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NUNAVUT
A higher alcohol abstinence rate than in the rest of Canada and less gambling than elsewhere in the North are some of the highlights of a survey examining Inuit health.

The fourth and last summary report from the Inuit Health Survey 2007-2008, released earlier this year, focused on community and personal wellness. The survey, done in partnership with the territorial government and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., included a questionnaire on alcohol or drug use and gambling, individual mental health, suicide, community safety, traditional activities, social networks and interpersonal violence.

The survey shows 41 per cent of respondents did not drink alcohol in last 12 months, a rate significantly higher than in rest of Canada, in which 23 per cent of people abstained in the last year.

As for drugs, 62 per cent of respondents reported having experimented with substances to get high, with experimentation rates higher in men than women and higher in the 18 to 49 age group than with those 50 and older. The usage rate of recreational drugs in Nunavut is higher than the national rate, according to the survey. A total of 43 per cent of respondents reporting using recreational drugs, such as marijuana or hashish, in the past 12 months, while the same rate in the rest of Canada is 10.7 per cent. Again, recreation drug use is more prevalent amongst men and the 18 to 49 age group.

More than 1,700 people answered the questionnaire, said Dr. Laurence Kirmayer with the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal.

"What's important is not that people just never have any exposure to things but what happens afterwards; what are their skills for saying that's enough," he said. "I say that particularly for softer or less serious drugs."

As for hard drugs such as cocaine and crystal meth, Nunavut's reported rate of usage and experimentation, although low at five per cent, according to the survey, exceeds this country's reported rate of fewer than one per cent. A similar situation with the territory's four per cent reported rate of using medicine and prescription drugs to get high. This exceeds the Canadian reported rate of about one per cent.

Kirmayer said in general, people are more interested in harm reduction rather than complete interdiction.

Generally, in terms of substance abuse, when communities agree to prohibit something and there is solidarity in the community, it can have a positive effect, said Kirmayer. This could be direct because of the interdiction or indirectly because it represents a full cohesion in the community.

Survey results also show gambling, although common in Nunavut, is less prevalent than elsewhere in the North. The majority of respondents, 59 per cent, reported having not bet or spent money on lottery tickets, raffles and/or fundraising tickets in the past 12 months, shows the survey. It also shows a majority of survey respondents, 54 per cent, having never bet or played Bingo.

Compared to the rest of Canada, Statistics Canada reports 70 per cent of this country's household spent money on at least one gambling activity, states the survey. Nunavut's former chief medical officer of health, Dr. Geraldine Osborne, said the health survey is important because it provides them information on the health status of Nunavummiut.

"When I look at those statistics, there is such potential to do a lot better although there is no quick and easy answer, no quick and easy solutions," she said.

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