Effective northern #mental #health strategy must include #housing @northernpa #NWTpoli #NWT @leonaaglukkaq #CDNpoli

[@northernpa excerpt]
http://www.northernpublicaffairs.ca/index/christensen-an-effective-northern-mental-health-strategy-must-include-housing/
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Christensen: An effective northern mental health strategy must include housing

Posted by Julia Christensen on May 25, 2012 in Articles, Economy, Health

Guest contributor Julia Christensen on why housing should be a priority if Canada's national mental health strategy is to be effective.

The recent release of a national mental health strategy by the federal government was largely praised in the Canadian North, where mental health is highlighted by health care practitioners, front line workers, and NGOs alike as an urgent, and fundamental, area of concern that is inextricably tied to social cohesion and community wellbeing.

In the Northwest Territories (NWT), we now wait with baited breath for the announcement of a territorial mental health strategy, something that GNWT Health Minister Tom Beaulieu has promised will be tabled in the next legislative sitting. Beaulieu has hinted that the new plan will address key gaps in services to small communities as well as the lack of a treatment facility geared specifically towards promoting mental health. These same gaps have been illustrated in several recent studies on northern health services, as well as in my own research on homelessness and northern housing insecurity. While Beaulieu has mentioned some important gaps that the strategy will aim to address, housing must also feature front and centre in his Department's vision for promoting mental health in the territory.

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In 2007, I began a four-year doctoral research project on homelessness in two northern urban centres: Inuvik and Yellowknife. The project, and resulting thesis, is titled Homeless in a homeland: housing insecurity and homelessness in Inuvik and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

While the initial focus was to understand the factors contributing to visible homelessness in those two communities, this study also shed significant light upon what is taking place in other northern communities, the reason being that many (the majority, in fact) of homeless men and women in both locales call other, smaller northern communities 'home'. Not only did this study illustrate the rural-urban geographies of northern homelessness, it also exposed a common relationship between collective and personal traumas and homelessness in individual experiences. Overwhelmingly, homeless men and women linked their experiences with homelessness to residential school and its intergenerational impacts, apprehension by the child welfare system, or domestic violence....."

RT @northern_clips: Effective northern mental health strategy must include housing http://t.co/NMVSuytv

Inuktitut - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Inuktitut (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ (fonts required), literally "like the Inuit") is the name of some of the Inuit languages spoken in Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, to some extent in northeastern Manitoba as well as the territories of Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and traditionally on the Arctic Ocean coast of Yukon.

It is recognised as an official language in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. It also has legal recognition in Nunavik—a part of Quebec—thanks in part to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, and is recognised in the Charter of the French Language as the official language of instruction for Inuit school districts there. It also has some recognition in Nunatsiavut—the Inuit area in Labrador—following the ratification of its agreement with the Government of Canada and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Canadian census reports that there are roughly 35,000 Inuktitut speakers in Canada, including roughly 200 who live regularly outside of traditionally Inuit lands.[1]

For more information on the relationship between Inuktitut and the Inuit languages spoken in Greenland and Alaska, see Inuit language.

[excerpt]

Full story at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuktitut_language

Focusing on Fort Liard

http://www.nnsl.com/arts/stories/aug29_09pho-arts.html
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Focusing on Fort Liard

Daron Letts
Northern News Services
Published Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 [excerpt]

ACHO DENE KOE/FORT LIARD - Youth in Fort Liard captured hundreds of digital photographs of their community earlier this month.

Michael Needlay flashes the peace sign in this image shot by Blair Kotchea during the Frozen Eyes Photographic Society's youth digital camera workshop in Fort Liard. - photo courtesy of Blair Kotchea

The young artists participated in a Frozen Eyes Photographic Society workshop series from Aug. 3 to Aug, 9.

"It was probably the most successful program that I had run in terms of engaging the older kids because they're a difficult group to interest in much," said recreation co-ordinator, Roslyn Firth. "But, they participated in numbers greater than I'd ever imagined and produced some really beautiful photographs."

