IQALUIT - On Oct. 6, around 50 Iqalummiut marched from the Public Health clinic to the Navigator Inn with representatives of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, chanting colourful chants such as "Be a loner or cover your boner," and "When in heat, cover your meat."

Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada president Rhoda Innuksuk marches in Iqaluit Oct. 6 with about 50 Iqalummiut including these four giant condoms, from left, Pitsulala Lyta, Obed Anooee, Manasee Ulayok and Chelsey Lampe. - Gabriel Zarate/NNSL photo

The humour disguised a much more serious purpose: to raise awareness of sexual health issues in Inuit communities.

Across Canada, Inuit communities have higher incidents of sexually transmitted infection and a higher birthrate than the national average.

The march gathered members of the public to the Navigator Inn to hear presentations, take pamphlets and talk with health care professionals about sexual health.

The public awareness meeting kicked off three days of meetings between representatives from all the Inuit regions of Canada and the relevant provincial, territorial and federal departments. The goal was to identify what works in different regions and identify gaps that need work, according to Pauktuutit's sexual health co-ordinator Pitsulala Lyta.

One part of the presentation was a 30-minute movie called Isumarsuutivit, or Louisa's Story. It was a film about Louisa Ukaliannuk, an Iglulik woman who became HIV-positive while living in Ottawa.

Pauktuutit president Rhoda Innuksuk said it was often "draining" for people to talk about issues like sexual health and sexually transmitted disease, especially in the North.

"It's difficult when it's involving the Inuit culture because we don't want to hurt that either, but these type of issues were not openly discussed before," she said.

"Our goal is to bring happier, healthier, normal families. We cannot do it for them. We cannot make them, but our hope is that by making the information public, they can get understanding and care for themselves."