

"Sometimes it took more than an hour. They were telling me stories about being on the land and how to store the meat.

"I was also impressed with the young people because they were proud to say they were eating traditional foods," she added.

Sammurtok said she recorded a variety of different answers and learned a lot in the process.

"Caribou is mostly used all year round. In the summer it's beluga whale, fish and seal. In winter, walrus and polar bear were eaten," Sammurtok said.

"During the spring ptarmigan, duck, duck eggs, geese and lake trout were popular."

She said after being involved with the study, she is more aware of the challenges her people will be facing down the road.

"I think (the study) is pretty important but I'm worried they are going to tell us there are contaminants in the food we're eating," Sammurtok said.

"I'm anxious to find out the results, but I'm scared at the same time. We depend on Inuit food."