Society members David Pritchard and George Lessard of Yellowknife led the workshops. The pair brought 12 cameras and other specialized equipment to share with the youth. Pritchard opened the workshop with an instructional introduction to the cameras and the art of photography.

After learning the camera basics, the youth fanned out around the community, shooting almost everything in sight, including shots of family, friends, trees, animals, architecture, vehicles and even each other.

"After the first day more and more kids became interested," Firth said. "It was fantastic. They took pictures of just about everything in Fort Liard. They all enjoyed it very much."

A lot of the young people took more than 100 photographs. Dylan Steeves returned from his outings with almost 900 pictures.

Each photographer picked their five favourite photographs at the end of the workshops. The group took about 12 hours to select and editing the massive collection.

The workshop series was sponsored by the NWT Arts Council. The society may return to the community to lead another workshop series soon.

The society formed in 2008 with the goal of providing hands-on photographic experience for young people throughout the NWT. Society members have provided similar workshops in several communities around the territory.

[...]

An exhibit of the young photographers' work goes on display at 7 p.m., Sept. 3, in the cultural room at the Hamlet and band offices. The photographers will attend the event.

Call for Submission - 2010 Olympic - Northern Doll Exhibit

Call for Aboriginal Dolls
From: "Jennifer Bowen" Jennifer.Bowen@yac.ca
Date: Tue Jul 28, 2009 9:36 am ((PDT))

Attached is an information sheet and poster regarding the upcoming Northern Dolls Exhibit being held at the 2010 Olympics and the Yukon Art Center Gallery. If you know of any Aboriginal artists who are interested in participating or you wish to participate yourself, please contact Jennifer Bowen at the Yukon Art Center Office at (867)667-8460 or email jennifer.bowen@yac.ca

Deadline for applications is September 1, 2009.

Jennifer Bowen
Yukon Arts Center http://www.yukonartscentre.com/
Culture at 2010 - Visual Arts Coordinator
Tel: 867-667-8460



2010 Olympic - Northern Doll Exhibit
Call for Submission

The Yukon Arts Center is currently accepting submissions of hand-made dolls from Aboriginal Artists in Yukon, Northwest Territory, and Nunavut. Artists/Doll-makers are invited to design original dolls for the exhibit and doll owners are invited to lend dolls to the exhibit.
The dolls should represent the lifestyle of the North and its people. We are looking for a wide selection of dolls which can be contemporary or traditional and created from a variety of materials. The dolls selected by a curatorial committee, will be sent as an independent exhibit to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and will also be shown at the Yukon Arts Centre Public Gallery following the Olympics.
Eligibility
• Doll-makers/Artists, must be of Aboriginal decent and reside in Yukon, Northwest Territories or Nunavut
• Entries must be original, handmade and entirely the work of the entrant
• Entries must not be copies, derivatives, or based on other copyrighted material
Conditions
• Entries will be juried from digital images submitted by internet
• No work may exceed 50 pounds in weight
• Doll-makers/Artists, may not substitute another work for an accepted work, nor withdraw the
work after it has been accepted.
• No plastic dolls accepted

Accepted Work

• Doll-makers/Artists agree to allow accepted work to remain with the exhibit until the close of the exhibit, August 28, 2010. Artist retains all copyright on work.
• Artists will be paid CARFAC fees which are approximately $270 per doll and per exhibit. CARFAC is the federally certified representative organization of professional visual and media artists in Canada.
• The Yukon Arts Center will pay for shipping with insurance to and from the Yukon Arts Center and the Vancouver Olympic site. The doll’s value must be included for insurances purposes.
• The Yukon Arts Center reserves the right to photograph entries for the purpose of
documentation, education and publicity.
Deadline for submission: September 1, 2009

Application to Northern Doll Exhibit
Name:
Aboriginal Community:
Email:
Telephone:
Mailing Address:
Doll Description (50 to 100 words):
Materials Used and Measurements of Doll:
Application details can be copied and pasted into an email or faxed directly to 867-393-6300
All images must be sent via email to jennifer.bowen@yac.ca