Perspectives on Community with Inuit Living in Southern Quebec

The Qanuikkat Siqinirmiut? (QS) project is a five-year, mixed-methods research study about the health and wellbeing of Siqinirmiut (Inuit living in the South) of Quebec. The project is a collaboration between the Qavvivik Inuit Family and Community Health Centre, the Makivik Corporation and a research team based at Universit Laval. It is well understood that Inuit experience significant health disparities compared to non-Inuit in Canada. Inuit suffer more from a range of chronic and communicable diseases, problems linked to the impacts of historical changes on their lives and lands, and inadequate access to resources and conditions that support individual and community health. While several studies have described the health of people in Inuit Nunangat in recent years, none have looked at the health status of Inuit in southern Quebec. There is every reason to believe that health disparities experienced by Siqinirmiut are also significant. While we would expect that many of the health conditions afflicting Inuit in the North are also present in the South, the considerably different material and social conditions in the South likely influence health in distinct ways. Thus, the objective of the QS project is to better understand the particular conditions and status of health of Siqinirmiut.